bfd/ChangeLog

	* coffgen.c (make_a_section_from_file):  Set the backend long
	section names enable if long section names found on input.
	* coffcode.h:  Extend long section names documentation to match.

binutils/ChangeLog

	* objcopy.c (enum long_section_name_handling):  New enum type.
	(enum command_line_switch):  Add OPTION_LONG_SECTION_NAMES.
	(copy_options[]):  Add entry for --long-section-names option.
	(copy_usage):  Document it.
	(set_long_section_mode):  New subroutine.
	(copy_file):  Call it.
	(copy_main):  Accept OPTION_LONG_SECTION_NAMES and parse arg.
	* doc/binutils.texi:  Update objcopy documentation with details
	of new option.

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/bfd/coffcode.h b/bfd/coffcode.h
index 484fb6b7ec..4f53e470e4 100644
--- a/bfd/coffcode.h
+++ b/bfd/coffcode.h
@@ -153,6 +153,14 @@ SUBSUBSECTION
 	points to a function that allows the value of the flag to be altered
 	at runtime, on formats that support long section names at all; on
 	other formats it points to a stub that returns an error indication.
+	
+	With input BFDs, the flag is set according to whether any long section
+	names are detected while reading the section headers.  For a completely
+	new BFD, the flag is set to the default for the target format.  This
+	information can be used by a client of the BFD library when deciding
+	what output format to generate, and means that a BFD that is opened
+	for read and subsequently converted to a writeable BFD and modified
+	in-place will retain whatever format it had on input.
 
 	If @code{COFF_LONG_SECTION_NAMES} is simply defined (blank), or is
 	defined to the value "1", then long section names are enabled by