Re: PATCH: objcopy.c: redefine-sym-specific for archive files

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Daniel,

> If an archive file (e.g. libc.a) consists of more than one object file 
> (e.g, a.o & b.o) each containing a definition for a symbol named 'foo', 
> objcopy --redefine-sym foo=bar libc.a will redefine both symbols.

> This might not always be the desired behavior.  The attached patch adds 
> the --redefine-sym-specific option to object copy.  Its usage is

Why add a new switch ?  Why not simply extend the syntax accepted by the 
--redefine-sym switch so that if a colon is present it behaves as per 
your new switch ?

> --redefine-sym-specific <objectfile>:<old>=<new>

Also - with a patch like this that adds a new feature, we really need an 
FSF copyright assignment in place before we can accept the patch.  Would 
you be interested in completing such an assignment ?

> I did not include a version for reading these from a file, as that 
> would require either 'generalizing' add_redefine_syms_file() or
> 'cloning' that function, and I though such a decision should be left 
> to the maintainers.

Actually I would definitely encourage breaking out the code from 
add_redefine_syms_file, generalizing it and making it available to other 
 switches which might benefit.

Cheers
  Nick