xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 38f0b757fd84d17d0fc24739a7cda160c4516d81)
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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29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd June 28, 2012
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
61When resolving dependencies for the loaded objects,
62.Nm
63may be allowed to translate dynamic token strings in rpath and soname
64by setting
65.Fl "z origin"
66option of the static linker
67.Xr ld 1 .
68The following strings are recognized now:
69.Bl -tag -width ".Pa $PLATFORM"
70.It Pa $ORIGIN
71Translated to the full path of the loaded object.
72.It Pa $OSNAME
73Translated to the name of the operating system implementation.
74.It Pa $OSREL
75Translated to the release level of the operating system.
76.It Pa $PLATFORM
77Translated to the machine hardware platform.
78.El
79.Pp
80The
81.Nm
82utility itself is loaded by the kernel together with any dynamically-linked
83program that is to be executed.
84The kernel transfers control to the
85dynamic linker.
86After the dynamic linker has finished loading,
87relocating, and initializing the program and its required shared
88objects, it transfers control to the entry point of the program.
89The following search order is used to locate required shared objects:
90.Pp
91.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
92.It
93.Dv DT_RPATH
94of the referencing object unless that object also contains a
95.Dv DT_RUNPATH
96tag
97.It
98.Dv DT_RPATH
99of the program unless the referencing object contains a
100.Dv DT_RUNPATH
101tag
102.It
103Path indicated by
104.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
105environment variable
106.It
107.Dv DT_RUNPATH
108of the referencing object
109.It
110Hints file produced by the
111.Xr ldconfig 8
112utility
113.It
114The
115.Pa /lib
116and
117.Pa /usr/lib
118directories, unless the referencing object was linked using the
119.Dq Fl z Ar nodefaultlib
120option
121.El
122.Pp
123The
124.Nm
125utility
126recognizes a number of environment variables that can be used to modify
127its behaviour.
128On 64-bit architectures, the linker for 32-bit objects recognizes
129all the environment variables listed below, but is being prefixed with
130.Ev LD_32_ ,
131for example:
132.Ev LD_32_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS .
133.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
134.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_POST
135If set,
136.Nm
137will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
138binding and relocation.
139.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
140If set,
141.Nm
142will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
143binding and relocation.
144.It Ev LD_LIBMAP
145A library replacement list in the same format as
146.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
147For convenience, the characters
148.Ql =
149and
150.Ql \&,
151can be used instead of a space and a newline.
152This variable is parsed after
153.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
154and will override its entries.
155This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
156.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
157If set, disables the use of
158.Xr libmap.conf 5
159and
160.Ev LD_LIBMAP .
161This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
162.It Ev LD_ELF_HINTS_PATH
163This variable will override the default location of
164.Dq hints
165file.
166This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
167.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
168A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
169for shared libraries.
170This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
171.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH_RPATH
172If the variable is specified and has a value starting with
173any of \'y\', \'Y\' or \'1\' symbols, the path specified by
174.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
175variable is allowed to override the path from
176.Dv DT_RPATH
177for binaries which does not contain
178.Dv DT_RUNPATH
179tag.
180For such binaries, when the variable
181.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH_RPATH
182is set,
183.Dq Fl z Ar nodefaultlib
184link-time option is ignored as well.
185.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
186A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
187to be linked in before any
188other shared libraries.
189If the directory is not specified then
190the directories specified by
191.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
192will be searched first
193followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
194This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
195.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
196When set to a nonempty string, causes
197.Nm
198to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
199program.
200Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
201of each function.
202.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
203increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
204surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
205.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
206When set to a nonempty string, causes
207.Nm
208to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
209the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
210.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
211When set to a nonempty string, causes
212.Nm
213to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
214be loaded.
215.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
216.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
217When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
218.Xr printf 3
219to customize the trace output and are used by
220.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
221.Fl f
222option and allows
223.Xr ldd 1
224to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
225If the dependency name starts with string
226.Pa lib ,
227.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
228is used, otherwise
229.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
230is used.
231The following conversions can be used:
232.Bl -tag -width 4n
233.It Li %a
234The main program's name
235(also known as
236.Dq __progname ) .
237.It Li \&%A
238The value of the environment variable
239.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME .
240Typically used to print both the names of programs and shared libraries
241being inspected using
242.Xr ldd 1 .
243.It Li %o
244The library name.
245.It Li %p
246The full pathname as determined by
247.Nm rtld Ns 's
248library search rules.
249.It Li %x
250The library's load address.
251.El
252.Pp
253Additionally,
254.Ql \en
255and
256.Ql \et
257are recognized and have their usual meaning.
258.It Ev LD_UTRACE
259If set,
260.Nm
261will log events such as the loading and unloading of shared objects via
262.Xr utrace 2 .
263.Pp
264.It Ev LD_LOADFLTR
265If set,
266.Nm
267will process the filtee dependencies of the loaded objects immediately,
268instead of postponing it until required.
269Normally, the filtees are opened at the time of the first symbol resolution
270from the filter object.
271.El
272.Sh FILES
273.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints" -compact
274.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
275Hints file.
276.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints
277Hints file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
278.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
279The libmap configuration file.
280.It Pa /etc/libmap32.conf
281The libmap configuration file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
282.El
283.Sh SEE ALSO
284.Xr ld 1 ,
285.Xr ldd 1 ,
286.Xr elf 5 ,
287.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
288.Xr ldconfig 8
289