[PATCH] binutils: Fix broken bullet lists in objcopy documentation

Thiago C Silva opsrcodev@gmail.com
Wed Jan 21 08:36:03 GMT 2026


The documentation for --add-gnu-debuglink and --extract-symbol
uses diverse formatting styles for list items, including @table and
manual bullets. This looked broken in the generated man pages, showing
raw text artifacts like "*<..>" instead of real bullet points.

This patch unifies these sections to use @itemize @bullet, resulting in
cleaner output and better readability for these options.

binutils/
        * doc/binutils.texi (objcopy): Use @itemize @bullet
        for --add-gnu-debuglink and --extract-symbol.
---
 binutils/doc/binutils.texi | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++-------------
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
index 3a4ed61f959..8a3d8f96743 100644
--- a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
+++ b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
@@ -2038,20 +2038,22 @@ like this:
  objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.debug
 @end smallexample
 
-At debug time the debugger will attempt to look for the separate debug
+At debug time, the debugger will attempt to look for the separate debug
 info file in a set of known locations.  The exact set of these
 locations varies depending upon the distribution being used, but it
 typically includes:
 
-@table @code
-
-@item * The same directory as the executable.
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+The same directory as the executable.
 
-@item * A sub-directory of the directory containing the executable
-called .debug
+@item
+A sub-directory of the directory containing the executable called
+.debug.
 
-@item * A global debug directory such as /usr/lib/debug.
-@end table
+@item
+A global debug directory such as /usr/lib/debug.
+@end itemize
 
 As long as the debug info file has been installed into one of these
 locations before the debugger is run everything should work
@@ -2186,12 +2188,17 @@ the subsystem version also.  Numeric values are also accepted for
 
 @item --extract-symbol
 Keep the file's section flags and symbols but remove all section data.
-Specifically, the option:
+Specifically, this option:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Removes the contents of all sections.
 
-@itemize
-@item removes the contents of all sections;
-@item sets the size of every section to zero; and
-@item sets the file's start address to zero.
+@item
+Sets the size of every section to zero.
+
+@item
+Sets the file's start address to zero.
 @end itemize
 
 This option is used to build a @file{.sym} file for a VxWorks kernel.
-- 
2.52.0



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