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loader(5)							     loader(5)

NAME
       loader - Run-time linker and loader.

DESCRIPTION
       The loader is the run-time linker and shared object loader.  You invoke
       loader when you run a dynamic executable.  The loader maps in the  main
       object  and any shared libraries used by it, resolves relocations as ld
       does at static link time, and  allocates	 common	 space	in  memory  if
       required.   The	loader	is  also  referred  to as rld, and some of the
       internal interfaces currently reflect this naming.

       The loader constructs an explicit shared object list from the  list  of
       objects comprised by the executable.  You can override the dynamic exe‐
       cutable's list at run time by defining the _RLD_LIST environment	 vari‐
       able  to be a colon-separated list of objects and libraries.  To append
       new objects to the  dynamic  executable's  list,	 specify  the  keyword
       DEFAULT	at  the	 beginning  of	the  new  object  list; to prepend new
       objects, specify DEFAULT at the end  of	the  new  list.	  To  add  new
       objects	to  the	 middle	 of  the  dynamic  executable's list, you must
       explicitly enter the full object list when defining _RLD_LIST.

       The  default  shared   library	search	 paths	 include:   /usr/shlib
       /usr/ccs/lib /usr/lib/cmplrs/cc /usr/lib /usr/local/lib /var/shlib

       You can change and add to the shared library search paths by any of the
       following mechanisms: Using the -soname option to the ld	 command  when
       creating a shared object.

	      The  ld command records shared library dependencies using shared
	      object names (sonames).  By default, an object's soname  is  its
	      file  name  (without a prepended path name).  The -soname option
	      allows you to specify an alternative soname.  If the soname  you
	      specify  contains a path name, the shared object loader searches
	      for it only in the indicated location, exactly as specified.  If
	      the  soname  contains a file name, the shared object loader con‐
	      structs a search path for the  object  from  the	file  name  as
	      described	 at  the end of this list.  Using the -rpath option to
	      the ld command.

	      The -rpath option causes the  linker  to	associate  a  list  of
	      shared  library  search directories (separated by colons) with a
	      call shared or shared object.  If an item in the	path  supplied
	      to  -rpath  is  of  the  form $VARNAME or ${VARNAME}, the loader
	      interprets it as an environment variable. The rpath  value  used
	      by  the  loader is the rpath value from the main executable plus
	      the rpath values of all the loaded  libraries,  in  load	order.
	      Defining the _RLD_ROOT environment variable.

	      The _RLD_ROOT environment variable defines a list of root direc‐
	      tory paths (separated by colons) that are, in turn, prepended to
	      each directory specified in the current rpath and to the default
	      shared library search paths.  The _RLD_ROOT environment variable
	      does  not,  by  itself,  identify	 a  list  of directories to be
	      searched.	 To search the system default library directories when
	      _RLD_ROOT	 is  defined, you must include the true root directory
	      (/) as one of its entries.  Defining the	LD_LIBRARY_PATH	 envi‐
	      ronment variable.

	      The  LD_LIBRARY_PATH  environment	 variable  defines  a  list of
	      shared library directories that are always  searched  as	speci‐
	      fied.  The shared object loader does not prepend to these direc‐
	      tories the root directory path prefixes defined by the _RLD_ROOT
	      environment  variable.   If  an  item in the list defined by the
	      LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable is of the form $VARNAME  or
	      ${VARNAME}, the loader interprets it as an environment variable.

       As  mentioned  in the preceding list, if the object's soname contains a
       path name, the shared object loader searches for it only in  the	 indi‐
       cated  location,	 exactly  as specified.	 If the soname contains a file
       name, the shared object loader constructs its search  path  for	shared
       objects	in  the	 following  manner:  The list of shared library search
       directories indicated by the rpath, each prepended by  any  root	 paths
       defined	by  the	 _RLD_ROOT  environment	 variable  Any	list of shared
       library search directories defined by the  LD_LIBRARY_PATH  environment
       variable The default shared library search paths, each prepended by any
       root paths defined by the _RLD_ROOT environment variable

       To ensure compatibility, applications may choose to disallow  exec-time
       or  run-time  library  replacement.  The ld(1) program supports a flag,
       -no_library_replacement, to facilitate this feature.

