I have imported binutils/bfd 2.9.1 into src/gnu/dist, and have tested it
thoroughly on i386 and alpha, and partly on arm32.  I need some testers to
verify operation on all other platforms.

If you wish to help out, update after the next supscan and start by
building/installing src/gnu/lib/bfd (make sure to do a "make includes" there
first!).  Then try some of the programs below from src/gnu/usr.bin, and
report success/failure.  Replies should go to tech-toolchain@netbsd.org.

For gas.new and ld.new, I particularly need to know about shared objects
with C++ constructors (compile something like the testcase at bottom, as
well as a shlib from the NetBSD source tree).

STILL TO BE TESTED:

- binutils: m68k, mips, ns32k, powerpc, sparc, sparc64, vax
- gas.new: mips, powerpc, sparc, sparc64, vax
- gdb: arm32, m68k, mips, ns32k, powerpc, sparc, sparc64, vax
- gprof: arm32, m68k, mips, ns32k, powerpc, sparc, sparc64, vax
- ld.new: mips, powerpc, sparc64

(And all of the above on i386-elf and sparc-elf, though those are very
experimental.)

BROKEN, TO BE FIXED:

- gdb: alpha
- ld.new: alpha

The PIC code testcase for as/ld follows.

----- x1.cc -----

int i;
struct X { X() { i = 42; } } x;

----- x2.cc -----

#include <iostream.h>
extern int i;
int main(void) { cout << i << '\n'; }

----- build instructions (a.out) -----

c++ -fPIC -c x1.cc
ld -Bshareable -o libx.so.0.0 x1.o
c++ -o x x2.cc -L. -lx
env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./x
(should print 42, not 0)

----- build instructions (ELF) -----

c++ -fPIC -c x1.cc
ld -shared -o libx.so x1.o
c++ -o x x2.cc -L. -lx
env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./x
(should print 42, not 0)

-- 
-- Todd Vierling (Personal tv@pobox.com; Bus. todd_vierling@xn.xerox.com)