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35 .Nd run-time link-editor (linker)
38 is a self-contained, position independent program
39 image providing run-time support for loading and
40 link-editing shared objects into a process' address space.
41 It uses information stored in data structures within the binary (see
43 and environment variables to determine which shared objects are needed.
44 These shared objects are loaded at a convenient virtual address using the
47 After all shared objects have been successfully loaded,
49 proceeds to resolve external references from both
50 the main program and all objects loaded.
51 Once all required references are resolved control is
52 passed to the program via its entry point.
54 On the execution of a dynamically linked binary the kernel will load
55 the program and its run-time linker as specified in the PT_INTERP
56 section in the program header.
57 At this point, instead of passing control directly to the program,
58 the kernel passes control to the specified linker.
59 An auxiliary vector of information is passed that includes
60 the address of the program header, the size of each entry in the header,
61 and the number of entries.
62 The entry point of the program and the base address of where
64 is loaded is also supplied.
68 object file may contain information in its dynamic (PT_DYNAMIC) section
69 about which shared objects it requires (often referred to as dependencies).
70 These dependencies are specified in the optional DT_NEEDED entry within
72 Each DT_NEEDED entry refers to a filename string of
73 the shared object that is to be searched for.
75 The linker will search for libraries in three lists of paths:
78 A user defined list of paths as specified in LD_LIBRARY_PATH and
81 The use of ld.so.conf should be avoided as the setting of a global search
82 path can present a security risk.
84 A list of paths specified within a shared object using a DT_RPATH entry in
86 This is defined at shared object link time.
88 The list of default paths which is set to
94 uses the DT_RPATH entries of the main binary, independently of which object
98 will expand the following variables if present in the paths:
99 .Bl -tag -width $PLATFORM
101 Processor hardware capabilities, for example FPU, MMX, SSE.
102 Currently unimplemented.
104 List of instructions sets this processor can execute.
105 Currently unimplemented.
107 The directory of the main object.
110 but the kernel support is currently disabled.
131 The filename string can be considered free form, however, it will almost
132 always take the form lib\*[Lt]name\*[Gt].so.\*[Lt]number\*[Gt],
133 where name specifies the
135 name and number is conceptually the library's major version number.
137 This name and another of the form lib\*[Lt]name\*[Gt].so are normally
138 symbolic links to the real shared object which has a filename of the form
139 lib\*[Lt]name\*[Gt].so.\*[Lt]major\*[Gt].\*[Lt]minor\*[Gt][.\*[Lt]teeny\*[Gt]].
140 This naming convention allows a versioning scheme similar to
144 will perform all necessary relocations immediately except for relocations
145 relating to the Procedure Linkage Table (PLT).
146 The PLT is used as a indirection method for procedure
147 calls to globally defined functions.
148 It allows, through the use of intermediate code, the delayed binding of
149 a call to a globally defined function to be performed at procedure call time.
152 method is the default (see LD_BIND_NOW).
154 A mechanism is provided for initialization and termination routines
155 to be called, on a per-object basis before execution of the program proper
156 begins or after the program has completed.
157 This gives a shared object an opportunity to perform
158 any extra set-up or completion work.
160 The DT_INIT and DT_FINI entries in the dynamic section specify the addresses
161 of the initialization and termination functions, respectively, for
164 arranges for each initialization function to be called before control is passed
165 to the program and for the termination functions to be called by using
168 This mechanism is exploited by the system-supplied constructor
169 initialization and destructor code located in
170 .Pa /usr/lib/crtbeginS.o
172 .Pa /usr/lib/crtendS.o .
173 These files are automatically included by
177 in the list of object-code files passed to
179 when building a shared C or C++ object.
181 If the following environment variables exist they will be used by
183 .Bl -tag -width "LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
184 .It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
185 A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
186 for shared libraries.
188 A colon or space separated list of shared object filenames to be loaded
192 its shared object dependencies.
193 Space is allowed as a separator for backwards compatibility only.
194 Support may be removed in a future release and should not be relied upon.
196 If defined immediate binding of Procedure Link Table (PLT) entries is
197 performed instead of the default lazy method.
199 If defined a variety of debug information will be written to the standard
200 error of an dynamically linked executed when it is run.
201 This variable is only recognized if
203 was compiled with debugging support
207 .Bl -tag -width /etc/ld.so.conf -compact
208 .It Pa /etc/ld.so.conf
209 library location hints supplied by the system administrator.
217 The ELF shared library model employed first appeared in Sys V R4.
219 The path expansion variables first appeared in Solaris 10, and
222 .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
223 The environment variables
227 are not honored when executing in a set-user-ID or set-group-ID environment.
228 This action is taken to prevent malicious substitution of shared object
229 dependencies or interposition of symbols.