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RFC: MIPS .reginfo section and objcopy --extract-symbols
- From: Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>
- To: binutils at sourceware dot org
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:28:17 +0000
- Subject: RFC: MIPS .reginfo section and objcopy --extract-symbols
- Authentication-results: sourceware.org; auth=none
Hi Guys,
MIPS targets currently fail the linker's extract symbols test (in
ld-scripts). This is because the stripped executable contains a
zero-length .reginfo section. Such a section is invalid for a MIPS
ELF file, and so the MIPS backend refuses to recognise it. This in
turn leads bfd_section_from_shdr() to complain about an unhandled
processor specific section, and so the test fails.
The --extract-symbols option to objcopy (or strip) is specifically
documented to remove all section data, but I am wondering if this is
the right thing to do for processor specific or OS specific sections.
As the MIPS test has shown a zero length target specific section may
be invalid, rendering the entire file illegal.
I have a patch to objcopy which will preserve target specific sections
when --extract-symbols is in effect, but I am wondering if this change
might break something. It would certainly change the sematics of the
extract symbols operation, albeit is a subtle way.
Comments, suggestions ?
Cheers
Nick