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LD(1)			     GNU Development Tools			 LD(1)



NAME
       ld - Using LD, the GNU linker

SYNOPSIS
       ld [options] objfile ...

DESCRIPTION
       ld  combines a number of object and archive files, relocates their data
       and ties up symbol references. Usually the last	step  in  compiling  a
       program is to run ld.

       ld  accepts  Linker  Command  Language  files  written in a superset of
       AT&Ts Link Editor Command Language syntax,  to  provide	explicit  and
       total control over the linking process.

       This  man page does not describe the command language; see the ld entry
       in "info", or the manual ld: the GNU linker, for full  details  on  the
       command language and on other aspects of the GNU linker.

       This version of ld uses the general purpose BFD libraries to operate on
       object files. This allows ld to read, combine, and write  object  files
       in  many  different  formats---for example, COFF or "a.out".  Different
       formats may be linked together to produce any available kind of	object
       file.

       Aside  from  its flexibility, the GNU linker is more helpful than other
       linkers in providing diagnostic information.  Many linkers abandon exe
       cution  immediately  upon  encountering an error; whenever possible, ld
       continues executing, allowing you to identify other errors (or, in some
       cases, to get an output file in spite of the error).

       The GNU linker ld is meant to cover a broad range of situations, and to
       be as compatible as possible with other linkers.  As a result, you have
       many choices to control its behavior.

OPTIONS
       The  linker  supports a plethora of command-line options, but in actual
       practice few of them are used in any particular context.  For instance,
       a  frequent  use of ld is to link standard Unix object files on a stan
       dard, supported Unix  system.   On  such  a  system,  to  link  a  file
       "hello.o":

	       ld -o  /lib/crt0.o hello.o -lc

       This  tells ld to produce a file called output as the result of linking
       the file "/lib/crt0.o" with "hello.o" and the library  "libc.a",  which
       will come from the standard search directories.	(See the discussion of
       the -l option below.)

       Some of the command-line options to ld may be specified at any point in
       the command line.  However, options which refer to files, such as -l or
       -T, cause the file to be read at the point at which the option  appears
       in  the	command  line,	relative  to  the  object files and other file
       options.  Repeating non-file options with  a  different	argument  will
       either  have  no  further  effect, or override prior occurrences (those
       further to the left on the command line) of that option.  Options which
       may  be meaningfully specified more than once are noted in the descrip
       tions below.

       Non-option arguments are object files  or  archives  which  are	to  be
       linked  together.   They  may follow, precede, or be mixed in with com
       mand-line options, except that an  object  file	argument  may  not  be
       placed between an option and its argument.

       Usually	the  linker  is invoked with at least one object file, but you
       can specify other forms of binary input files using  -l,  -R,  and  the
       script  command	language.   If no binary input files at all are speci
       fied, the linker does not produce any output, and issues the message No
       input files.

       If  the	linker	cannot recognize the format of an object file, it will
       assume that it is a linker script.  A script specified in this way aug
       ments  the  main  linker  script  used for the link (either the default
       linker script or the one specified by using -T).  This feature  permits
       the  linker  to link against a file which appears to be an object or an
       archive, but actually  merely  defines  some  symbol  values,  or  uses
       "INPUT"	or  "GROUP"  to  load  other  objects.	Note that specifying a
       script in this way merely augments the main linker script; use  the  -T
       option to replace the default linker script entirely.

       For  options  whose  names  are	a single letter, option arguments must
       either follow the option letter without intervening whitespace,	or  be
       given  as  separate  arguments  immediately  following  the option that
       requires them.

       For options whose names are multiple letters, either one  dash  or  two
       can   precede   the   option   name;  for  example,  -trace-symbol  and
       --trace-symbol are equivalent.  Note---there is one exception  to  this
       rule.   Multiple  letter  options  that start with a lower case o can
       only be preceeded by two dashes.  This is to reduce confusion with  the
       -o  option.   So for example -omagic sets the output file name to magic
       whereas --omagic sets the NMAGIC flag on the output.

       Arguments to multiple-letter options must either be separated from  the
       option  name by an equals sign, or be given as separate arguments imme
       diately	following  the	option	that  requires	them.	For   example,
       --trace-symbol  foo  and  --trace-symbol=foo  are  equivalent.	Unique
       abbreviations of the names of multiple-letter options are accepted.

       Note---if the linker is being invoked indirectly, via a compiler driver
       (e.g.  gcc) then all the linker command line options should be prefixed
       by -Wl, (or whatever is appropriate for the particular compiler driver)
       like this:

		 gcc -Wl,--startgroup foo.o bar.o -Wl,--endgroup

       This  is  important,  because otherwise the compiler driver program may
       silently drop the linker options, resulting in a bad link.

       Here is a table of the generic command line switches  accepted  by  the
       GNU linker:

       @file
	   Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted
	   in place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist,  or
	   cannot  be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
	   removed.

	   Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace  charac
	   ter	may  be included in an option by surrounding the entire option
	   in either single or double  quotes.	 Any  character  (including  a
	   backslash)  may  be	included  by  prefixing  the  character  to be
	   included with a backslash.  The file may itself contain  additional
	   @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.

       -akeyword
	   This  option  is  supported	for  HP/UX compatibility.  The keyword
	   argument must be one of the strings archive,  shared,  or  default.
	   -aarchive is functionally equivalent to -Bstatic, and the other two
	   keywords are functionally equivalent to -Bdynamic.  This option may
	   be used any number of times.

       -Aarchitecture
       --architecture=architecture
	   In  the  current  release of ld, this option is useful only for the
	   Intel 960 family of architectures.  In that ld  configuration,  the
	   architecture argument identifies the particular architecture in the
	   960 family, enabling some safeguards  and  modifying  the  archive-
	   library search path.

	   Future  releases  of ld may support similar functionality for other
	   architecture families.

       -b input-format
       --format=input-format
	   ld may be configured to support more than one kind of object  file.
	   If  your  ld  is  configured this way, you can use the -b option to
	   specify the binary format for input object files that  follow  this
	   option  on the command line.  Even when ld is configured to support
	   alternative object formats, you dont usually need to specify this,
	   as  ld should be configured to expect as a default input format the
	   most usual format on each machine.  input-format is a text  string,
	   the	name  of  a  particular format supported by the BFD libraries.
	   (You can list the available binary formats with objdump -i.)

	   You may want to use this option if you are linking  files  with  an
	   unusual  binary  format.   You  can	also  use -b to switch formats
	   explicitly (when linking object files  of  different  formats),  by
	   including  -b  input-format	before each group of object files in a
	   particular format.

	   The default format is taken from the environment variable  "GNUTAR
	   GET".

	   You	can also define the input format from a script, using the com
	   mand "TARGET";

       -c MRI-commandfile
       --mri-script=MRI-commandfile
	   For compatibility with linkers produced by MRI, ld  accepts	script
	   files   written  in	an  alternate,	restricted  command  language,
	   described in the MRI Compatible Script Files section of GNU ld doc
	   umentation.	Introduce MRI script files with the option -c; use the
	   -T option to run linker scripts written in the  general-purpose  ld
	   scripting language.	If MRI-cmdfile does not exist, ld looks for it
	   in the directories specified by any -L options.

       -d
       -dc
       -dp These three options are equivalent; multiple  forms	are  supported
	   for	compatibility with other linkers.  They assign space to common
	   symbols even if a relocatable output file is specified  (with  -r).
	   The script command "FORCE_COMMON_ALLOCATION" has the same effect.

       -e entry
       --entry=entry
	   Use	entry  as  the explicit symbol for beginning execution of your
	   program, rather than the default entry point.  If there is no  sym
	   bol	named  entry,  the linker will try to parse entry as a number,
	   and use that as the entry address (the number will  be  interpreted
	   in  base  10;  you may use a leading 0x for base 16, or a leading 0
	   for base 8).

