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&T's 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 <output> /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
       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 can not 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
       (eg 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:

       -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
       -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 don't 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).

       -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-
           be added to the dynamic symbol table if the output format  supports
           it.  See the description of --version-script in @ref{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.

       -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.

           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 and symbols 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.

       -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".

       --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-
           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  file's  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 ld's
           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
           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 don't 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 "initfirst",  "interpose",  "loadfltr",
           "nodefaultlib",  "nodelete", "nodlopen", "nodump", "now", "origin",
           "combreloc", "nocombreloc" and "nocopyreloc".  The  other  keywords
           are ignored for Solaris compatibility. "initfirst" marks the object
           to be initialized  first  at  runtime  before  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  filtees  be  processed  immediately  at runtime.
           "nodefaultlib" marks the object that the search for dependencies of
           this   object   will  ignore  any  default  library  search  paths.
           "nodelete" marks the  object  shouldn't  be  unloaded  at  runtime.
           "nodlopen"  marks  the  object not available to "dlopen".  "nodump"
           marks the object can not be dumped by "dldump".   "now"  marks  the
           object  with  the  non-lazy  runtime  binding.   "origin" marks the
           object may contain $ORIGIN.  "defs"  disallows  undefined  symbols.
           "muldefs" allows multiple definitions.  "combreloc" combines multi-
           ple reloc sections and sorts them to  make  dynamic  symbol  lookup
           caching  possible.   "nocombreloc" disables multiple reloc sections
           combining.  "nocopyreloc" disables production of copy relocs.

       -( archives -)
       --start-group archives --end-group
           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.

       -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.
           --no-undefined 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.

       -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
           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; don't use this unless you know what you
           are doing.

       --embedded-relocs
           This option is only meaningful when linking MIPS embedded PIC code,

       --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 won't 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,  nor  should it be used with dynamic linking.
           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
           Normally  when  creating  a  non-symbolic shared library, undefined
           symbols are allowed and left to be resolved by the runtime  loader.
           These options disallows such undefined symbols.

       --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
           Allow undefined symbols in shared objects even  when --no-undefined
           is set. The net result will be that undefined  symbols  in  regular
           objects  will  still  trigger  an  error,  but undefined symbols in
           shared objects will be ignored.  The implementation of no_undefined
           makes  the  assumption  that the runtime linker will choke on unde-
           fined symbols.  However there is at least one system  (BeOS)  where
           undefined  symbols  in  shared libraries is normal since the kernel

       --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  don't
           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.

       -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
           --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.
               "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.

       --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.

       --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.

           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
           Use  org  as  the  starting address for---respectively---the "bss",
           "data", or the "text" segment of the output file.  org  must  be  a
           single  hexadecimal  integer; for compatibility with other linkers,
           you may omit the leading 0x  usually  associated  with  hexadecimal
           values.

       --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 heirarchy 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
           practice, 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 practice, 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
               already a definition for the symbol.

                       <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
                          overridden by definition
                       <file>(<section>): 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.

                       <file>(<section>): warning: definition of `<symbol>'
                          overriding common
                       <file>(<section>): warning: common is here

           3.  Merging  a common symbol with a previous same-sized common sym-
               bol.

                       <file>(<section>): warning: multiple common
                          of `<symbol>'
                       <file>(<section>): warning: previous common is here

           4.  Merging a common symbol with a previous larger common symbol.

                       <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
                          overridden by larger common
                       <file>(<section>): 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.

                       <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
                          overriding smaller common
                       <file>(<section>): 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-

       --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 doesn't know
           about this option, so you have to use -Wl,-whole-archive.   Second,
           don't  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 (int c)
                   {
                     printf ("malloc called with %ld\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".

       --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.

       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
           If given, symbols with a stdcall suffix (@nn) will be exported  as-
           is and also with the suffix stripped.

       --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.

       --dll
           Create a DLL instead of a regular executable.   You  may  also  use
           -shared or specify a "LIBRARY" in a given ".def" file.

       --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.

       --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 wouldn't 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 DLL's
           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".

       --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.

       --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

       --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.

       --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.

       --kill-at
           If  given, the stdcall suffixes (@nn) will be stripped from symbols
           before they are exported.

       --major-image-version value
           Sets the major number of the "image version".  Defaults to 1.

       --major-os-version value
           Sets the major number of the "os version".  Defaults to 4.

       --major-subsystem-version value
           Sets the major number of the "subsystem version".  Defaults to 4.

       --minor-image-version value
           Sets the minor number of the "image version".  Defaults to 0.

       --minor-os-version value
           Sets the minor number of the "os version".  Defaults to 0.

       --minor-subsystem-version value
           Sets the minor number of the "subsystem version".  Defaults to 0.

       --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.

       --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 behavior makes it possible
           to skip a separate "dlltool" import library creation step.

       --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.

           various   "subplatforms":  native,  cygwin,  uwin,  pw,  etc.   For
           instance, cygwin DLLs typically use "--dll-search-prefix=cyg".

       --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.  This gener-
           ally will 'just work' -- but sometimes you may see this message:

           "variable  '<var>' can't be auto-imported. Please read the documen-
           tation for ld's "--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 environtment
           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
           array's  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;

           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 func-
           tions).

       --disable-auto-import
           Do not  attempt  to  do  sophisticalted  linking  of  "_symbol"  to
           "__imp__symbol" for DATA imports from DLLs.

       --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.
           Sets  the  section alignment.  Sections in memory will always begin
           at addresses which are a multiple  of  this  number.   Defaults  to
           0x1000.

       --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.

       --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",  and
           "posix".  You may optionally set the subsystem version also.


ENVIRONMENT

       You  can change the behavior of ld with the environment variables "GNU-
       TARGET", "LDEMULATION", and "COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE".

       "GNUTARGET" determines the input-file object format if you don't 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 don't 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 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