Commit: Fix null-note bug in objcopy's note merging

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Guys,

  I am applying the patch below to fix a bug recently uncovered with my
  improved note merging code for objcopy.  If the algorithm decides that
  it is not worth performing a merge (eg because no space would be
  saved, or there are relocations against the notes), then it was just
  dropping the note section from the list of sections to be copied.
  This resulted in objcopy writing out a section full of zero bytes over
  the notes, completely corrupting them.  Doh.

  So the fix is to always copy the sections, even if they are not going
  to change their contents.

Cheers
  Nick

binutils/ChangeLog

        * objcopy.c (copy_object): Skip note sections that do not have
	an output section.  Always copy note sections, even if no
	changes are made.

diff --git a/binutils/objcopy.c b/binutils/objcopy.c
index 56439700c2..ea6eb646b4 100644
--- a/binutils/objcopy.c
+++ b/binutils/objcopy.c
@@ -2878,6 +2878,11 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
 	  if (! is_mergeable_note_section (ibfd, osec))
 	    continue;
 
+	  /* If the section is going to be completly deleted then
+	     do not bother to merge it.  */
+	  if (osec->output_section == NULL)
+	    continue;
+
 	  bfd_size_type size = bfd_section_size (osec);
 
 	  if (size == 0)
@@ -2893,25 +2898,19 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
 	    {
 	      bfd_nonfatal_message (NULL, ibfd, osec,
 				    _("warning: could not load note section"));
-	      free (merged->contents);
 	      free (merged);
 	      continue;
 	    }
 
 	  merged->size = merge_gnu_build_notes (ibfd, osec, size,
 						merged->contents);
-	  if (merged->size == size)
-	    {
-	      /* Merging achieves nothing.  */
-	      merge_debug ("Merge of section %s achieved nothing - skipping\n",
-			   bfd_section_name (osec));
-	      free (merged->contents);
-	      free (merged);
-	      continue;
-	    }
 
-	  if (osec->output_section == NULL
-	      || !bfd_set_section_size (osec->output_section, merged->size))
+	  /* FIXME: Once we have read the contents in, we must write
+	     them out again.  So even if the mergeing has achieved
+	     nothing we still add this entry to the merge list.  */
+
+	  if (size != merged->size
+	      && !bfd_set_section_size (osec->output_section, merged->size))
 	    {
 	      bfd_nonfatal_message (NULL, obfd, osec,
 				    _("warning: failed to set merged notes size"));
@@ -3277,16 +3276,16 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
 		{
 		  bfd_nonfatal_message
 		    (NULL, obfd, osec,
-		     _("error: failed to copy merged notes into output"));
+		     _("error: failed to locate merged notes"));
 		  continue;
 		}
 	    }
 
-	  if (! is_mergeable_note_section (obfd, osec))
+	  if (merged->contents == NULL)
 	    {
 	      bfd_nonfatal_message
 		(NULL, obfd, osec,
-		 _("error: failed to copy merged notes into output"));
+		 _("error: failed to merge notes"));
 	      continue;
 	    }