       --exclude-libs lib,lib,...
	   Specifies a list of archive libraries from which symbols should not
	   be  automatically  exported.  The library names may be delimited by
	   commas or colons.  Specifying "--exclude-libs ALL" excludes symbols
	   in  all  archive  libraries	from automatic export.	This option is
	   available only for the i386 PE targeted port of the linker and  for
	   ELF	targeted  ports.   For i386 PE, symbols explicitly listed in a
	   .def file are still exported, regardless of this option.   For  ELF
	   targeted  ports, symbols affected by this option will be treated as
	   hidden.

       -E
       --export-dynamic
	   When creating a dynamically linked executable, add all  symbols  to
	   the	dynamic  symbol table.	The dynamic symbol table is the set of
	   symbols which are visible from dynamic objects at run time.

	   If you do not use this option, the dynamic symbol table  will  nor
	   mally  contain  only  those	symbols  which	are referenced by some
	   dynamic object mentioned in the link.

	   If you use "dlopen" to load a dynamic object which needs  to  refer
	   back  to the symbols defined by the program, rather than some other
	   dynamic object, then you will probably need to use this option when
	   linking the program itself.

	   You	can also use the version script to control what symbols should
	   be added to the dynamic symbol table if the output format  supports
	   it.	See the description of --version-script in VERSION.

       -EB Link big-endian objects.  This affects the default output format.

       -EL Link  little-endian	objects.  This affects the default output for
	   mat.

       -f
       --auxiliary name
	   When creating an ELF shared object, set the	internal  DT_AUXILIARY
	   field  to  the  specified name.  This tells the dynamic linker that
	   the symbol table of the shared object should be used as  an	auxil
	   iary filter on the symbol table of the shared object name.

	   If  you later link a program against this filter object, then, when
	   you run the program, the dynamic linker will see  the  DT_AUXILIARY
	   field.   If the dynamic linker resolves any symbols from the filter
	   object, it will first check whether there is a  definition  in  the
	   shared  object  name.   If there is one, it will be used instead of
	   the definition in the filter object.  The shared object  name  need
	   not	exist.	 Thus the shared object name may be used to provide an
	   alternative implementation of certain functions, perhaps for debug
	   ging or for machine specific performance.

	   This  option  may  be  specified  more than once.  The DT_AUXILIARY
	   entries will be created in the order in which they  appear  on  the
	   command line.

       -F name
       --filter name
	   When  creating  an  ELF  shared  object, set the internal DT_FILTER
	   field to the specified name.  This tells the  dynamic  linker  that
	   the symbol table of the shared object which is being created should
	   be used as a filter on the symbol table of the shared object  name.

	   If  you later link a program against this filter object, then, when
	   you run the program, the dynamic  linker  will  see	the  DT_FILTER
	   field.   The  dynamic  linker will resolve symbols according to the
	   symbol table of the filter object as usual, but  it	will  actually
	   link  to the definitions found in the shared object name.  Thus the
	   filter object can be used to select a subset of  the  symbols  pro
	   vided by the object name.

	   Some  older	linkers  used  the  -F option throughout a compilation
	   toolchain for specifying object-file format for both input and out
	   put	object	files.	 The GNU linker uses other mechanisms for this
	   purpose: the -b, --format, --oformat options, the "TARGET"  command
	   in  linker  scripts, and the "GNUTARGET" environment variable.  The
	   GNU linker will ignore the -F  option  when	not  creating  an  ELF
	   shared object.

       -fini name
	   When  creating  an  ELF executable or shared object, call NAME when
	   the executable or shared object is unloaded, by setting DT_FINI  to
	   the	address  of the function.  By default, the linker uses "_fini"
	   as the function to call.

       -g  Ignored.  Provided for compatibility with other tools.

       -Gvalue
       --gpsize=value
	   Set the maximum size of objects to be optimized using the GP regis
	   ter	to size.  This is only meaningful for object file formats such
	   as MIPS ECOFF which supports putting large and small  objects  into
	   different sections.	This is ignored for other object file formats.

       -hname
       -soname=name
	   When creating an ELF shared	object,  set  the  internal  DT_SONAME
	   field  to  the specified name.  When an executable is linked with a
	   shared object which has a DT_SONAME field, then when the executable
	   is  run  the  dynamic linker will attempt to load the shared object
	   specified by the DT_SONAME field rather than  the  using  the  file
	   name given to the linker.

       -i  Perform an incremental link (same as option -r).

       -init name
	   When  creating  an  ELF executable or shared object, call NAME when
	   the executable or shared object is loaded, by  setting  DT_INIT  to
	   the	address  of the function.  By default, the linker uses "_init"
	   as the function to call.

       -larchive
       --library=archive
	   Add archive file archive to the list of files to link.  This option
	   may	be used any number of times.  ld will search its path-list for
	   occurrences of "libarchive.a" for every archive specified.

	   On systems which support shared libraries, ld may also  search  for
	   libraries  with  extensions	other than ".a".  Specifically, on ELF
	   and SunOS systems, ld will search a directory for a library with an
	   extension  of  ".so"  before searching for one with an extension of
	   ".a".  By convention, a ".so" extension indicates a shared library.

	   The	linker will search an archive only once, at the location where
	   it is specified on the command line.  If the archive defines a sym
	   bol	which  was  undefined in some object which appeared before the
	   archive on the command line, the linker will include the  appropri
	   ate	file(s)  from the archive.  However, an undefined symbol in an
	   object appearing later on the  command  line  will  not  cause  the
	   linker to search the archive again.

	   See	the -( option for a way to force the linker to search archives
	   multiple times.

	   You may list the same archive multiple times on the command line.

	   This type of archive searching is standard for Unix linkers.   How
	   ever,  if  you  are using ld on AIX, note that it is different from
	   the behaviour of the AIX linker.

       -Lsearchdir
       --library-path=searchdir
	   Add path searchdir to the list of paths that  ld  will  search  for
	   archive  libraries and ld control scripts.  You may use this option
	   any number of times.  The directories are searched in the order  in
	   which  they	are specified on the command line.  Directories speci
	   fied on the command line are searched before the  default  directo
	   ries.   All	-L  options apply to all -l options, regardless of the
	   order in which the options appear.

	   If searchdir begins with "=", then the "=" will be replaced by  the
	   sysroot prefix, a path specified when the linker is configured.

	   The default set of paths searched (without being specified with -L)
	   depends on which emulation mode ld is using, and in some cases also
	   on how it was configured.

	   The	paths  can  also  be  specified  in  a	link  script  with the
	   "SEARCH_DIR" command.  Directories specified this way are  searched
	   at  the  point  in  which  the linker script appears in the command
	   line.

       -memulation
	   Emulate the emulation linker.  You can list	the  available	emula
	   tions with the --verbose or -V options.

	   If  the  -m	option	is  not  used, the emulation is taken from the
	   "LDEMULATION" environment variable, if that is defined.

	   Otherwise, the default emulation depends upon how  the  linker  was
	   configured.

       -M
       --print-map
	   Print  a  link  map	to  the  standard output.  A link map provides
	   information about the link, including the following:

	   *   Where object files are mapped into memory.

	   *   How common symbols are allocated.

	   *   All archive members included in the link, with a mention of the
	       symbol which caused the archive member to be brought in.

	   *   The values assigned to symbols.

