binutils Newspaper
JULY 29, 2026
binutils Proposed

Readelf for nanoMIPS.

Adds nanoMIPS support to the readelf utility.

This patch updates the readelf utility to recognize and process the nanoMIPS architecture. It adds support for EM_NANOMIPS in various functions like guess_is_rela, get_machine_name, dump_relocations, and get_machine_flags. Additionally, it incorporates specific checks for nanoMIPS relocation types (R_NANOMIPS_32, R_NANOMIPS_PC32, etc.).

In Details

Enables readelf to parse nanoMIPS executables. This involves updating ELF identification logic (EM_NANOMIPS) and relocation handling within readelf.c to correctly interpret nanoMIPS-specific machine types and relocation entries.

For Context
readelf
A command-line utility that displays information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) files.
ELF
Executable and Linkable Format, a common standard file format for executables, object code, shared libraries, and core dumps.
relocation
Information in an object file that describes how to modify certain symbols (like addresses) when linking it with other object files or loading it into memory.
EM_NANOMIPS
The ELF machine type identifier for the nanoMIPS architecture.
Filed Under: readelfELFnanomips