[llvm-branch-commits] [lld] release/22.x: Add release notes for lld (PR #177088)
Fangrui Song via llvm-branch-commits
llvm-branch-commits at lists.llvm.org
Tue Jan 20 20:06:55 PST 2026
https://github.com/MaskRay created https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/177088
The notes are primarily generated by analyzing `git log release/21.x...release/22.x -- lld` logs with Claude Code. I have asked the agent to use a style similar to my previous human-generated release notes.
I have reviewed and manually adjusted many ELF notes. I don't have bandwidth to review other ports.
>From 36b72e6f7385b055d3f5f68ebb1b97250c162ce1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Fangrui Song <i at maskray.me>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:20:48 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] release/22.x: Add release notes for lld
The notes are primarily generated by analyzing `git log
release/21.x...release/22.x -- lld` logs with Claude Code.
I have asked the agent to use a style similar to my previous
human-generated release notes.
I have reviewed and manually adjusted many ELF notes.
---
lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst | 175 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 161 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst b/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
index d9b83e2eb3157..f7dece16bac10 100644
--- a/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
+++ b/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
@@ -29,8 +29,66 @@ Non-comprehensive list of changes in this release
ELF Improvements
----------------
-* ``--print-gc-sections=<file>`` prints garbage collection section listing to a file.
+* Added ``--print-gc-sections=<file>`` to redirect garbage collection section
+ listing to a file, avoiding contamination of stdout with other linker output.
(`#159706 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/159706>`_)
+* Added ``VersionNode`` lexer state for better version script parsing.
+ This brings the lexer behavior closer to GNU ld.
+ (`#174530 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/174530>`_)
+* ``-r``/``--emit-relocs``: Fixed a crash when processing relocation sections
+ that are placed before their relocated sections.
+ (`#156354 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/156354>`_)
+* Unversioned undefined symbols now use version index 0, aligning with
+ GNU ld 2.46 behavior.
+ (`#168189 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/168189>`_)
+* ``.data.rel.ro.hot`` and ``.data.rel.ro.unlikely`` are now recognized as
+ RELRO sections, allowing profile-guided static data partitioning.
+ (`#148920 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/148920>`_)
+* DTLTO now supports archive members and bitcode members of thin archives.
+ (`#157043 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/157043>`_)
+ (`#149425 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/149425>`_)
+* Balanced Partitioning (BP) section ordering now skips input sections with
+ null data, and filters out section symbols.
+ (`#149265 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/149265>`_)
+ (`#151685 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/151685>`_)
+* For AArch64, fixed a crash when using ``--fix-cortex-a53-843419`` with
+ synthetic sections and improved handling when patched code is far from
+ the short jump.
+ (`#170495 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/170495>`_)
+* For AArch64, added support for the ``R_AARCH64_FUNCINIT64`` dynamic
+ relocation type for relocating word-sized data using the return value
+ of a function.
+ (`#156564 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/156564>`_)
+* For AArch64, added support for the ``R_AARCH64_PATCHINST`` relocation type
+ to support deactivation symbols.
+ (`#133534 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/133534>`_)
+* For AArch64, added support for reading AArch64 Build Attributes and
+ converting them into GNU Properties.
+ (`#147970 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/147970>`_)
+* For ARM, fixed incorrect veneer generation for wraparound branches at
+ the high end of the 32-bit address space branching to the low end.
+ (`#165263 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/165263>`_)
+* For Hexagon, added range extension thunk support.
+ (`#111217 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/111217>`_)
+* For LoongArch, added GOT indirection to PC relative optimization in
+ normal or medium code model.
+ (`#123743 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/123743>`_)
+* For LoongArch, added support for relaxation during TLSDESC GD/LD to
+ IE/LE conversion to remove redundant NOPs.
+ (`#123730 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/123730>`_)
+* For LoongArch, the linker now checks that the relocation addend is zero
+ before applying relaxation to ``R_LARCH_GOT_PC_{HI20,LO12}``.
+ (`#151264 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/151264>`_)
+* For LoongArch, ``-r`` now synthesizes ``R_LARCH_ALIGN`` at input section
+ start to preserve alignment information.
+ (`#153935 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/153935>`_)
+* For RISC-V, added infrastructure for handling vendor-specific relocations.
+ (`#159987 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/159987>`_)
+* For RISC-V, added support for statically resolved vendor-specific relocations.
+ (`#169273 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/169273>`_)
+* For RISC-V, ``-r`` now synthesizes ``R_RISCV_ALIGN`` at input section start
+ to preserve alignment information during two-stage linking.
+ (`#151639 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/151639>`_)
Breaking changes
----------------
@@ -38,33 +96,122 @@ Breaking changes
COFF Improvements
-----------------
-* ``/fat-lto-objects`` addded to support FatLTO. Without ``/fat-lto-objects`` or with ``/fat-lto-objects:no``, LLD will link LLVM FatLTO objects using the relocatable object file.
+* Added ``/sectionlayout:@<file>`` to specify custom output section ordering.
+ (`#152779 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/152779>`_)
+* Added ``/nodbgdirmerge`` to emit the debug directory section in ``.cvinfo``
+ instead of merging it to ``.rdata``.
+ (`#159235 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/159235>`_)
+* Added ``/fat-lto-objects`` to support FatLTO.
(`#165529 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/165529>`_)
-* ``/linkreprofullpathrsp`` prints the full path to each object passed to the link line to a file.
- (`#174971 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/165449>`_)
-* ``-prefetch-inputs`` can improve link times by asynchronously loading input files in RAM.
- This will dampen the effect of input file I/O latency on link times.
