xref: /freebsd/sbin/ldconfig/ldconfig.8 (revision 640235e2c2ba32947f7c59d168437ffa1280f1e6)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 1993 Paul Kranenburg
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30.\" $FreeBSD$
31.\"
32.Dd March 19, 2013
33.Dt LDCONFIG 8
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm ldconfig
37.Nd configure the shared library cache
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl 32
41.Op Fl aout | Fl elf
42.Op Fl Rimrsv
43.Op Fl f Ar hints_file
44.Op Ar directory | Ar
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46The
47.Nm
48utility is used to prepare a set of
49.Dq hints
50for use by the dynamic linker
51to facilitate quick lookup of shared libraries available in multiple
52directories.
53It scans a set of built-in system directories and any
54.Ar directories
55specified on the command line (in the given order) looking for
56shared libraries and stores the results in a system file to forestall
57the overhead that would otherwise result from the directory search
58operations the dynamic linker would have to perform to load the
59required shared libraries.
60.Pp
61Files named on the command line are expected to contain directories
62to scan for shared libraries.
63Each directory's pathname must start on a new
64line.
65Blank lines and lines starting with the comment character
66.Ql \&#
67are ignored.
68Filenames must conform to the
69.Pa lib*.so.[0-9]
70pattern in order to be added to the hints file.
71.Pp
72For security reasons, directories which are world or group-writable or which
73are not owned by root produce warning messages and are skipped, unless
74the
75.Fl i
76option is present.
77.Pp
78The shared libraries which are found will be automatically available for loading
79if needed by the program being prepared for execution.
80This obviates the need
81for storing search paths within the executable.
82.Pp
83The
84.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
85environment variable can be used to override the use of
86directories (or the order thereof) from the cache or to specify additional
87directories where shared libraries might be found.
88.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
89is a
90.Sq \&:
91separated list of directory paths which are searched by
92the dynamic linker
93when it needs to load a shared library.
94It can be viewed as the run-time
95equivalent of the
96.Fl L
97switch of
98.Xr ld 1 .
99.Pp
100The
101.Nm
102utility is typically run as part of the boot sequence.
103.Pp
104The following options are recognized by
105.Nm :
106.Bl -tag -width indent
107.It Fl 32
108Generate the hints for 32-bit ABI shared libraries
109on 64-bit systems that support running 32-bit binaries.
110.It Fl aout
111Generate the hints for a.out format shared libraries.
112.It Fl elf
113Generate the hints for ELF format shared libraries.
114.It Fl R
115Rescan the previously configured directories.
116This opens the previous hints
117file and fetches the directory list from the header.
118Any additional pathnames
119on the command line are also processed.
120This is the default action when no parameters are given.
121.It Fl f Ar hints_file
122Read and/or update the specified hints file, instead of the standard file.
123This option is provided primarily for testing.
124.It Fl i
125Run in insecure mode.
126The security checks will not be performed.
127.It Fl m
128Instead of replacing the contents of the hints file
129with those found in the directories specified,
130.Dq merge
131in new entries.
132Directories recorded in the hints file by previous runs of
133.Nm
134are also rescanned for new shared libraries.
135.It Fl r
136List the current contents of the hints file
137on the standard output.
138The hints file is not modified.
139The list of
140directories stored in the hints file is included.
141.It Fl s
142Do not scan the built-in system directory
143.Pq Dq /usr/lib
144for shared libraries.
145.It Fl v
146Switch on verbose mode.
147.El
148.Sh SECURITY
149Special care must be taken when loading shared libraries into the address
150space of
151.Ev set-user-Id
152programs.
153Whenever such a program is run by any user except the owner of the program,
154the dynamic linker
155will only load shared libraries from the hints
156file.
157In particular, the
158.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
159is not used to search for libraries.
160Thus, the role of ldconfig is dual.
161In
162addition to building a set of hints for quick lookup, it also serves to
163specify the trusted collection of directories from which shared objects can
164be safely loaded.
165.Sh FILES
166.Bl -tag -width /var/run/ld-elf.so.hintsxxx -compact
167.It Pa /var/run/ld.so.hints
168Standard hints file for the a.out dynamic linker.
169.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
170Standard hints file for the ELF dynamic linker.
171.It Pa /etc/ld.so.conf
172Conventional configuration file containing directory names for
173invocations with
174.Fl aout .
175.It Pa /etc/ld-elf.so.conf
176Conventional configuration file containing directory names for
177invocations with
178.Fl elf .
179.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf32.so.hints
180.It Pa /var/run/ld32.so.hints
181Conventional configuration files containing directory names for
182invocations with
183.Fl 32 .
184.El
185.Sh SEE ALSO
186.Xr ld 1 ,
187.Xr link 5
188.Sh HISTORY
189A
190.Nm
191utility first appeared in SunOS 4.0, it appeared in its current form
192in
193.Fx 1.1 .
194.Sh BUGS
195Some security checks (for example, verifying root ownership of
196added directories) are not performed when
197.Fl aout
198is specified.
199