	       Note - symbols whose values are computed by an expression which
	       involves a reference to a previous value of the same symbol may
	       not  have  correct  result  displayed in the link map.  This is
	       because the  linker  discards  intermediate  results  and  only
	       retains	the  final value of an expression.  Under such circum
	       stances the linker will display the  final  value  enclosed  by
	       square brackets.  Thus for example a linker script containing:

			  foo = 1
			  foo = foo * 4
			  foo = foo + 8

	       will  produce  the  following  output in the link map if the -M
	       option is used:

			  0x00000001		    foo = 0x1
			  [0x0000000c]		      foo = (foo * 0x4)
			  [0x0000000c]		      foo = (foo + 0x8)

	       See Expressions	for  more  information	about  expressions  in
	       linker scripts.

       -n
       --nmagic
	   Turn  off  page  alignment  of  sections,  and  mark  the output as
	   "NMAGIC" if possible.

       -N
       --omagic
	   Set the text and data sections to be readable and writable.	 Also,
	   do  not  page-align	the  data segment, and disable linking against
	   shared libraries.  If the output format supports Unix  style  magic
	   numbers,  mark  the	output	as "OMAGIC". Note: Although a writable
	   text section is allowed for PE-COFF targets, it does not conform to
	   the format specification published by Microsoft.

       --no-omagic
	   This  option negates most of the effects of the -N option.  It sets
	   the text section to be read-only, and forces the data segment to be
	   page-aligned.   Note  - this option does not enable linking against
	   shared libraries.  Use -Bdynamic for this.

       -o output
       --output=output
	   Use output as the name for the program  produced  by  ld;  if  this
	   option  is  not  specified, the name a.out is used by default.  The
	   script command "OUTPUT" can also specify the output file name.

       -O level
	   If level is a numeric values greater than  zero  ld	optimizes  the
	   output.   This might take significantly longer and therefore proba
	   bly should only be enabled for the final binary.

       -q
       --emit-relocs
	   Leave relocation sections and contents in fully  linked  exececuta
	   bles.   Post  link  analysis  and  optimization tools may need this
	   information in order to perform correct modifications  of  executa
	   bles.  This results in larger executables.

	   This option is currently only supported on ELF platforms.

       --force-dynamic
	   Force  the  output  file  to have dynamic sections.	This option is
	   specific to VxWorks targets.

       -r
       --relocatable
	   Generate relocatable output---i.e., generate an  output  file  that
	   can	in  turn  serve  as input to ld.  This is often called partial
	   linking.  As a side effect, in environments that  support  standard
	   Unix  magic	numbers, this option also sets the output files magic
	   number to "OMAGIC".	If this option is not specified,  an  absolute
	   file  is produced.  When linking C++ programs, this option will not
	   resolve references to constructors; to do that, use -Ur.

	   When an input file does not have the  same  format  as  the	output
	   file, partial linking is only supported if that input file does not
	   contain any relocations.  Different output formats can have further
	   restrictions; for example some "a.out"-based formats do not support
	   partial linking with input files in other formats at all.

	   This option does the same thing as -i.

       -R filename
       --just-symbols=filename
	   Read symbol names and their addresses from  filename,  but  do  not
	   relocate  it  or include it in the output.  This allows your output
	   file to refer symbolically to absolute locations of memory  defined
	   in other programs.  You may use this option more than once.

	   For	compatibility with other ELF linkers, if the -R option is fol
	   lowed by a directory name, rather than a file name, it  is  treated
	   as the -rpath option.

       -s
       --strip-all
	   Omit all symbol information from the output file.

       -S
       --strip-debug
	   Omit  debugger  symbol  information	(but not all symbols) from the
	   output file.

       -t
       --trace
	   Print the names of the input files as ld processes them.

       -T scriptfile
       --script=scriptfile
	   Use scriptfile as the linker script.   This	script	replaces  lds
	   default  linker  script  (rather than adding to it), so commandfile
	   must specify everything necessary  to  describe  the  output  file.
	   If  scriptfile  does not exist in the current directory, "ld" looks
	   for it in the directories specified by any  preceding  -L  options.
	   Multiple -T options accumulate.

       -u symbol
       --undefined=symbol
	   Force  symbol to be entered in the output file as an undefined sym
	   bol.  Doing this may, for example, trigger  linking	of  additional
	   modules from standard libraries.  -u may be repeated with different
	   option arguments  to  enter	additional  undefined  symbols.   This
	   option is equivalent to the "EXTERN" linker script command.

       -Ur For	anything other than C++ programs, this option is equivalent to
	   -r: it generates relocatable output---i.e., an output file that can
	   in  turn serve as input to ld.  When linking C++ programs, -Ur does
	   resolve references to constructors, unlike -r.  It does not work to
	   use	-Ur  on  files	that were themselves linked with -Ur; once the
	   constructor table has been built, it cannot be added to.   Use  -Ur
	   only for the last partial link, and -r for the others.

       --unique[=SECTION]
	   Creates  a separate output section for every input section matching
	   SECTION, or if the optional wildcard SECTION argument  is  missing,
	   for	every  orphan  input  section.	 An  orphan section is one not
	   specifically mentioned in a linker script.  You may use this option
	   multiple times on the command line;	It prevents the normal merging
	   of input sections with the same  name,  overriding  output  section
	   assignments in a linker script.

       -v
       --version
       -V  Display  the  version  number for ld.  The -V option also lists the
	   supported emulations.

       -x
       --discard-all
	   Delete all local symbols.

       -X
       --discard-locals
	   Delete all temporary local symbols.	For most targets, this is  all
	   local symbols whose names begin with L.

       -y symbol
       --trace-symbol=symbol
	   Print  the  name of each linked file in which symbol appears.  This
	   option may be given any number of times.  On  many  systems	it  is
	   necessary to prepend an underscore.

	   This  option  is  useful  when you have an undefined symbol in your
	   link but dont know where the reference is coming from.

       -Y path
	   Add path to the default library search path.   This	option	exists
	   for Solaris compatibility.

       -z keyword
	   The recognized keywords are:

	   combreloc
	       Combines multiple reloc sections and sorts them to make dynamic
	       symbol lookup caching possible.

	   defs
	       Disallows undefined symbols in object files.  Undefined symbols
	       in shared libraries are still allowed.

	   execstack
	       Marks the object as requiring executable stack.

	   initfirst
	       This  option  is only meaningful when building a shared object.
	       It marks the object so that  its  runtime  initialization  will
	       occur  before  the  runtime initialization of any other objects
	       brought into the process at the same time.  Similarly the  run
	       time  finalization  of  the object will occur after the runtime
	       finalization of any other objects.

	   interpose
	       Marks the object that its symbol table  interposes  before  all
	       symbols but the primary executable.

	   loadfltr
	       Marks   the object that its filters be processed immediately at
	       runtime.

	   muldefs
	       Allows multiple definitions.

	   nocombreloc
	       Disables multiple reloc sections combining.

	   nocopyreloc
	       Disables production of copy relocs.

	   nodefaultlib
	       Marks the object that  the  search  for	dependencies  of  this
	       object will ignore any default library search paths.

	   nodelete
	       Marks the object shouldnt be unloaded at runtime.

	   nodlopen
	       Marks the object not available to "dlopen".

	   nodump
	       Marks the object can not be dumped by "dldump".

	   noexecstack
	       Marks the object as not requiring executable stack.

	   norelro
	       Dont  create  an  ELF  "PT_GNU_RELRO"  segment  header  in the
	       object.

	   now When generating an executable or shared	library,  mark	it  to
	       tell the dynamic linker to resolve all symbols when the program
	       is started, or when the	shared	library  is  linked  to  using
	       dlopen,	instead  of  deferring function call resolution to the
	       point when the function is first called.

	   origin
	       Marks the object may contain $ORIGIN.

	   relro
	       Create an ELF "PT_GNU_RELRO" segment header in the object.

	   Other keywords are ignored for Solaris compatibility.

       -( archives -)
       --start-group archives --end-group
	   The archives should be a list of archive files.  They may be either
	   explicit file names, or -l options.

	   The	specified  archives are searched repeatedly until no new unde
	   fined references are created.  Normally,  an  archive  is  searched
	   only  once  in  the order that it is specified on the command line.
	   If a symbol in that archive is needed to resolve an undefined  sym
	   bol	referred  to  by an object in an archive that appears later on
	   the command line, the linker would not be able to resolve that ref
	   erence.   By grouping the archives, they all be searched repeatedly
	   until all possible references are resolved.

	   Using this option has a significant performance cost.  It  is  best
	   to  use  it	only  when  there  are unavoidable circular references
	   between two or more archives.

       --accept-unknown-input-arch
       --no-accept-unknown-input-arch
	   Tells the linker to accept input files whose architecture cannot be
	   recognised.	 The  assumption  is that the user knows what they are
	   doing and deliberately wants to link in these unknown input	files.
	   This  was the default behaviour of the linker, before release 2.14.
	   The default behaviour from release 2.14 onwards is to  reject  such
	   input files, and so the --accept-unknown-input-arch option has been
	   added to restore the old behaviour.

       --as-needed
       --no-as-needed
	   This option affects ELF DT_NEEDED tags for dynamic  libraries  men
	   tioned on the command line after the --as-needed option.  Normally,
	   the linker will add a DT_NEEDED tag for each dynamic  library  men
	   tioned  on  the  command line, regardless of whether the library is
	   actually needed.  --as-needed causes  DT_NEEDED  tags  to  only  be
	   emitted for libraries that satisfy some symbol reference from regu
	   lar objects which is undefined at the point that  the  library  was
	   linked.  --no-as-needed restores the default behaviour.

       --add-needed
       --no-add-needed
	   This  option  affects  the  treatment of dynamic libraries from ELF
	   DT_NEEDED tags in dynamic libraries mentioned on the  command  line
	   after  the --no-add-needed option.  Normally, the linker will add a
	   DT_NEEDED  tag  for	each  dynamic  library	from  DT_NEEDED  tags.
	   --no-add-needed  causes  DT_NEEDED  tags  will never be emitted for
	   those libraries from  DT_NEEDED  tags.  --add-needed  restores  the
	   default behaviour.

       -assert keyword
	   This option is ignored for SunOS compatibility.

       -Bdynamic
       -dy
       -call_shared
	   Link  against  dynamic libraries.  This is only meaningful on plat
	   forms for which shared libraries are  supported.   This  option  is
	   normally  the default on such platforms.  The different variants of
	   this option are for compatibility with various  systems.   You  may
	   use	this  option  multiple	times  on the command line: it affects
	   library searching for -l options which follow it.

       -Bgroup
	   Set the "DF_1_GROUP" flag in the "DT_FLAGS_1" entry in the  dynamic
	   section.   This causes the runtime linker to handle lookups in this
	   object and its dependencies to be performed only inside the	group.
	   --unresolved-symbols=report-all  is	implied.   This option is only
	   meaningful on ELF platforms which support shared libraries.

       -Bstatic
       -dn
       -non_shared
       -static
	   Do not link against shared libraries.  This is only	meaningful  on
	   platforms  for which shared libraries are supported.  The different
	   variants of this option are for compatibility with various systems.
	   You	may  use  this	option	multiple times on the command line: it
	   affects library searching for -l options  which  follow  it.   This
	   option  also  implies --unresolved-symbols=report-all.  This option
	   can be used with -shared.  Doing so means that a shared library  is
	   being  created  but	that  all of the librarys external references
	   must be resolved by pulling in entries from static libraries.

       -Bsymbolic
	   When creating a shared library, bind references to  global  symbols
	   to  the definition within the shared library, if any.  Normally, it
	   is possible for a program linked against a shared library to  over
	   ride the definition within the shared library.  This option is only
	   meaningful on ELF platforms which support shared libraries.

       --check-sections
       --no-check-sections
	   Asks the linker not to check section addresses after they have been
	   assigned  to  see  if  there are any overlaps.  Normally the linker
	   will perform this check, and if it finds any overlaps it will  pro
	   duce suitable error messages.  The linker does know about, and does
	   make allowances for sections in overlays.   The  default  behaviour
	   can	be restored by using the command line switch --check-sections.

       --cref
	   Output a cross reference table.  If a linker map file is being gen
	   erated, the cross reference table is printed to the map file.  Oth
	   erwise, it is printed on the standard output.

	   The format of the table is intentionally simple, so that it may  be
	   easily processed by a script if necessary.  The symbols are printed
	   out, sorted by name.  For each symbol, a  list  of  file  names  is
	   given.   If	the  symbol  is  defined, the first file listed is the
	   location of the definition.	The remaining files contain references
	   to the symbol.

       --no-define-common
	   This option inhibits the assignment of addresses to common symbols.
	   The script command "INHIBIT_COMMON_ALLOCATION" has the same effect.

	   The	--no-define-common  option  allows  decoupling the decision to
	   assign addresses to Common symbols from the choice  of  the	output
	   file type; otherwise a non-Relocatable output type forces assigning
	   addresses to Common symbols.  Using --no-define-common allows  Com
	   mon	symbols  that  are  referenced	from  a  shared  library to be
	   assigned addresses only in the main program.  This  eliminates  the
	   unused duplicate space in the shared library, and also prevents any
	   possible confusion over resolving to the wrong duplicate when there
	   are	many dynamic modules with specialized search paths for runtime
	   symbol resolution.

       --defsym symbol=expression
	   Create a global symbol in the output file, containing the  absolute
	   address given by expression.  You may use this option as many times
	   as necessary to define multiple symbols in  the  command  line.   A
	   limited  form of arithmetic is supported for the expression in this
	   context: you may give a hexadecimal constant  or  the  name	of  an
	   existing  symbol, or use "+" and "-" to add or subtract hexadecimal
	   constants or symbols.  If you need more elaborate expressions, con
	   sider using the linker command language from a script.  Note: there
	   should be no white space between symbol, the equals sign ("="), and
	   expression.

       --demangle[=style]
       --no-demangle
	   These  options  control  whether  to demangle symbol names in error
	   messages and other output.  When the linker is told to demangle, it
	   tries  to  present  symbol  names  in a readable fashion: it strips
	   leading underscores if they are used by the object file format, and
	   converts  C++  mangled symbol names into user readable names.  Dif
	   ferent compilers have  different  mangling  styles.	 The  optional
	   demangling  style  argument	can  be  used to choose an appropriate
	   demangling style for your compiler.	The linker  will  demangle  by
	   default unless the environment variable COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE is set.
	   These options may be used to override the default.

       --dynamic-linker file
	   Set the name of the dynamic linker.	This is only  meaningful  when
	   generating dynamically linked ELF executables.  The default dynamic
	   linker is normally correct; dont use this unless you know what you
	   are doing.

       --fatal-warnings
	   Treat all warnings as errors.

       --force-exe-suffix
	   Make sure that an output file has a .exe suffix.

	   If  a  successfully	built fully linked output file does not have a
	   ".exe" or ".dll" suffix, this option forces the linker to copy  the
	   output  file  to  one  of  the same name with a ".exe" suffix. This
	   option  is  useful  when  using  unmodified	Unix  makefiles  on  a
	   Microsoft Windows host, since some versions of Windows wont run an
	   image unless it ends in a ".exe" suffix.

       --no-gc-sections
       --gc-sections
	   Enable garbage collection of unused input sections.	It is  ignored
	   on  targets	that  do  not support this option.  This option is not
	   compatible with -r. The default behaviour (of not  performing  this
	   garbage  collection) can be restored by specifying --no-gc-sections
	   on the command line.

       --help
	   Print a summary of the command-line options on the standard	output
	   and exit.

       --target-help
	   Print a summary of all target specific options on the standard out
	   put and exit.

