We have several checks for the behavior of a very old GNU binutil linker. If we instead require at least version 2.18 of binutils, we can remove these checks.
For consistency, I have also added extraction of the linker version to the other toolchains/platforms I have access to. Bug: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8199403 WebRev: http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~ihse/JDK-8199403-require-binutils-2_18/webrev.01 /Magnus