       Security also dictates that the loader will not allow library  replace‐
       ment for setuid and setgid programs unless the user is root.

   Loader Entry Points
       The  loader  is	invoked by the kernel to load a program for execution.
       The lazy_text_resolve entry point implements lazy binding by  resolving
       text symbols on the fly at run time.  The symbol __istart is bound to a
       handler for sections, and is called by crt0.  Before exiting,  programs
       or  objects  should  call _rld_new_interface(_SHUT_DOWN) to ensure that
       the program executes all of the sections for all of the shared objects.
       The   crt0   and	  exit(2)   library   routines	 call  _rld_new_inter‐
       face(_SHUT_DOWN) to ensure that programs linked using cc(1)  will  have
       standard handling of and sections.

       Programmers  are	 encouraged  to	 use  the  higher  level  entry points
       dlopen(3), dlsym(3), dlclose(3), and  dlerror(3)	 to  perform  run-time
       library loading and symbol resolution.  The following facilities avail‐
       able through _rld_new_interface are evolving and should not be used  by
       portable programs.

       #include <rld_interface.h>

       void *_rld_new_interface(Elf32_Word operation, ...)

       This function returns different types of objects depending on the oper‐
       ation code, so casting is required as indicated below.	The  following
       operation  codes	 implement  some basic functionalities that are super‐
       seded for the most part by dlopen(3), etc.:

       /* Run fini routines */ (int)_rld_new_interface(_SHUT_DOWN)

       /* Return first path name in object  list  */  (char  *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_FIRST_PATHNAME)

       /*  Return  next	 path  name  in object list */ (char *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_NEXT_PATHNAME)

       /*   Modify   the   object   list,   see	  rld_interface.h   */	 (char
       *)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_MODIFY_LIST,		     Elf32_Word opera‐
       tion,		     char  *original_path  name,		  char
       *name)

       /*  Map	a  virtual  address  to	 a  name  */  (char  *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_ADDR_TO_NAME, Elf32_Addr address)

       /* Map a name  to  a  virtual  address  */  (Elf32_Addr)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_NAME_TO_ADDR, char *name)

       /*   Map	  an  address  to  a  symbol  */  #include  <dlfcn.h>  char  *
       _rld_new_interface(_RLD_DLADDR,void *addr, Dl_info *dlip)

       For /* Map an address to a symbol */, above, if the address  cannot  be
       matched	to a mapped object, a 0 is returned and both the dli_sname and
       dli_saddr members (see below) are set to 0. Otherwise, a non-zero value
       is returned and the dlip struct is filled in.

       addr  is	 the  address  to be mapped to a symbol and object.  dlip is a
       pointer to a preallocated Dl_info structure, whose members are: Pointer
       to the filename of the containing object.  Base address of the contain‐
       ing object.  Pointer to	the  symbol  name  nearest  to	the  specified
       address. This symbol either has the same address or is the nearest sym‐
       bol with a lower address.  Contains the actual  address	of  the	 above
       symbol.

       The following operation codes are used to implement dlopen(3), etc.:

       /*    See    dlopen(3)	for   details	*/   (void   *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_LDR_DLOPEN, char *libname, int mode)

       /*   See	  dlsym(3)   for   details    */    (void    *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_LDR_DLSYM,
				  void *handle, char *symname)

       /*    See   dlerror(3)	for   details	*/   (char   *)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_LDR_DLERROR)

       /*    See    dlclose(3)	  for	 details    */	  (int)_rld_new_inter‐
       face(_RLD_LDR_DLCLOSE, void *handle)

       The following operation codes are used internally by libc and dbx:

       /*  Old	support	 for sbrk(2) */ (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_SBRK,
       int incr, char **p_oldbrk)

       /* Old support for brk(2) */ (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_BRK, char
       *addr)

       /*    Run    fini    routines	(the   same   as   _RLD_SHUTDOWN)   */
       (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_CONTEXT_ATEXIT,
		      ldr_context_t ctxt)

       /*   See	  ldr_inq_region(3)  */	 (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_CON‐
       TEXT_INQ_REGION,				 ldr_context_t		 ctxt,
		      ldr_module_t     mod_id,			  ldr_region_t
       region_no,			   ldr_region_info_t	       *infop,
		      size_t sizeasked,		       size_t *sizegot)

       /*   See	  ldr_inq_module(3)  */	 (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_CON‐
       TEXT_INQ_MODULE,				 ldr_context_t		 ctxt,
		      ldr_module_t   mod_id,		     ldr_module_info_t
       *infop,		      size_t sizeasked,			size_t	*size‐
       got)

       /*   See	 ldr_next_module(3)  */	 (int)_rld_new_interface(_RLD_LDR_CON‐
       TEXT_NEXT_MODULE,			 ldr_context_t		 ctxt,
		      ldr_module_t *mod_id_ptr)

       In  the	preceding entry points, ctxt is a loader context, allowing the
       possibility of querying and manipulating	 various  environments.	  Cur‐
       rently,	ctxt  must  be	set  to ldr_process_context, which is a symbol
       resolved by the loader to an  internal  data  structure.	  This	allows
       operations on the current process.

LOADER OPTIONS
       Users  can  specify loader options by setting the _RLD_ARGS environment
       variable to a space separated list of any of the following options: For
       programs	 that  assume  local  variable	to be initialized to zero upon
       entry, this option forces the loader to zero any stack it  uses	before
       returning  to  user  code.   Ignore  interface versions on all objects.
       Ignore the interface version checking on the  object  specified.	  Does
       not  complain  or  abort when the loader cannot resolve unresolved data
       symbols.	 The loader interactively prompts the user  on	stdin  to  fix
       problems	 in the link.  (The loader will ask the user to provide a full
       path name for a missing shared object.)	Prints all messages to	a  log
       file  instead  of  /dev/tty.   Prints all messages to stderr instead of
       /dev/tty.  Prints all messages to stdout instead of /dev/tty.   Changes
       the  amount  of	space  the loader reserves for the heap when loading a
       taso application. Normally, the	loader	reserves  approximately	 256MB
       immediately  after  the	main object's bss segment for use as the heap.
       The size is specified as a hexadecimal number of bytes, without a lead‐
       ing  “0X”.   For example, the following environment variable assignment
       will double the size of the heap to approximately 512MB:

	      setenv _RLD_ARGS "-reserve_taso_heap  20000000"  Determines  how
	      many shared libraries should be opened simultaneously before the
	      loader begins using a text-segment mapping technique  that  con‐
	      serves  virtual  address	space.	The  default  setting for num‐
	      ber_of_dlopens is 100. Setting this value	 lower	increases  the
	      chances  that a process that dynamically loads a small number of
	      shared libraries will use more wired pages. Raising  this	 value
	      may  reduce  the	number of shared libraries that can be dynami‐
	      cally  loaded  by	 a  process.   Prints  loader  statistics   to
	      /dev/tty.	  Prints general actions.  Forces the loader to handle
	      all objects as “truncated address space option” objects.	 These
	      are  objects  whose  dependencies	 must  be  loaded in the lower
	      31-bit-addressable virtual address range.	 Shared libraries that
	      have  been  linked  outside  this range will be relocated by the
	      loader.  Forces the loader to use	 a  depth_first,  ring	search
	      method  for  resolving symbol references between shared objects.
	      These two options must be used together. The  -allocator	option
	      specifies	 an open file descriptor for the loader to use for its
	      mmap() calls when mapping	 any  object  whose  link  address  is
	      within  the  address-range  specified  with the -allocator_range
	      option.

	      The  -allocator_range  option  specifies	the  lower  and	 upper
	      addresses	 (inclusive) for which special memory allocation is to
	      occur.  The address-range parameter consists of two  hexadecimal
	      values  separated	 by  a	colon.	For  example: -allocator_range
	      20000000000:200ffffffff

	      The address range required for  any  segment  must  fall	either
	      entirely	outside	 or  entirely  within the range specified with
	      -allocator_range. No segment loaded in the  range	 can  conflict
	      with  the	 link  address of any other previously loaded segment.
	      These options are invalid with executables  utilizing  the  SUID
	      executable  bit.	When using these options, you must ensure that
	      mmap() returns memory that is suitable.

       For setuid programs not run by the superuser, _RLD_ARGS is ignored.

SYMBOL BINDING
       The loader can resolve symbols using either deferred or immediate bind‐
       ing.   Immediate	 binding requires that all symbols be resolved when an
       executable program or shared  library  is  loaded.   Deferred  (“lazy”)
       binding	allows text symbols to be resolved at run time by the loader's
       lazy_text_resolve entrypoint (described previously).

       By  default,  programs  are  loaded  with  deferred  binding.   If  the
       LD_BIND_NOW  environment	 variable is set to a non-null value, programs
       will be loaded with immediate binding.

SYMBOL RESOLUTION
       The loader's default symbol  resolution	policy	uses  a	 breadth-first
       search  of  the	entire	dependence  graph to resolve symbol references
       between shared objects.	The search starts from	the  call_shared  exe‐
       cutable,	 traverses  dependencies  left-to-right, and ignores cycles or
       duplicates.

       The depth ring search method is an alternative symbol resolution policy
       that  can be selected for an individual executable at link time, or for
       all executables at run time. See ld(1) for link time options.   At  run
       time,  the loader switch -depth_ring_search is used to enable this sym‐
       bol resolution policy.

       The depth ring search order is a depth-first search starting  from  the
       referencing  object, followed by a depth-first search starting from the
       root.  As with the default search policy, the traversal of dependencies
       is performed left-to-right; cycles and duplicates are ignored.

       To  illustrate  these  differences,  consider  the following dependence
       graph:

		 a.out
		  /|\
		 / | \
		/  |  \
	       /   |   \
	      /	   |	\
	   libA	  libB	 \
	     |	   |	  \
	     |	   |	   |
	   libD	  libE	   |
	     |	   |	   |
	     |_____|______libC

       The default symbol resolution policy uses a single breadth-first search
       order  to resolve symbol references for each of the objects in the pre‐
       ceding dependence graph. The search order for the graph is:

       Referencing   Search Object	  Order

       All	     a.out   libA   libB   libC	  libD	 libE

       The depth ring search order depends on which object a symbol  reference
       is  being resolved for. The search orders for resolving references from
       each object in the sample dependence graph are as follows:

       Referencing   Search Object	  Order

       a.out	      a.out    libA	libD	 libC	  libB	   LibE	  libA
       libA    libD    libC    a.out   libB    LibE  libD	   libD	  libC
       a.out  libA   libB   libE  libB		 libB	 libE	 libC	 a.out
       libA   libD libE		 libE	libC   a.out  libA   libD   libB

       The  default  symbol  resolution policy ensures that the same symbol is
       resolved for any object that references it.  With  depth	 ring  search,
       you  can have multiple instances of a symbol, referenced from different
       objects. This could introduce synchronization  problems	in  execution,
       particularly  if	 I/O  buffers  are  duplicated	across multiple shared
       libraries.

       Depth ring search order should be used with caution. Setting depth ring
       search  on an application may cause an undefined change of behavior for
       the Tru64 UNIX system libraries used by the application.

SEE ALSO
       ld(1), dlopen(3), dlsym(3), dlclose(3), dlerror(3), ldd(1).

								     loader(5)
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