       -Map mapfile
	   Print a link map to the file mapfile.  See the description  of  the
	   -M option, above.

       --no-keep-memory
	   ld  normally  optimizes  for speed over memory usage by caching the
	   symbol tables of input files in memory.  This option  tells	ld  to
	   instead  optimize  for memory usage, by rereading the symbol tables
	   as necessary.  This may be required if ld runs out of memory  space
	   while linking a large executable.

       --no-undefined
       -z defs
	   Report  unresolved  symbol  references  from  regular object files.
	   This is done even if the linker is creating a  non-symbolic	shared
	   library.   The  switch  --[no-]allow-shlib-undefined  controls  the
	   behaviour for  reporting  unresolved  references  found  in	shared
	   libraries being linked in.

       --allow-multiple-definition
       -z muldefs
	   Normally  when  a symbol is defined multiple times, the linker will
	   report a fatal error. These options allow multiple definitions  and
	   the first definition will be used.

       --allow-shlib-undefined
       --no-allow-shlib-undefined
	   Allows  (the  default)  or  disallows  undefined  symbols in shared
	   libraries.  This switch is similar to --no-undefined except that it
	   determines the behaviour when the undefined symbols are in a shared
	   library rather than a regular object file.  It does not affect  how
	   undefined symbols in regular object files are handled.

	   The	reason that --allow-shlib-undefined is the default is that the
	   shared library being specified at link time may not be the same  as
	   the	one that is available at load time, so the symbols might actu
	   ally be resolvable at load time.  Plus there are some systems,  (eg
	   BeOS)  where undefined symbols in shared libraries is normal.  (The
	   kernel patches them at load time to select which function  is  most
	   appropriate for the current architecture.  This is used for example
	   to dynamically select an appropriate memset function).   Apparently
	   it  is also normal for HPPA shared libraries to have undefined sym
	   bols.

       --no-undefined-version
	   Normally when a symbol has an undefined version,  the  linker  will
	   ignore it. This option disallows symbols with undefined version and
	   a fatal error will be issued instead.

       --default-symver
	   Create and use a default symbol version  (the  soname)  for	unver
	   sioned exported symbols.

       --default-imported-symver
	   Create  and	use  a	default symbol version (the soname) for unver
	   sioned imported symbols.

       --no-warn-mismatch
	   Normally ld will give an error if you try to  link  together  input
	   files  that	are  mismatched  for some reason, perhaps because they
	   have been compiled for different processors or for different  endi
	   annesses.  This option tells ld that it should silently permit such
	   possible errors.  This option should only be  used  with  care,  in
	   cases when you have taken some special action that ensures that the
	   linker errors are inappropriate.

       --no-whole-archive
	   Turn off the effect of the --whole-archive  option  for  subsequent
	   archive files.

       --noinhibit-exec
	   Retain  the	executable  output  file  whenever it is still usable.
	   Normally, the linker will not produce an output file if it  encoun
	   ters  errors  during  the link process; it exits without writing an
	   output file when it issues any error whatsoever.

       -nostdlib
	   Only search library directories explicitly specified on the command
	   line.   Library  directories specified in linker scripts (including
	   linker scripts specified on the command line) are ignored.

       --oformat output-format
	   ld may be configured to support more than one kind of object  file.
	   If your ld is configured this way, you can use the --oformat option
	   to specify the binary format for the output object file.  Even when
	   ld  is  configured to support alternative object formats, you dont
	   usually need to specify this, as ld should be configured to produce
	   as  a  default output format the most usual format on each machine.
	   output-format is a text string, the name  of  a  particular	format
	   supported by the BFD libraries.  (You can list the available binary
	   formats with objdump -i.)  The script command  "OUTPUT_FORMAT"  can
	   also specify the output format, but this option overrides it.

       -pie
       --pic-executable
	   Create  a  position independent executable.	This is currently only
	   supported on ELF platforms.	Position independent  executables  are
	   similar  to	shared	libraries  in  that  they are relocated by the
	   dynamic linker to the virtual  address  the	OS  chooses  for  them
	   (which  can	vary  between  invocations).   Like normal dynamically
	   linked executables they can be executed and symbols defined in  the
	   executable cannot be overridden by shared libraries.

       -qmagic
	   This option is ignored for Linux compatibility.

       -Qy This option is ignored for SVR4 compatibility.

       --relax
	   An option with machine dependent effects.  This option is only sup
	   ported on a few targets.

	   On some platforms, the --relax option performs global optimizations
	   that  become  possible  when  the linker resolves addressing in the
	   program, such  as  relaxing	address  modes	and  synthesizing  new
	   instructions in the output object file.

	   On  some  platforms	these  link time global optimizations may make
	   symbolic debugging of the resulting executable impossible.  This is
	   known  to be the case for the Matsushita MN10200 and MN10300 family
	   of processors.

	   On platforms where this is not supported, --relax is accepted,  but
	   ignored.

       --retain-symbols-file filename
	   Retain only the symbols listed in the file filename, discarding all
	   others.  filename is simply a flat file, with one symbol  name  per
	   line.   This  option  is especially useful in environments (such as
	   VxWorks) where a large global symbol table  is  accumulated	gradu
	   ally, to conserve run-time memory.

	   --retain-symbols-file  does	not discard undefined symbols, or sym
	   bols needed for relocations.

	   You may only specify  --retain-symbols-file	once  in  the  command
	   line.  It overrides -s and -S.

       -rpath dir
	   Add	a  directory to the runtime library search path.  This is used
	   when linking an ELF executable with	shared	objects.   All	-rpath
	   arguments  are concatenated and passed to the runtime linker, which
	   uses them to locate shared objects at runtime.  The	-rpath	option
	   is  also  used  when  locating  shared  objects which are needed by
	   shared objects explicitly included in the link; see the description
	   of  the  -rpath-link option.  If -rpath is not used when linking an
	   ELF	executable,  the  contents   of   the	environment   variable
	   "LD_RUN_PATH" will be used if it is defined.

	   The -rpath option may also be used on SunOS.  By default, on SunOS,
	   the linker will form a runtime search  patch  out  of  all  the  -L
	   options  it	is  given.   If  a  -rpath option is used, the runtime
	   search path will be formed exclusively using  the  -rpath  options,
	   ignoring  the -L options.  This can be useful when using gcc, which
	   adds many -L options which may be on NFS mounted filesystems.

	   For compatibility with other ELF linkers, if the -R option is  fol
	   lowed  by  a directory name, rather than a file name, it is treated
	   as the -rpath option.

       -rpath-link DIR
	   When using ELF or SunOS, one shared library	may  require  another.
	   This happens when an "ld -shared" link includes a shared library as
	   one of the input files.

	   When  the  linker  encounters  such	a  dependency  when  doing   a
	   non-shared,	non-relocatable  link,	it  will  automatically try to
	   locate the required shared library and include it in the  link,  if
	   it  is  not	included  explicitly.  In such a case, the -rpath-link
	   option specifies the first  set  of	directories  to  search.   The
	   -rpath-link option may specify a sequence of directory names either
	   by specifying a list of names separated by colons, or by  appearing
	   multiple times.

	   This  option should be used with caution as it overrides the search
	   path that may have been hard compiled into  a  shared  library.  In
	   such  a  case  it  is  possible  to use unintentionally a different
	   search path than the runtime linker would do.

	   The linker uses the	following  search  paths  to  locate  required
	   shared libraries.

	   1.  Any directories specified by -rpath-link options.

	   2.  Any  directories  specified  by -rpath options.	The difference
	       between -rpath and -rpath-link is that directories specified by
	       -rpath  options are included in the executable and used at run
	       time, whereas the -rpath-link option is only effective at  link
	       time. It is for the native linker only.

	   3.  On  an  ELF system, if the -rpath and "rpath-link" options were
	       not used, search  the  contents	of  the  environment  variable
	       "LD_RUN_PATH". It is for the native linker only.

	   4.  On  SunOS, if the -rpath option was not used, search any direc
	       tories specified using -L options.

	   5.  For a native linker, the contents of the  environment  variable
	       "LD_LIBRARY_PATH".

	   6.  For  a  native  ELF  linker, the directories in "DT_RUNPATH" or
	       "DT_RPATH"  of  a  shared  library  are	searched  for	shared
	       libraries  needed  by it. The "DT_RPATH" entries are ignored if
	       "DT_RUNPATH" entries exist.

	   7.  The default directories, normally /lib and /usr/lib.

	   8.  For  a  native  linker  on  an  ELF   system,   if   the   file
	       /etc/ld.so.conf	exists,  the list of directories found in that
	       file.

	   If the required shared library is not found, the linker will  issue
	   a warning and continue with the link.

       -shared
       -Bshareable
	   Create  a shared library.  This is currently only supported on ELF,
	   XCOFF and SunOS platforms.  On SunOS, the linker will automatically
	   create  a shared library if the -e option is not used and there are
	   undefined symbols in the link.

       --sort-common
	   This option tells ld to sort the common symbols  by	size  when  it
	   places them in the appropriate output sections.  First come all the
	   one byte symbols, then all the two byte, then all  the  four  byte,
	   and	then everything else.  This is to prevent gaps between symbols
	   due to alignment constraints.

       --sort-section name
	   This option will apply "SORT_BY_NAME" to all wildcard section  pat
	   terns in the linker script.

       --sort-section alignment
	   This  option will apply "SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT" to all wildcard section
	   patterns in the linker script.

       --split-by-file [size]
	   Similar to --split-by-reloc but creates a new  output  section  for
	   each input file when size is reached.  size defaults to a size of 1
	   if not given.

       --split-by-reloc [count]
	   Tries to creates extra sections in the output file so that no  sin
	   gle	output	section  in  the file contains more than count reloca
	   tions.  This is useful when generating huge relocatable  files  for
	   downloading	into  certain  real  time kernels with the COFF object
	   file format; since COFF cannot represent more  than	65535  reloca
	   tions  in  a single section.  Note that this will fail to work with
	   object file formats which do not support arbitrary  sections.   The
	   linker  will not split up individual input sections for redistribu
	   tion, so if a single input section contains more than count reloca
	   tions one output section will contain that many relocations.  count
	   defaults to a value of 32768.

       --stats
	   Compute and display statistics about the operation of  the  linker,
	   such as execution time and memory usage.

       --sysroot=directory
	   Use	directory  as the location of the sysroot, overriding the con
	   figure-time default.  This option is only supported by linkers that
	   were configured using --with-sysroot.

       --traditional-format
	   For	some  targets, the output of ld is different in some ways from
	   the output of some existing linker.	This switch requests ld to use
	   the traditional format instead.

	   For	example, on SunOS, ld combines duplicate entries in the symbol
	   string table.  This can reduce the size of an output file with full
	   debugging information by over 30 percent.  Unfortunately, the SunOS
	   "dbx" program can not read the  resulting  program  ("gdb"  has  no
	   trouble).   The --traditional-format switch tells ld to not combine
	   duplicate entries.

       --section-start sectionname=org
	   Locate a section in the output file at the absolute	address  given
	   by  org.   You  may	use  this option as many times as necessary to
	   locate multiple sections in the command line.  org must be a single
	   hexadecimal	integer; for compatibility with other linkers, you may
	   omit the leading 0x usually	associated  with  hexadecimal  values.
	   Note:  there  should  be  no  white	space between sectionname, the
	   equals sign ("="), and org.

       -Tbss org
       -Tdata org
       -Ttext org
	   Same as --section-start, with ".bss", ".data"  or  ".text"  as  the
	   sectionname.

       --unresolved-symbols=method
	   Determine  how to handle unresolved symbols.  There are four possi
	   ble values for method:

	   ignore-all
	       Do not report any unresolved symbols.

	   report-all
	       Report all unresolved symbols.  This is the default.

	   ignore-in-object-files
	       Report  unresolved  symbols  that  are  contained   in	shared
	       libraries,  but	ignore	them  if they come from regular object
	       files.

	   ignore-in-shared-libs
	       Report unresolved symbols that come from regular object	files,
	       but  ignore  them if they come from shared libraries.  This can
	       be useful when creating a dynamic binary and it is  known  that
	       all  the  shared  libraries  that  it should be referencing are
	       included on the linkers command line.

	   The behaviour for shared libraries on their own can	also  be  con
	   trolled by the --[no-]allow-shlib-undefined option.

	   Normally  the  linker  will	generate  an  error  message  for each
	   reported unresolved symbol but the option --warn-unresolved-symbols
	   can change this to a warning.

       --dll-verbose
       --verbose
	   Display  the  version  number for ld and list the linker emulations
	   supported.  Display which input files can  and  cannot  be  opened.
	   Display the linker script being used by the linker.

       --version-script=version-scriptfile
	   Specify  the name of a version script to the linker.  This is typi
	   cally used when creating shared  libraries  to  specify  additional
	   information	about the version hierarchy for the library being cre
	   ated.  This option is only meaningful on ELF platforms  which  sup
	   port shared libraries.

       --warn-common
	   Warn when a common symbol is combined with another common symbol or
	   with a symbol definition.  Unix linkers allow this somewhat	sloppy
	   practise, but linkers on some other operating systems do not.  This
	   option allows you to find potential problems from combining	global
	   symbols.  Unfortunately, some C libraries use this practise, so you
	   may get some warnings about symbols in the libraries as well as  in
	   your programs.

	   There  are  three  kinds  of  global symbols, illustrated here by C
	   examples:

	   int i = 1;
	       A definition, which goes in the initialized data section of the
	       output file.

	   extern int i;
	       An  undefined  reference, which does not allocate space.  There
	       must be either a definition or a common symbol for the variable
	       somewhere.

	   int i;
	       A  common  symbol.  If there are only (one or more) common sym
	       bols for a variable, it goes in the uninitialized data area  of
	       the output file.  The linker merges multiple common symbols for
	       the same variable into a single symbol.	If they are of differ
	       ent  sizes, it picks the largest size.  The linker turns a com
	       mon symbol into a declaration, if there is a definition of  the
	       same variable.

	   The	--warn-common option can produce five kinds of warnings.  Each
	   warning consists of a pair of lines: the first describes the symbol
	   just  encountered,  and  the  second  describes the previous symbol
	   encountered with the same name.  One or both  of  the  two  symbols
	   will be a common symbol.

