xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 6af83ee0d2941d18880b6aaa2b4facd1d30c6106)
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 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_DUMP_REL_POST
87If set
88.Nm
89will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
90binding and relocation.
91.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
92If set
93.Nm
94will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
95binding and relocation.
96.It Ev LD_LIBMAP
97A library replacement list in the same format as
98.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
99For convenience, the characters
100.Ql =
101and
102.Ql \&,
103can be used instead of a space and a newline.
104This variable is parsed after
105.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
106and will override its entries.
107.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
108If set, disables the use of
109.Xr libmap.conf 5
110and
111.Ev LD_LIBMAP .
112.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
113A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
114for shared libraries.
115This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
116.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
117A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
118to be linked in before any
119other shared libraries.
120If the directory is not specified then
121the directories specified by
122.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
123will be searched first
124followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
125This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
126.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
127When set to a nonempty string, causes
128.Nm
129to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
130program.
131Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
132of each function.
133.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
134increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
135surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
136.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
137When set to a nonempty string, causes
138.Nm
139to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
140the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
141.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
142When set to a nonempty string, causes
143.Nm
144to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
145be loaded.
146.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
147.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
148When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
149.Xr printf 3
150to customize the trace output and are used by
151.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
152.Fl f
153option and allows
154.Xr ldd 1
155to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
156The following conversions can be used:
157.Bl -tag -width 4n
158.It Li %a
159The main program's name
160(also known as
161.Dq __progname ) .
162.It Li \&%A
163The value of the environment variable
164.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME
165.It Li %o
166The library name.
167.It Li %m
168The library's major version number.
169.It Li %p
170The full pathname as determined by
171.Nm rtld Ns 's
172library search rules.
173.It Li %x
174The library's load address.
175.El
176.Pp
177Additionally,
178.Ql \en
179and
180.Ql \et
181are recognized and have their usual meaning.
182.El
183.Sh FILES
184.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints" -compact
185.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
186Hints file.
187.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
188The libmap configuration file.
189.El
190.Sh SEE ALSO
191.Xr ld 1 ,
192.Xr ldd 1 ,
193.Xr elf 5 ,
194.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
195.Xr ldconfig 8
196