[binutils-gdb] ld: Extend documentation for EXCLUDE_FILE

[Andrew Burgess]

https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=a5bf7d4fe7a115a358528328b8d1ae221cd684fa

commit a5bf7d4fe7a115a358528328b8d1ae221cd684fa
Author: Andrew Burgess <andrew.burgess@embecosm.com>
Date:   Tue Sep 20 10:49:39 2016 +0100

    ld: Extend documentation for EXCLUDE_FILE
    
    There was a gap in the documentation of EXCLUDE_FILE that could cause
    confusion to a user.  When writing an input section specifier like this:
    
        *(EXCLUDE_FILE (somefile.o) .text .text.*)
    
    this could mean one of the following:
    
       1. All '.text' and '.text.*' from all files except for 'somefile.o',
       or
       2. All '.text' from all files except 'somefile.o', and all '.text.*'
       sections from all files.
    
    It turns out that the second interpretation is correct, but the manual
    does not make this clear (to me at least).  Hopefully this patch makes
    things clearer.
    
    ld/ChangeLog:
    
    	* ld/ld.texinfo (Input Section Basics): Expand the description of
    	EXCLUDE_FILE.

Diff:
---
 ld/ChangeLog  |  5 +++++
 ld/ld.texinfo | 15 +++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/ld/ChangeLog b/ld/ChangeLog
index 4bae998..7c24d65 100644
--- a/ld/ChangeLog
+++ b/ld/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2016-09-20  Andrew Burgess  <andrew.burgess@embecosm.com>
+
+	* ld/ld.texinfo (Input Section Basics): Expand the description of
+	EXCLUDE_FILE.
+
 2016-09-14  Thomas Preud'homme  <thomas.preudhomme@arm.com>
 
 	* testsuite/ld-arm/cmse-veneers.s: Add a test for ARMv8-M Security
diff --git a/ld/ld.texinfo b/ld/ld.texinfo
index 5944b12..1303a0e 100644
--- a/ld/ld.texinfo
+++ b/ld/ld.texinfo
@@ -4214,6 +4214,21 @@ they are found in the linker input.  In the second example, all
 @samp{.text} input sections will appear first, followed by all
 @samp{.rdata} input sections.
 
+When using EXCLUDE_FILE with more than one section, the exclusion only
+applies to the section immediately following, for example:
+@smallexample
+*(EXCLUDE_FILE (*somefile.o) .text .rdata)
+@end smallexample
+@noindent
+will cause all @samp{.text} sections from all files except
+@file{somefile.o} to be included, while all @samp{.rdata} sections
+from all files, including @file{somefile.o}, will be included.  To
+exclude the @samp{.rdata} sections from @file{somefile.o} the example
+should be modified to:
+@smallexample
+*(EXCLUDE_FILE (*somefile.o) .text EXCLUDE_FILE (*somefile.o) .rdata)
+@end smallexample
+
 You can specify a file name to include sections from a particular file.
 You would do this if one or more of your files contain special data that
 needs to be at a particular location in memory.  For example: