NAME

ld − link editor

SYNOPSIS

ld [ options ] files

DESCRIPTION

Ld combines several object programs into one, resolves external references, and searches libraries.  In the simplest case several object files are given, and ld combines them, producing an object module which can be either executed or become the input for a further ld run.  (In the latter case, the −r option must be given to preserve the relocation bits.)  The output of ld is left on a.out.  This file is made executable only if no errors occurred during the load. 

The argument routines are concatenated in the order specified.  The entry point of the output is the beginning of the first routine (unless the −e option is specified). 

If any argument is a library, it is searched exactly once at the point it is encountered in the argument list.  Only those routines defining an unresolved external reference are loaded.  If a routine from a library references another routine in the library, and the library has not been processed by ranlib(1), the referenced routine must appear after the referencing routine in the library.  Thus the order of programs within libraries may be important.  The first member of a library should be a file named ‘__.SYMDEF’, which is understood to be a dictionary for the library as produced by ranlib(1); the dictionary is searched iteratively to satisfy as many references as possible. 

The symbols _etext, _edata and _end (etext, edata and end in C) are reserved and, if referred to, are set to the first location above the program, the first location above initialized data, and the first location above all data respectively.  It is erroneous to define these symbols. 

OPTIONS

Except for −l, options should appear before the filenames. 

−A Specifies incremental loading, i.e.  linking is to be done in a manner so that the resulting object may be read into an already executing program.  The next argument is the name of a file whose symbol table will be taken as a basis on which to define additional symbols.  Only newly linked material will be entered into the text and data portions of a.out, but the new symbol table will reflect every symbol defined before and after the incremental load.  This argument must appear before any other object file in the argument list.  The −T option may be used as well, and will be taken to mean that the newly linked segment will commence at the corresponding address (which must be a multiple of 1024).  The default value is the old value of _end. 

−d Forces definition of common storage even if the −r flag is present. 

−Dhex
Takes the next argument as a hexadecimal number and pad the data segment with zero bytes to the indicated length.

−e p Takes p to be the entry point of the loaded program; location 0 is the default. 

−lstr This option is an abbreviation for the library name libstr.a, where str is a string.  Ld searches for libraries first in any directories specified with −L options, then in the standard directories ‘/lib’, ‘/usr/lib’, and ‘/usr/local/lib’.  A library is searched when its name is encountered, so the placement of a −l is significant. 

−Ldir Adds dir to the list of directories in which ld searches for libraries.  Ld searches the directories specified with −L before it searches the standard directories. 

−M Produces a primitive load map, listing the names of the files which will be loaded. 

−n Arranges (by giving the output file a 0410 "magic number") that when the output file is executed, the text portion will be read-only and shared among all users executing the file.  This involves moving the data areas up to the first possible 1024 byte boundary following the end of the text. 

−N Does not make the text portion read only or sharable.  (Uses "magic number" 0407.) 

−o name
Uses the name argument after −o as the name of the ld output file, instead of a.out. 

−r Generates relocation bits in the output file so that the file can be the subject of another ld run.  This flag also prevents final definitions from being given to common symbols, and suppresses the ‘undefined symbol’ diagnostics. 

−s "Strips" the output, that is, removes the symbol table and relocation bits to save space (but impair the usefulness of the debuggers).  You can also remove this information with strip(1). 

−S "Strips" the output by removing all symbols except locals and globals. 

−t Print the name of each file as it is processed.  (Trace.) 

−T hex
Uses hex to set the text segment origin.  The default origin is 0. 

−u Takes the following argument as a symbol and enter it as undefined in the symbol table.  This is useful for loading wholly from a library, since initially the symbol table is empty and an unresolved reference is needed to force the loading of the first routine. 

−x Tells ld not to preserve local (non-.globl) symbols in the output symbol table; only enter external symbols.  This option saves some space in the output file. 

−X Saves local symbols except for those whose names begin with ‘L’.  Cc(1) uses this option to discard internally-generated labels while retaining symbols local to routines. 

−ysym
Indicates each file in which sym appears, its type and whether the file defines or references it.  Many such options may be given to trace many symbols.  (It is usually necessary to begin sym with an ‘_’, as external C, FORTRAN and Pascal variables begin with underscores.) 

−z Arranges for the process to be loaded on demand from the resulting executable file (413 format) rather than preloaded.  This is the default.  Results in a 1024 byte header on the output file followed by a text and data segment each of which have size a multiple of 1024 bytes (being padded out with nulls in the file if necessary).  With this format the first few BSS segment symbols may actually appear (from the output of size(1)) to live in the data segment; this to avoid wasting the space resulting from data segment size roundup. 

FILES

/lib/lib∗.alibraries
/usr/lib/lib∗.amore libraries
/usr/local/lib/lib∗.astill more libraries
a.outoutput file

SEE ALSO

ar(1), as(1), cc(1), ranlib(1)

BUGS

There is no way to force data to be page aligned.  Ld pads images which are to be demand loaded from the file system to the next page boundary to avoid a bug in the system. 

4th Berkeley Distribution  —  May 8, 1986