xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision 9a14aa017b21c292740c00ee098195cd46642730)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Paul Kranenburg
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3.\"
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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.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
109.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_POST
110If set,
111.Nm
112will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
113binding and relocation.
114.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
115If set,
116.Nm
117will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
118binding and relocation.
119.It Ev LD_LIBMAP
120A library replacement list in the same format as
121.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
122For convenience, the characters
123.Ql =
124and
125.Ql \&,
126can be used instead of a space and a newline.
127This variable is parsed after
128.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
129and will override its entries.
130This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
131.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
132If set, disables the use of
133.Xr libmap.conf 5
134and
135.Ev LD_LIBMAP .
136This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
137.It Ev LD_ELF_HINTS_PATH
138This variable will override the default location of
139.Dq hints
140file.
141This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
142.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
143A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
144for shared libraries.
145This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
146.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
147A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
148to be linked in before any
149other shared libraries.
150If the directory is not specified then
151the directories specified by
152.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
153will be searched first
154followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
155This variable is unset for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
156.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
157When set to a nonempty string, causes
158.Nm
159to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
160program.
161Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
162of each function.
163.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
164increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
165surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
166.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
167When set to a nonempty string, causes
168.Nm
169to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
170the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
171.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
172When set to a nonempty string, causes
173.Nm
174to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
175be loaded.
176.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
177.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
178When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
179.Xr printf 3
180to customize the trace output and are used by
181.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
182.Fl f
183option and allows
184.Xr ldd 1
185to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
186If the dependency name starts with string
187.Pa lib ,
188.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
189is used, otherwise
190.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
191is used.
192The following conversions can be used:
193.Bl -tag -width 4n
194.It Li %a
195The main program's name
196(also known as
197.Dq __progname ) .
198.It Li \&%A
199The value of the environment variable
200.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME .
201Typically used to print both the names of programs and shared libraries
202being inspected using
203.Xr ldd 1 .
204.It Li %o
205The library name.
206.It Li %p
207The full pathname as determined by
208.Nm rtld Ns 's
209library search rules.
210.It Li %x
211The library's load address.
212.El
213.Pp
214Additionally,
215.Ql \en
216and
217.Ql \et
218are recognized and have their usual meaning.
219.It Ev LD_UTRACE
220If set,
221.Nm
222will log events such as the loading and unloading of shared objects via
223.Xr utrace 2 .
224.Pp
225.It Ev LD_LOADFLTR
226If set,
227.Nm
228will process the filtee dependencies of the loaded objects immediately,
229instead of postponing it until required.
230Normally, the filtees are opened at the time of the first symbol resolution
231from the filter object.
232.El
233.Sh FILES
234.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints" -compact
235.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
236Hints file.
237.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints
238Hints file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
239.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
240The libmap configuration file.
241.It Pa /etc/libmap32.conf
242The libmap configuration file for 32-bit binaries on 64-bit system.
243.El
244.Sh SEE ALSO
245.Xr ld 1 ,
246.Xr ldd 1 ,
247.Xr elf 5 ,
248.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
249.Xr ldconfig 8
250