	   1.  Turning	a  common  symbol  into  a reference, because there is
	       already a definition for the symbol.

		       (
): warning: common of overridden by definition (
): warning: defined here 2. Turning a common symbol into a reference, because a later defi nition for the symbol is encountered. This is the same as the previous case, except that the symbols are encountered in a different order. (
): warning: definition of overriding common (
): warning: common is here 3. Merging a common symbol with a previous same-sized common sym bol. (
): warning: multiple common of (
): warning: previous common is here 4. Merging a common symbol with a previous larger common symbol. (
): warning: common of overridden by larger common (
): warning: larger common is here 5. Merging a common symbol with a previous smaller common symbol. This is the same as the previous case, except that the symbols are encountered in a different order. (
): warning: common of overriding smaller common (
): warning: smaller common is here --warn-constructors Warn if any global constructors are used. This is only useful for a few object file formats. For formats like COFF or ELF, the linker can not detect the use of global constructors. --warn-multiple-gp Warn if multiple global pointer values are required in the output file. This is only meaningful for certain processors, such as the Alpha. Specifically, some processors put large-valued constants in a special section. A special register (the global pointer) points into the middle of this section, so that constants can be loaded efficiently via a base-register relative addressing mode. Since the offset in base-register relative mode is fixed and relatively small (e.g., 16 bits), this limits the maximum size of the constant pool. Thus, in large programs, it is often necessary to use multi ple global pointer values in order to be able to address all possi ble constants. This option causes a warning to be issued whenever this case occurs. --warn-once Only warn once for each undefined symbol, rather than once per mod ule which refers to it. --warn-section-align Warn if the address of an output section is changed because of alignment. Typically, the alignment will be set by an input sec tion. The address will only be changed if it not explicitly speci fied; that is, if the "SECTIONS" command does not specify a start address for the section. --warn-shared-textrel Warn if the linker adds a DT_TEXTREL to a shared object. --warn-unresolved-symbols If the linker is going to report an unresolved symbol (see the option --unresolved-symbols) it will normally generate an error. This option makes it generate a warning instead. --error-unresolved-symbols This restores the linkers default behaviour of generating errors when it is reporting unresolved symbols. --whole-archive For each archive mentioned on the command line after the --whole-archive option, include every object file in the archive in the link, rather than searching the archive for the required object files. This is normally used to turn an archive file into a shared library, forcing every object to be included in the resulting shared library. This option may be used more than once. Two notes when using this option from gcc: First, gcc doesnt know about this option, so you have to use -Wl,-whole-archive. Second, dont forget to use -Wl,-no-whole-archive after your list of archives, because gcc will add its own list of archives to your link and you may not want this flag to affect those as well. --wrap symbol Use a wrapper function for symbol. Any undefined reference to sym bol will be resolved to "__wrap_symbol". Any undefined reference to "__real_symbol" will be resolved to symbol. This can be used to provide a wrapper for a system function. The wrapper function should be called "__wrap_symbol". If it wishes to call the system function, it should call "__real_symbol". Here is a trivial example: void * __wrap_malloc (size_t c) { printf ("malloc called with %zu\n", c); return __real_malloc (c); } If you link other code with this file using --wrap malloc, then all calls to "malloc" will call the function "__wrap_malloc" instead. The call to "__real_malloc" in "__wrap_malloc" will call the real "malloc" function. You may wish to provide a "__real_malloc" function as well, so that links without the --wrap option will succeed. If you do this, you should not put the definition of "__real_malloc" in the same file as "__wrap_malloc"; if you do, the assembler may resolve the call before the linker has a chance to wrap it to "malloc". --eh-frame-hdr Request creation of ".eh_frame_hdr" section and ELF "PT_GNU_EH_FRAME" segment header. --enable-new-dtags --disable-new-dtags This linker can create the new dynamic tags in ELF. But the older ELF systems may not understand them. If you specify --enable-new-dtags, the dynamic tags will be created as needed. If you specify --disable-new-dtags, no new dynamic tags will be cre ated. By default, the new dynamic tags are not created. Note that those options are only available for ELF systems. --hash-size=number Set the default size of the linkers hash tables to a prime number close to number. Increasing this value can reduce the length of time it takes the linker to perform its tasks, at the expense of increasing the linkers memory requirements. Similarly reducing this value can reduce the memory requirements at the expense of speed. --reduce-memory-overheads This option reduces memory requirements at ld runtime, at the expense of linking speed. This was introduced to select the old O(n^2) algorithm for link map file generation, rather than the new O(n) algorithm which uses about 40% more memory for symbol storage. Another effect of the switch is to set the default hash table size to 1021, which again saves memory at the cost of lengthening the linkers run time. This is not done however if the --hash-size switch has been used. The --reduce-memory-overheads switch may be also be used to enable other tradeoffs in future versions of the linker. The i386 PE linker supports the -shared option, which causes the output to be a dynamically linked library (DLL) instead of a normal exe cutable. You should name the output "*.dll" when you use this option. In addition, the linker fully supports the standard "*.def" files, which may be specified on the linker command line like an object file (in fact, it should precede archives it exports symbols from, to ensure that they get linked in, just like a normal object file). In addition to the options common to all targets, the i386 PE linker support additional command line options that are specific to the i386 PE target. Options that take values may be separated from their values by either a space or an equals sign. --add-stdcall-alias If given, symbols with a stdcall suffix (@nn) will be exported as- is and also with the suffix stripped. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --base-file file Use file as the name of a file in which to save the base addresses of all the relocations needed for generating DLLs with dlltool. [This is an i386 PE specific option] --dll Create a DLL instead of a regular executable. You may also use -shared or specify a "LIBRARY" in a given ".def" file. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --enable-stdcall-fixup --disable-stdcall-fixup If the link finds a symbol that it cannot resolve, it will attempt to do "fuzzy linking" by looking for another defined symbol that differs only in the format of the symbol name (cdecl vs stdcall) and will resolve that symbol by linking to the match. For example, the undefined symbol "_foo" might be linked to the function "_foo@12", or the undefined symbol "_bar@16" might be linked to the function "_bar". When the linker does this, it prints a warning, since it normally should have failed to link, but sometimes import libraries generated from third-party dlls may need this feature to be usable. If you specify --enable-stdcall-fixup, this feature is fully enabled and warnings are not printed. If you specify --dis able-stdcall-fixup, this feature is disabled and such mismatches are considered to be errors. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --export-all-symbols If given, all global symbols in the objects used to build a DLL will be exported by the DLL. Note that this is the default if there otherwise wouldnt be any exported symbols. When symbols are explicitly exported via DEF files or implicitly exported via func tion attributes, the default is to not export anything else unless this option is given. Note that the symbols "DllMain@12", "DllEn tryPoint@0", "DllMainCRTStartup@12", and "impure_ptr" will not be automatically exported. Also, symbols imported from other DLLs will not be re-exported, nor will symbols specifying the DLLs internal layout such as those beginning with "_head_" or ending with "_iname". In addition, no symbols from "libgcc", "libstd++", "libmingw32", or "crtX.o" will be exported. Symbols whose names begin with "__rtti_" or "__builtin_" will not be exported, to help with C++ DLLs. Finally, there is an extensive list of cygwin-pri vate symbols that are not exported (obviously, this applies on when building DLLs for cygwin targets). These cygwin-excludes are: "_cygwin_dll_entry@12", "_cygwin_crt0_common@8", "_cygwin_noncyg win_dll_entry@12", "_fmode", "_impure_ptr", "cygwin_attach_dll", "cygwin_premain0", "cygwin_premain1", "cygwin_premain2", "cyg win_premain3", and "environ". [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --exclude-symbols symbol,symbol,... Specifies a list of symbols which should not be automatically exported. The symbol names may be delimited by commas or colons. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --file-alignment Specify the file alignment. Sections in the file will always begin at file offsets which are multiples of this number. This defaults to 512. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --heap reserve --heap reserve,commit Specify the amount of memory to reserve (and optionally commit) to be used as heap for this program. The default is 1Mb reserved, 4K committed. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --image-base value Use value as the base address of your program or dll. This is the lowest memory location that will be used when your program or dll is loaded. To reduce the need to relocate and improve performance of your dlls, each should have a unique base address and not over lap any other dlls. The default is 0x400000 for executables, and 0x10000000 for dlls. [This option is specific to the i386 PE tar geted port of the linker] --kill-at If given, the stdcall suffixes (@nn) will be stripped from symbols before they are exported. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --large-address-aware If given, the appropriate bit in the "Charateristics" field of the COFF header is set to indicate that this executable supports vir tual addresses greater than 2 gigabytes. This should be used in conjuction with the /3GB or /USERVA=value megabytes switch in the "[operating systems]" section of the BOOT.INI. Otherwise, this bit has no effect. [This option is specific to PE targeted ports of the linker] --major-image-version value Sets the major number of the "image version". Defaults to 1. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --major-os-version value Sets the major number of the "os version". Defaults to 4. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --major-subsystem-version value Sets the major number of the "subsystem version". Defaults to 4. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --minor-image-version value Sets the minor number of the "image version". Defaults to 0. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --minor-os-version value Sets the minor number of the "os version". Defaults to 0. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --minor-subsystem-version value Sets the minor number of the "subsystem version". Defaults to 0. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --output-def file The linker will create the file file which will contain a DEF file corresponding to the DLL the linker is generating. This DEF file (which should be called "*.def") may be used to create an import library with "dlltool" or may be used as a reference to automati cally or implicitly exported symbols. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --out-implib file The linker will create the file file which will contain an import lib corresponding to the DLL the linker is generating. This import lib (which should be called "*.dll.a" or "*.a" may be used to link clients against the generated DLL; this behaviour makes it possible to skip a separate "dlltool" import library creation step. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --enable-auto-image-base Automatically choose the image base for DLLs, unless one is speci fied using the "--image-base" argument. By using a hash generated from the dllname to create unique image bases for each DLL, in-mem ory collisions and relocations which can delay program execution are avoided. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --disable-auto-image-base Do not automatically generate a unique image base. If there is no user-specified image base ("--image-base") then use the platform default. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --dll-search-prefix string When linking dynamically to a dll without an import library, search for ".dll" in preference to "lib.dll". This behaviour allows easy distinction between DLLs built for the various "subplatforms": native, cygwin, uwin, pw, etc. For instance, cygwin DLLs typically use "--dll-search-prefix=cyg". [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --enable-auto-import Do sophisticated linking of "_symbol" to "__imp__symbol" for DATA imports from DLLs, and create the necessary thunking symbols when building the import libraries with those DATA exports. Note: Use of the auto-import extension will cause the text section of the image file to be made writable. This does not conform to the PE- COFF format specification published by Microsoft. Using auto-import generally will just work -- but sometimes you may see this message: "variable cant be auto-imported. Please read the documen tation for lds "--enable-auto-import" for details." This message occurs when some (sub)expression accesses an address ultimately given by the sum of two constants (Win32 import tables only allow one). Instances where this may occur include accesses to member fields of struct variables imported from a DLL, as well as using a constant index into an array variable imported from a DLL. Any multiword variable (arrays, structs, long long, etc) may trigger this error condition. However, regardless of the exact data type of the offending exported variable, ld will always detect it, issue the warning, and exit. There are several ways to address this difficulty, regardless of the data type of the exported variable: One way is to use --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc switch. This leaves the task of adjusting references in your client code for runtime environment, so this method works only when runtime environment supports this feature. A second solution is to force one of the constants to be a vari able -- that is, unknown and un-optimizable at compile time. For arrays, there are two possibilities: a) make the indexee (the arrays address) a variable, or b) make the constant index a variable. Thus: extern type extern_array[]; extern_array[1] --> { volatile type *t=extern_array; t[1] } or extern type extern_array[]; extern_array[1] --> { volatile int t=1; extern_array[t] } For structs (and most other multiword data types) the only option is to make the struct itself (or the long long, or the ...) vari able: extern struct s extern_struct; extern_struct.field --> { volatile struct s *t=&extern_struct; t->field } or extern long long extern_ll; extern_ll --> { volatile long long * local_ll=&extern_ll; *local_ll } A third method of dealing with this difficulty is to abandon auto-import for the offending symbol and mark it with "__declspec(dllimport)". However, in practise that requires using compile-time #defines to indicate whether you are building a DLL, building client code that will link to the DLL, or merely build ing/linking to a static library. In making the choice between the various methods of resolving the direct address with constant off set problem, you should consider typical real-world usage: Original: --foo.h extern int arr[]; --foo.c #include "foo.h" void main(int argc, char **argv){ printf("%d\n",arr[1]); } Solution 1: --foo.h extern int arr[]; --foo.c #include "foo.h" void main(int argc, char **argv){ /* This workaround is for win32 and cygwin; do not "optimize" */ volatile int *parr = arr; printf("%d\n",parr[1]); } Solution 2: --foo.h /* Note: auto-export is assumed (no __declspec(dllexport)) */ #if (defined(_WIN32) || defined(__CYGWIN__)) && \ !(defined(FOO_BUILD_DLL) || defined(FOO_STATIC)) #define FOO_IMPORT __declspec(dllimport) #else #define FOO_IMPORT #endif extern FOO_IMPORT int arr[]; --foo.c #include "foo.h" void main(int argc, char **argv){ printf("%d\n",arr[1]); } A fourth way to avoid this problem is to re-code your library to use a functional interface rather than a data interface for the offending variables (e.g. set_foo() and get_foo() accessor functions). [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --disable-auto-import Do not attempt to do sophisticated linking of "_symbol" to "__imp__symbol" for DATA imports from DLLs. [This option is spe cific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc If your code contains expressions described in --enable-auto-import section, that is, DATA imports from DLL with non-zero offset, this switch will create a vector of runtime pseudo relocations which can be used by runtime environment to adjust references to such data in your client code. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --disable-runtime-pseudo-reloc Do not create pseudo relocations for non-zero offset DATA imports from DLLs. This is the default. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --enable-extra-pe-debug Show additional debug info related to auto-import symbol thunking. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --section-alignment Sets the section alignment. Sections in memory will always begin at addresses which are a multiple of this number. Defaults to 0x1000. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --stack reserve --stack reserve,commit Specify the amount of memory to reserve (and optionally commit) to be used as stack for this program. The default is 2Mb reserved, 4K committed. [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] --subsystem which --subsystem which:major --subsystem which:major.minor Specifies the subsystem under which your program will execute. The legal values for which are "native", "windows", "console", "posix", and "xbox". You may optionally set the subsystem version also. Numeric values are also accepted for which. [This option is spe cific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker] The 68HC11 and 68HC12 linkers support specific options to control the memory bank switching mapping and trampoline code generation. --no-trampoline This option disables the generation of trampoline. By default a trampoline is generated for each far function which is called using a "jsr" instruction (this happens when a pointer to a far function is taken). --bank-window name This option indicates to the linker the name of the memory region in the MEMORY specification that describes the memory bank window. The definition of such region is then used by the linker to compute paging and addresses within the memory window. ENVIRONMENT You can change the behaviour of ld with the environment variables "GNU TARGET", "LDEMULATION" and "COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE". "GNUTARGET" determines the input-file object format if you dont use -b (or its synonym --format). Its value should be one of the BFD names for an input format. If there is no "GNUTARGET" in the environment, ld uses the natural format of the target. If "GNUTARGET" is set to "default" then BFD attempts to discover the input format by examining binary input files; this method often succeeds, but there are potential ambiguities, since there is no method of ensuring that the magic number used to specify object-file formats is unique. However, the configura tion procedure for BFD on each system places the conventional format for that system first in the search-list, so ambiguities are resolved in favor of convention. "LDEMULATION" determines the default emulation if you dont use the -m option. The emulation can affect various aspects of linker behaviour, particularly the default linker script. You can list the available emulations with the --verbose or -V options. If the -m option is not used, and the "LDEMULATION" environment variable is not defined, the default emulation depends upon how the linker was configured. Normally, the linker will default to demangling symbols. However, if "COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE" is set in the environment, then it will default to not demangling symbols. This environment variable is used in a sim ilar fashion by the "gcc" linker wrapper program. The default may be overridden by the --demangle and --no-demangle options. SEE ALSO ar(1), nm(1), objcopy(1), objdump(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries for binutils and ld. COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". binutils-2.17 2006-06-23 LD(1)




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