xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 7aa383846770374466b1dcb2cefd71bde9acf463)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Paul Kranenburg
2.\" All rights reserved.
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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14.\"      This product includes software developed by Paul Kranenburg.
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29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd April 1, 2009
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.
89.Pp
90To locate the required shared objects in the file system,
91.Nm
92may use a
93.Dq hints
94file prepared by the
95.Xr ldconfig 8
96utility.
97.Pp
98The
99.Nm
100utility
101recognizes a number of environment variables that can be used to modify
102its behaviour.
103On 64-bit architectures, the linker for 32-bit objects recognizes
104all the environment variables listed below, but is being prefixed with
105.Ev LD_32_ ,
106for example:
107.Ev LD_32_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS .
108.Pp
109.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
110.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_POST
111If set,
112.Nm
113will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
114binding and relocation.
115.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
116If set,
117.Nm
118will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
119binding and relocation.
120.It Ev LD_LIBMAP
121A library replacement list in the same format as
122.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
123For convenience, the characters
124.Ql =
125and
126.Ql \&,
127can be used instead of a space and a newline.
128This variable is parsed after
129.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
130and will override its entries.
131This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
132.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
133If set, disables the use of
134.Xr libmap.conf 5
135and
136.Ev LD_LIBMAP .
137This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
138.It Ev LD_ELF_HINTS_PATH
139This variable will override the default location of
140.Dq hints
141file.
142This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
143.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
144A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
145for shared libraries.
146This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
147.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
148A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
149to be linked in before any
150other shared libraries.
151If the directory is not specified then
152the directories specified by
153.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
154will be searched first
155followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
156This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
157.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
158When set to a nonempty string, causes
159.Nm
160to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
161program.
162Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
163of each function.
164.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
165increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
166surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
167.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
168When set to a nonempty string, causes
169.Nm
170to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
171the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
172.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
173When set to a nonempty string, causes
174.Nm
175to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
176be loaded.
177.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
178.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
179When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
180.Xr printf 3
181to customize the trace output and are used by
182.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
183.Fl f
184option and allows
185.Xr ldd 1
186to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
187If the dependency name starts with string
188.Pa lib ,
189.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
190is used, otherwise
191.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
192is used.
193The following conversions can be used:
194.Bl -tag -width 4n
195.It Li %a
196The main program's name
197(also known as
198.Dq __progname ) .
199.It Li \&%A
200The value of the environment variable
201.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME .
202Typically used to print both the names of programs and shared libraries
203being inspected using
204.Xr ldd 1 .
205.It Li %o
206The library name.
207.It Li %p
208The full pathname as determined by
209.Nm rtld Ns 's
210library search rules.
211.It Li %x
212The library's load address.
213.El
214.Pp
215Additionally,
216.Ql \en
217and
218.Ql \et
219are recognized and have their usual meaning.
220.It Ev LD_UTRACE
221If set,
222.Nm
223will log events such as the loading and unloading of shared objects via
224.Xr utrace 2 .
225.El
226.Sh FILES
227.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints" -compact
228.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
229Hints file.
230.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints
231Hints file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
232.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
233The libmap configuration file.
234.It Pa /etc/libmap32.conf
235The libmap configuration file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
236.El
237.Sh SEE ALSO
238.Xr ld 1 ,
239.Xr ldd 1 ,
240.Xr elf 5 ,
241.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
242.Xr ldconfig 8
243