xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 390e8cc2974df1888369c06339ef8e0e92b312b6)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Paul Kranenburg
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3.\"
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29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd May 31, 2003
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 as follows:
84.Pp
85.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
86.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
87If set, disables the use of
88.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
89.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
90A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
91for shared libraries.
92This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
93.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
94A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
95to be linked in before any
96other shared libraries.
97If the directory is not specified then
98the directories specified by
99.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
100will be searched first
101followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
102This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
103.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
104When set to a nonempty string, causes
105.Nm
106to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
107program.
108Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
109of each function.
110.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
111increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
112surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
113.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
114When set to a nonempty string, causes
115.Nm
116to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
117the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
118.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
119When set to a nonempty string, causes
120.Nm
121to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
122be loaded.
123.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
124.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
125When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
126.Xr printf 3
127to customize the trace output and are used by
128.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
129.Fl f
130option and allows
131.Xr ldd 1
132to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
133The following conversions can be used:
134.Bl -tag -width 4n
135.It Li %a
136The main program's name
137(also known as
138.Dq __progname ) .
139.It Li \&%A
140The value of the environment variable
141.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME
142.It Li %o
143The library name.
144.It Li %m
145The library's major version number.
146.It Li %p
147The full pathname as determined by
148.Nm rtld Ns 's
149library search rules.
150.It Li %x
151The library's load address.
152.El
153.Pp
154Additionally,
155.Ql \en
156and
157.Ql \et
158are recognized and have their usual meaning.
159.El
160.Sh FILES
161.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints" -compact
162.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
163Hints file.
164.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
165The libmap configuration file.
166.El
167.Sh SEE ALSO
168.Xr ld 1 ,
169.Xr ldd 1 ,
170.Xr elf 5 ,
171.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
172.Xr ldconfig 8
173