* objcopy.c (use_alt_mach_code): Change type to unsigned long.

   (copy_object):  If bfd_alt_mach_code fails emit a more helpful message
   and if the target architecture is ELF use the alternative as replacement
   value for the e_machine number.
   (copy_main): Use strtoul to parse the number provided with the
   --alt-mach-code switch.
* doc/binutils.texi (--alt-mach-code): Document that this switch can now
    set the absolute e_machine value.

3 files changed, 35 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/binutils/ChangeLog b/binutils/ChangeLog
index 5fbcc4ffe8..99e3569e2a 100644
--- a/binutils/ChangeLog
+++ b/binutils/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+2006-02-28  Nick Clifton  <nickc@redhat.com>
+
+	* objcopy.c (use_alt_mach_code): Change type to unsigned long.
+	(copy_object):  If bfd_alt_mach_code fails emit a more helpful
+	message and if the target architecture is ELF use the alternative
+	as replacement value for the e_machine number.
+	(copy_main): Use strtoul to parse the number provided with the
+	--alt-mach-code switch.
+	* doc/binutils.texi (--alt-mach-code): Document that this switch
+	can now set the absolute e_machine value.
+
 2006-02-27  Carlos O'Donell  <carlos@codesourcery.com>
 
 	* po/Make-in: Add html target.
diff --git a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
index 828eb5d2f3..aaa0951229 100644
--- a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
+++ b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
@@ -1399,7 +1399,9 @@ If the output architecture has alternate machine codes, use the
 @var{index}th code instead of the default one.  This is useful in case
 a machine is assigned an official code and the tool-chain adopts the 
 new code, but other applications still depend on the original code
-being used.
+being used.  For ELF based architectures if the @var{index}
+alternative does not exist then the value is treated as an absolute
+number to be stored in the e_machine field of the ELF header.
 
 @item --writable-text
 Mark the output text as writable.  This option isn't meaningful for all
diff --git a/binutils/objcopy.c b/binutils/objcopy.c
index a9fb877ec0..0e0cfaaccf 100644
--- a/binutils/objcopy.c
+++ b/binutils/objcopy.c
@@ -147,8 +147,8 @@ static bfd_byte gap_fill = 0;
 static bfd_boolean pad_to_set = FALSE;
 static bfd_vma pad_to;
 
-/* Use alternate machine code?  */
-static int use_alt_mach_code = 0;
+/* Use alternative machine code?  */
+static unsigned long use_alt_mach_code = 0;
 
 /* Output BFD flags user wants to set or clear */
 static flagword bfd_flags_to_set;
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ copy_usage (FILE *stream, int exit_status)
      --globalize-symbols <file>    --globalize-symbol for all in <file>\n\
      --keep-global-symbols <file>  -G for all symbols listed in <file>\n\
      --weaken-symbols <file>       -W for all symbols listed in <file>\n\
-     --alt-machine-code <index>    Use alternate machine code for output\n\
+     --alt-machine-code <index>    Use the target's <index>'th alternative machine\n\
      --writable-text               Mark the output text as writable\n\
      --readonly-text               Make the output text write protected\n\
      --pure                        Mark the output file as demand paged\n\
@@ -1667,9 +1667,21 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd)
   /* Switch to the alternate machine code.  We have to do this at the
      very end, because we only initialize the header when we create
      the first section.  */
-  if (use_alt_mach_code != 0
-      && ! bfd_alt_mach_code (obfd, use_alt_mach_code))
-    non_fatal (_("unknown alternate machine code, ignored"));
+  if (use_alt_mach_code != 0)
+    {
+      if (! bfd_alt_mach_code (obfd, use_alt_mach_code))
+	{
+	  non_fatal (_("this target does not support %lu alternative machine codes"),
+		     use_alt_mach_code);
+	  if (bfd_get_flavour (obfd) == bfd_target_elf_flavour)
+	    {
+	      non_fatal (_("treating that number as an absolute e_machine value instead"));
+	      elf_elfheader (obfd)->e_machine = use_alt_mach_code;
+	    }
+	  else
+	    non_fatal (_("ignoring the alternative value"));
+	}
+    }
 
   return TRUE;
 }
@@ -3069,9 +3081,9 @@ copy_main (int argc, char *argv[])
 	  break;
 
 	case OPTION_ALT_MACH_CODE:
-	  use_alt_mach_code = atoi (optarg);
-	  if (use_alt_mach_code <= 0)
-	    fatal (_("alternate machine code index must be positive"));
+	  use_alt_mach_code = strtoul (optarg, NULL, 0);
+	  if (use_alt_mach_code == 0)
+	    fatal (_("unable to parse alternative machine code"));
 	  break;
 
 	case OPTION_PREFIX_SYMBOLS: