RFC: MIPS .reginfo section and objcopy --extract-symbols

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Guys,

  MIPS targets currently fail the linker's extract symbols test (in
  ld-scripts).  This is because the stripped executable contains a
  zero-length .reginfo section.  Such a section is invalid for a MIPS
  ELF file, and so the MIPS backend refuses to recognise it.  This in
  turn leads bfd_section_from_shdr() to complain about an unhandled
  processor specific section, and so the test fails.

  The --extract-symbols option to objcopy (or strip) is specifically
  documented to remove all section data, but I am wondering if this is
  the right thing to do for processor specific or OS specific sections.
  As the MIPS test has shown a zero length target specific section may
  be invalid, rendering the entire file illegal.

  I have a patch to objcopy which will preserve target specific sections
  when --extract-symbols is in effect, but I am wondering if this change
  might break something.  It would certainly change the sematics of the
  extract symbols operation, albeit is a subtle way.

  Comments, suggestions ?

Cheers
  Nick