* README: Add notes on how to build if you don't have ar.

1 files changed, 75 insertions, 23 deletions

diff --git a/binutils/README b/binutils/README
index 5c982f2..fad44c7 100644
--- a/binutils/README
+++ b/binutils/README
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 This is a beta release of a completely rewritten binutils distribution.
-The linker (ld) has been moved into a separate directory,
-which should be ../ld.  Linker-specific notes are in ../ld/README.
+(Rewritten since binutils 1.x, that is.)
+
+The linker (ld) has been moved into a separate directory, which should be
+../ld.  Linker-specific notes are in ../ld/README.
+
+As of version 2.5, the assembler (as) is also included in this package, in
+../gas.  Assembler-specific notes can be found in ../gas/README.
 
 These programs have been tested on various architectures.
-Most recently tested are sun3 and sun4s running sunos4,
-as well as Sony News running newsos3.
 However, since this is a beta release taken directly from an
 evolving source tree, there might be some problems.  In particular,
 the programs have not been ported to as many machines as the
@@ -14,46 +17,97 @@ patches to make things run on other machines; especially welcome
 are fixes for what used to work on the old programs!
 (See ./TODO, as well a ../bfd/TODO and ../ld/TODO.)
 
-Recent changes are in ./NEWS.
+Recent changes are in ./NEWS, ../ld/NEWS, and ../gas/NEWS.
 
 Unpacking and Installation -- quick overview
 ==========================
 
 In this release, the binary utilities, the linker, the generic GNU include
 files, the BFD ("binary file description") library, gprof, and getopt all
-have directories of their own underneath the binutils-2.1 directory.
+have directories of their own underneath the binutils-2.7 directory.
 The idea is that a variety of GNU tools can
 share a common copy of these things.  Configuration scripts and
 makefiles exist to cruise up and down this directory tree and
 automatically build all the pieces in the right order.
 
-When you unpack the binutils-2.1.tar.Z file, you'll get a directory called
-something like `binutils-2.1', which contains:
+When you unpack the binutils-2.7.tar.gz file, you'll get a directory
+called something like `binutils-2.7', which contains:
 
-	DOC.configure  README         config/        configure*     ld/
-	Makefile       bfd/           config.status* configure.in   libiberty/
-	Makefile.in    binutils/      config.sub     include/       texinfo/
+	COPYING          bfd/             configure*       libiberty/
+	COPYING.LIB      binutils/        configure.in     move-if-change*
+	CYGNUS           build-all.mk     etc/             opcodes/
+	ChangeLog        config/          gprof/           test-build.mk
+	Makefile.in      config.guess*    inc
 
 To build binutils, you can just do:
 
-	cd binutils-2.1
-	./configure [ --with-minimal-bfd=yes ]
+	cd binutils-2.7
+	./configure [ --enable-targets='target1,target2...' ]
 	make
-	make install # copies the programs files into /usr/local/bin by default.
-
-The --with-minimal-bfd-yes flag is a temporary kludge.  Using it makes
-the executables smaller, at the price of only being able to handle
-the default binary file format.  A more flexible mechanism is planned.
+	make install # copies the programs files into /usr/local/bin
+		     # by default.
 
 This will configure and build all the libraries as well as binutils
 and the linker.
 
+The --enable-targets option adds support for more binary file
+formats besides the default.  By default, support for only the
+selected target file format is compiled in.  To add support for more
+formats, list them as the argument to --enable-targets, separated by
+commas.  For example:
+
+	./configure --enable-targets=sun3,rs6000-aix,decstation
+
+The name 'all' compiles in support for all valid BFD targets (this was
+the default in previous releases):
+
+	./configure --enable-targets=all
+
 The binutils can be used in a cross-development environment.
-The file DOC.configure contains more information.
+The file etc/configure.texi contains more information.
+
+You can also specify the --enable-shared option when you run
+configure.  This will build the BFD and opcodes libraries as shared
+libraries.  This will only work on certain systems, and currently will
+only work when compiling with gcc.  You can use arguments with the
+--enable-shared option to indicate that only certain libraries should
+be built shared; for example, --enable-shared=bfd.  The only
+possibilities in a binutils release are bfd and opcodes.
+
+The binutils will be linked against the shared libraries.  The build
+step will attempt to place the correct library in the runtime search
+path for the binaries.  However, in some cases, after you install the
+binaries, you may have to set an environment variable, normally
+LD_LIBRARY_PATH, so that the system can find the installed libbfd
+shared library.
+
+If you specify --enable-commonbfdlib as well as --enable-shared, then
+a single shared library will be built containing the bfd, opcodes, and
+libiberty libraries.  It will be installed as libbfd.  This option
+will make the binutils programs as small as possible.
+
+If you don't have ar
+====================
+
+If your system does not already have an ar program, the normal
+binutils build process will not work.  In this case, run configure as
+usual.  Before running make, run this script:
+
+#!/bin/sh
+MAKE=${MAKE-make}
+${MAKE} $* AR=true all-libiberty
+${MAKE} $* AR=true all-bfd
+cd binutils
+${MAKE} $* ADDL_DEPS='$(BULIBS)' ADDL_LIBS='$(BULIBS) ../bfd/*.o `cat ../libiberty/required-list ../libiberty/needed-list | sed -e "s,\([^ ][^ ]*\),../libiberty/\1,g"`' ar
+
+This script will build an ar program in binutils/ar.  Move binutils/ar
+into a directory on your PATH.  After doing this, you can run make as
+usual to build the complete binutils distribution.  You do not need
+the ranlib program in order to build the distribution.
 
 Porting
 =======
-Binutils-2.1 supports many different architectures, but there
+Binutils-2.7 supports many different architectures, but there
 are many more not supported, including some that were supported
 by earlier versions.  We are hoping for volunteers to
 improve this situation.
@@ -77,6 +131,4 @@ We have little time to spend tracking down whatever random bugs you
 may run into (except for configurations that Cygnus supports for
 its customers).  The general place to send bug reports or patches
 is to bug-gnu-utils@ai.mit.edu; you can also send them directly to
-bothner@cygnus.com or sac@cygnus.com.
-
-
+raeburn@cygnus.com or ian@cygnus.com.