- However this flag can have an adverse effect when linking a large number of inputs files, or if all
- inputs do not fit in RAM at once. For those cases, linking might be a bit slower since the inputs
- will be streamed into RAM upfront, only to be evicted later by swapping.
+* Added ``/linkreprofullpathrsp`` to print the full path to each object
+ passed to the link line to a file.
+ (`#174971 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/174971>`_)
+* Added CET flags: ``/cetcompatstrict``, ``/cetipvalidationrelaxed``,
+ ``/cetdynamicapisinproc``, and ``/hotpatchcompatible``.
+ (`#150761 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/150761>`_)
+* Added support for ARM64X same-address thunks.
+ (`#151255 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/151255>`_)
+* Added support for Integrated Distributed ThinLTO.
+ (`#148594 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/148594>`_)
+* Added ``-prefetch-inputs`` to improve link times by asynchronously
+ loading input files in RAM.
(`#169224 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/169224>`_)
+* Added more ``--time-trace`` tags for ThinLTO linking.
+ (`#156471 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/156471>`_)
+* ``/summary`` now works when ``/debug`` isn't provided.
+ (`#157476 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/157476>`_)
+* ``/summary`` now displays the size of all consumed inputs.
+ (`#157284 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/157284>`_)
+* Loop and SLP vectorize options are now passed to the LTO backend.
+ (`#173041 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/173041>`_)
+* Fixed implicit DLL entry point for MinGW.
+ (`#171680 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/171680>`_)
+* Fixed manifest UAC trustInfo namespace.
+ (`#165285 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/165285>`_)
+* Fixed AArch64 delayimport of sret arguments.
+ (`#163096 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/163096>`_)
+* Fixed tailMergeARM64 delayload thunk 128 MB range limitation.
+ (`#161844 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/161844>`_)
+* Fixed symbol names for import thunks.
+ (`#160694 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/160694>`_)
+* Deduplicate common chunks when linking COFF files.
+ (`#162553 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/162553>`_)
+* Aligned EC code ranges to page boundaries.
+ (`#168222 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/168222>`_)
+* Discard ``.llvmbc`` and ``.llvmcmd`` sections.
+ (`#150897 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/150897>`_)
+* Fixed resolving symbols with ``-alternatename`` when the target is undefined.
+ (`#149496 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/149496>`_)
+* Fixed ``/wholearchive`` thin-archive member identifiers to be consistent.
+ (`#145487 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/145487>`_)
+* Prevent emitting relocations for discarded weak wrapped symbols.
+ (`#156214 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/156214>`_)
MinGW Improvements
------------------
+* Added ``--fat-lto-objects`` flag.
+ (`#174962 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/174962>`_)
+* Handle MIPS machine.
+ (`#157742 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/157742>`_)
+
MachO Improvements
------------------
-* ``--separate-cstring-literal-sections`` emits cstring literal sections into sections defined by their section name.
- (`#158720 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/158720>`_)
-* ``--tail-merge-strings`` enables tail merging of cstring literals.
+* Added ``--read-workers=<N>`` for multi-threaded preload of input files
+ into memory, significantly reducing link times for large projects.
+ (`#147134 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/147134>`_)
+* Added ``--tail-merge-strings`` to enable tail merging of cstrings.
(`#161262 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/161262>`_)
+* Added ``--separate-cstring-literal-sections`` to emit cstring literals
+ into sections defined by their section name.
+ (`#158720 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/158720>`_)
+* Added ``--lto-emit-llvm`` command line option.
+* Added ``--slop-scale`` flag for adjusting slop scale.
+ (`#164295 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/164295>`_)
+* Added support for section branch relocations, including the 1-byte form.
+ (`#169062 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/169062>`_)
+* Enabled Linker Optimization Hints pass for arm64_32.
+ (`#148964 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/148964>`_)
+* Read cstring order for non-deduped sections.
+ (`#161879 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/161879>`_)
+* Allow independent override of weak symbols aliased via ``.set``.
+ (`#167825 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/167825>`_)
+* Fixed segfault while processing malformed object file.
+ (`#167025 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/167025>`_)
+* Fixed infinite recursion when parsing corrupted export tries.
+ (`#152569 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/152569>`_)
+* Error out gracefully when offset is outside literal section.
+ (`#164660 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/164660>`_)
+* Process OSO prefix only textually in both input and output.
+ (`#152063 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/152063>`_)
WebAssembly Improvements
------------------------
-* The ``--stack-first`` flag is now enabled by default. The old
- behavior can be enabled using ``--no-stack-first``.
+* ``--stack-first`` is now the default. Use ``--no-stack-first`` for the
+ old behavior.
+ (`#166998 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/166998>`_)
+* ``--import-memory`` can now take a single name (imports from default module).
+ (`#160409 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/160409>`_)
+* ``-r`` now forces ``-Bstatic``.
+ (`#108264 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/108264>`_)
+* LTO now uses PIC reloc model with dynamic imports.
+ (`#165342 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/165342>`_)
+* Honor command line reloc model during LTO.
+ (`#164838 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/164838>`_)
+* Fixed visibility of ``__stack_pointer`` global.
+ (`#161284 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/161284>`_)
+* Fixed check for exporting mutable globals.
+ (`#160787 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/160787>`_)
+* Fixed check for implicitly exported mutable globals.
+ (`#160966 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/160966>`_)
+* Don't export deps for unused stub symbols.
+ (`#173422 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/173422>`_)
+* Fixed SEGFAULT when importing wrapped symbol.
+ (`#169656 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/169656>`_)
+* Error on unexpected relocation types in ``-pie``/``-shared`` data sections.
+ (`#162117 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/162117>`_)
Fixes
#####
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