Re: [PATCH/RFC] nm -u prints only sym names

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Elias,

> When nm is invoked with -u it prints only the symbol names. Although
> this does not affect the BSD and the POSIX output, it affects the
> SYSV output, since information like sym size, type and section is
> not printed.

Hmm, well I agree that your patch fixes this, but I am not sure that
fixing it is the right thing to do.  The point of selecting the "sysv"
format output option is to make the GNU binutils nm behave in the same
way as the OS provided nm in a SystemV compatible system.  Changing
the GNU binutils nm to provide extra information, whilst possibly
helpful, breaks compatibility with the SystemV version.

I suggest that what you should do, if you want to access this extra
information, is to add a new output format option (eg "gnu").  Then if
this format is selected you can print out as much information as you
like, since you do not have to be compatible with anything else.

Cheers
        Nick