1 README for LD 2 3 This is the GNU linker. It is distributed with other "binary 4 utilities" which should be in ../binutils. See ../binutils/README for 5 more general notes, including where to send bug reports. 6 7 There are many features of the linker: 8 9 * The linker uses a Binary File Descriptor library (../bfd) 10 that it uses to read and write object files. This helps 11 insulate the linker itself from the format of object files. 12 13 * The linker supports a number of different object file 14 formats. It can even handle multiple formats at once: 15 Read two input formats and write a third. 16 17 * The linker can be configured for cross-linking. 18 19 * The linker supports a control language. 20 21 * There is a user manual (ld.texinfo), as well as the 22 beginnings of an internals manual (ldint.texinfo). 23 24 Installation 25 ============ 26 27 See ../binutils/README. 28 29 If you want to make a cross-linker, you may want to specify 30 a different search path of -lfoo libraries than the default. 31 You can do this by setting the LIB_PATH variable in ./Makefile 32 or using the --with-lib-path configure switch. 33 34 To build just the linker, make the target all-ld from the top level 35 directory (one directory above this one). 36 37 Porting to a new target 38 ======================= 39 40 See the ldint.texinfo manual. 41 42 Reporting bugs etc 43 =========================== 44 45 See ../binutils/README. 46 47 Known problems 48 ============== 49 50 The Solaris linker normally exports all dynamic symbols from an 51 executable. The GNU linker does not do this by default. This is 52 because the GNU linker tries to present the same interface for all 53 similar targets (in this case, all native ELF targets). This does not 54 matter for normal programs, but it can make a difference for programs 55 which try to dlopen an executable, such as PERL or Tcl. You can make 56 the GNU linker export all dynamic symbols with the -E or 57 --export-dynamic command line option. 58 59 HP/UX 9.01 has a shell bug that causes the linker scripts to be 60 generated incorrectly. The symptom of this appears to be "fatal error 61 - scanner input buffer overflow" error messages. There are various 62 workarounds to this: 63 * Build and install bash, and build with "make SHELL=bash". 64 * Update to a version of HP/UX with a working shell (e.g., 9.05). 65 * Replace "(. ${srcdir}/scripttempl/${SCRIPT_NAME}.sc)" in 66 genscripts.sh with "sh ${srcdir}..." (no parens) and make sure the 67 emulparams script used exports any shell variables it sets. 68 70 Copyright (C) 2012-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 71 72 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, 73 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright 74 notice and this notice are preserved. 75
