| 1 | This is the GNU linker. It is distributed with other "binary
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| 2 | utilities" which should be in ../binutils. See ../binutils/README for
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| 3 | more general notes, including where to send bug reports.
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| 4 |
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| 5 | There are many features of the linker:
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| 6 |
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| 7 | * The linker uses a Binary File Descriptor library (../bfd)
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| 8 | that it uses to read and write object files. This helps
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| 9 | insulate the linker itself from the format of object files.
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| 10 |
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| 11 | * The linker supports a number of different object file
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| 12 | formats. It can even handle multiple formats at once:
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| 13 | Read two input formats and write a third.
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| 14 |
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| 15 | * The linker can be configured for cross-linking.
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| 16 |
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| 17 | * The linker supports a control language.
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| 18 |
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| 19 | * There is a user manual (ld.texinfo), as well as the
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| 20 | beginnings of an internals manual (ldint.texinfo).
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| 21 |
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| 22 | Installation
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| 23 | ============
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| 24 |
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| 25 | See ../binutils/README.
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| 26 |
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| 27 | If you want to make a cross-linker, you may want to specify
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| 28 | a different search path of -lfoo libraries than the default.
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| 29 | You can do this by setting the LIB_PATH variable in ./Makefile.
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| 30 |
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| 31 | To build just the linker, make the target all-ld from the top level
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| 32 | directory (one directory above this one).
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| 33 |
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| 34 | Porting to a new target
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| 35 | =======================
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| 36 |
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| 37 | See the ldint.texinfo manual.
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| 38 |
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| 39 | Reporting bugs etc
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| 40 | ===========================
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| 41 |
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| 42 | See ../binutils/README.
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| 43 |
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| 44 | Known problems
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| 45 | ==============
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| 46 |
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| 47 | The Solaris linker normally exports all dynamic symbols from an
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| 48 | executable. The GNU linker does not do this by default. This is
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| 49 | because the GNU linker tries to present the same interface for all
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| 50 | similar targets (in this case, all native ELF targets). This does not
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| 51 | matter for normal programs, but it can make a difference for programs
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| 52 | which try to dlopen an executable, such as PERL or Tcl. You can make
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| 53 | the GNU linker export all dynamic symbols with the -E or
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| 54 | --export-dynamic command line option.
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| 55 |
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| 56 | HP/UX 9.01 has a shell bug that causes the linker scripts to be
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| 57 | generated incorrectly. The symptom of this appears to be "fatal error
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| 58 | - scanner input buffer overflow" error messages. There are various
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| 59 | workarounds to this:
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| 60 | * Build and install bash, and build with "make SHELL=bash".
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| 61 | * Update to a version of HP/UX with a working shell (e.g., 9.05).
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| 62 | * Replace "(. ${srcdir}/scripttempl/${SCRIPT_NAME}.sc)" in
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| 63 | genscripts.sh with "sh ${srcdir}..." (no parens) and make sure the
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| 64 | emulparams script used exports any shell variables it sets.
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