xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Paul Kranenburg
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3.\"
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5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd March 27, 2006
32.Dt RTLD 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ld-elf.so.1 ,
36.Nm ld.so ,
37.Nm rtld
38.Nd run-time link-editor
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The
41.Nm
42utility is a self-contained shared object providing run-time
43support for loading and link-editing shared objects into a process'
44address space.
45It is also commonly known as the dynamic linker.
46It uses the data structures
47contained within dynamically linked programs to determine which shared
48libraries are needed and loads them using the
49.Xr mmap 2
50system call.
51.Pp
52After all shared libraries have been successfully loaded,
53.Nm
54proceeds to resolve external references from both the main program and
55all objects loaded.
56A mechanism is provided for initialization routines
57to be called on a per-object basis, giving a shared object an opportunity
58to perform any extra set-up before execution of the program proper begins.
59This is useful for C++ libraries that contain static constructors.
60.Pp
61The
62.Nm
63utility itself is loaded by the kernel together with any dynamically-linked
64program that is to be executed.
65The kernel transfers control to the
66dynamic linker.
67After the dynamic linker has finished loading,
68relocating, and initializing the program and its required shared
69objects, it transfers control to the entry point of the program.
70.Pp
71To locate the required shared objects in the file system,
72.Nm
73may use a
74.Dq hints
75file prepared by the
76.Xr ldconfig 8
77utility.
78.Pp
79The
80.Nm
81utility
82recognizes a number of environment variables that can be used to modify
83its behaviour.
84On 64-bit architectures, the linker for 32-bit objects recognizes
85all the environment variables listed below, but is being prefixed with
86.Ev LD_32_ ,
87for example:
88.Ev LD_32_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS .
89.Pp
90.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
91.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_POST
92If set,
93.Nm
94will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
95binding and relocation.
96.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
97If set,
98.Nm
99will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
100binding and relocation.
101.It Ev LD_LIBMAP
102A library replacement list in the same format as
103.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
104For convenience, the characters
105.Ql =
106and
107.Ql \&,
108can be used instead of a space and a newline.
109This variable is parsed after
110.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
111and will override its entries.
112This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
113.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
114If set, disables the use of
115.Xr libmap.conf 5
116and
117.Ev LD_LIBMAP .
118This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
119.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
120A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
121for shared libraries.
122This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
123.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
124A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
125to be linked in before any
126other shared libraries.
127If the directory is not specified then
128the directories specified by
129.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
130will be searched first
131followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
132This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
133.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
134When set to a nonempty string, causes
135.Nm
136to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
137program.
138Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
139of each function.
140.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
141increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
142surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
143.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
144When set to a nonempty string, causes
145.Nm
146to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
147the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
148.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
149When set to a nonempty string, causes
150.Nm
151to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
152be loaded.
153.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
154.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
155When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
156.Xr printf 3
157to customize the trace output and are used by
158.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
159.Fl f
160option and allows
161.Xr ldd 1
162to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
163If the dependency name starts with string
164.Pa lib ,
165.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
166is used, otherwise
167.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
168is used.
169The following conversions can be used:
170.Bl -tag -width 4n
171.It Li %a
172The main program's name
173(also known as
174.Dq __progname ) .
175.It Li \&%A
176The value of the environment variable
177.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME
178.It Li %o
179The library name.
180.It Li %p
181The full pathname as determined by
182.Nm rtld Ns 's
183library search rules.
184.It Li %x
185The library's load address.
186.El
187.Pp
188Additionally,
189.Ql \en
190and
191.Ql \et
192are recognized and have their usual meaning.
193.It Ev LD_UTRACE
194If set,
195.Nm
196will log events such as the loading and unloading of shared objects via
197.Xr utrace 2 .
198.El
199.Sh FILES
200.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints" -compact
201.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
202Hints file.
203.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints
204Hints file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
205.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
206The libmap configuration file.
207.It Pa /etc/libmap32.conf
208The libmap configuration file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
209.El
210.Sh SEE ALSO
211.Xr ld 1 ,
212.Xr ldd 1 ,
213.Xr elf 5 ,
214.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
215.Xr ldconfig 8
216