First draft of a link(5) manual page.

Needs more structuring. Feel free to assist on this ;-)
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.Dd October 23, 1993
.Dt LINK 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm link
.Nd dynamic loader and link editor interface
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <link.h>
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The include file
.Aq Pa link.h
declares several structures that are present in dynamically linked
programs and libraries.
The structures define the interface between several components of the
link-editor and loader mechanism. The layout of a number of these
structures within the binaries resembles the a.out format in many places
as it serves such similar functions as symbol definitions (including the
accompanying string table) and relocation records needed to resolve
references to external entities. It also records a number of data structures
unique to the dynamic loading and linking process. These include references
to other objects that are required to complete the link-editing process and
indirection tables to facilitate
.Ev Position Independent Code (PIC for short)
to improve sharing of code pages among different processes.
The collection of data structures described here will be refered to as the
.Ev Run-time Relocation Section (RRS)
and is embedded in the standard text and data segments of the dynamically
linked program or shared object image as the existing
.Xr a.out
format offers no room for it elsewhere.
.Pp
Several utilities cooperate to ensure that the task of getting a program
ready to run can complete successfully in a way that optimizes the use
of system resources. The compiler emits PIC code from which shared libraries
can be build by
.Ev ld.
The compiler also includes size information of any initialized data items
through the .size assembler directive. PIC code differs from conventional code
in that it accesses data variables through an indirection table, the
Global Offset Table, by convention accessable by the reserved name
.Ev _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_.
The exact mechanism used for this is machine dependent, usually a machine
register is reserved for the purpose. The rational behind this construct
is to generate code that is independent of the actual load address. Only
the values contained in the Global Offset Table may need updating at run-time
depending on the load addresses of the various shared objects in the address
space.
.Pp
Likewise, procedure calls to globally defined functions are redirected through
the Procedure Linkage Table (PLT) residing in the data segment of the core
image. Again, this is done to avoid run-time modifications to the text segment.
.Pp
The linker-editor allocates the Global Offset Table and Procedure Linkage Table
when combining PIC object files into an image suitable for mapping into the
process address space. It also collects all symbols that may be needed by the
run-time link-editor and stores these along with the image's text and data bits.
Another reserved symbol,
.Ev _DYNAMIC
is used to indicate the presence of the run-time linker structures. Whenever
_DYNAMIC is relocated to 0, there is no need to invoke the run-time
link-editor. If this symbol is non-zero, it points at a data structure from
which the location of the necessary relocation- and symbol information can
be derived. This is most notably used by the start-up module,
.Ev crt0.
The _DYNAMIC structure is conventionally located at the start of the data
segment of the image to which it pertains.
.Pp
.Sh DATA STRUCTURES
The data structures supporting dynamic linking and run-time relocation
reside both in the text and data segments of the image they apply to.
The text segments contain read-only data such as symbols descriptions and
names, while the data segments contain the tables that need to be modified by
during the relocation process.
.Pp
The _DYNAMIC symbol references a
.Fa link_dynamic
structure:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct link_dynamic {
int ld_version;
struct ld_debug *ldd;
union {
struct link_dynamic_2 *ld_2;
} ld_un;
struct ld_entry *ld_entry;
};
.Ed
.Bl -tag -width ld_version
.It Fa ld_version
This field provides for different versions of the dynamic linking
implementation. The current version numbers understood by ld and ld.so are
.Ev LD_VERSION_SUN (3),
which is used by the SunOS 4.x releases, and
.Ev LD_VERSION_BSD (8),
which is currently in use by NetBSD release 0.9a.
.It Fa ld_un
Refers to a
.Ev ld_version
dependent data structure.
.It Fa ldd_debug
this field provides debuggers with a hook to access symbol tables of shared
objects loaded as a result of the actions of the run-time link-editor.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fa link_dynamic_2
structure is the main
.Dq dispatcher
table, containing offsets into the image's segments where various symbol
and relocation information is located.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct link_dynamic_2 {
struct link_map *ld_loaded;
long ld_need;
long ld_rules;
long ld_got;
long ld_plt;
long ld_rel;
long ld_hash;
long ld_symbols;
long (*ld_stab_hash)();
long ld_buckets;
long ld_strings;
long ld_str_sz;
long ld_text_sz;
long ld_plt_sz;
};
.Ed
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ld_stab_hash
.It Fa ld_loaded
A pointer to the first link map loaded (see below). This field is set by
.Xr ld.so.
.It Fa ld_need
The start of a (linked) list of shared objects needed by
.Ev this
object.
.It Fa ld_rules
Depricated (used by SunOS to specify library search rules).
.It Fa ld_got
The location of the Global Offset Table within this image.
.It Fa ld_plt
The location of the Procedure Linkage Table within this image.
.It Fa ld_rel
The location of an array of
.Fa relocation_info
structures (see
.Xr a.out 5)
specifying run-time relocations.
.It Fa ld_hash
The location of the hash table for fast symbol lookup in this object's
symbol table.
.It Fa ld_symbols
The location of the symbol table.
.It Fa ld_stab_hash
Currently unused.
.It Fa ld_buckets
The number of buckets in
.Fa ld_hash
.It Fa ld_strings
The location of the symbol string table that goes with
.Fa ld_symbols.
.It Fa ld_str_sz
The size of the string table.
.It Fa ld_text_sz
The size of the object's text segment.
.It Fa ld_plt_sz
The size of the Procedure Linkage Table.
.El
.Pp
A
.Fa link_object
structure descibes a shared object that is needed
to complete the link edit process of the object containing it.
A list of such objects (chained through
.Fa lo_next)
is pointed at
by the
.Fa ld_need
in the link_dynamic_2 structure.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct link_object {
long lo_name;
u_int lo_library : 1,
lo_unused : 31;
short lo_major;
short lo_minor;
long lo_next;
};
.Ed
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width lo_library
.It Fa lo_name
The offset in the text segment of a string describing this link object.
.It Fa lo_library
If set,
.Fa lo_name
specifies a library that is to be searched for by ld.so. The path name
is obtained by searching a set of directories (see
.Xr ldconfig)
for a shared object matching
.Ev lib\&<lo_name>\&.so.n.m.
If not set,
.Fa lo_name
should point at a full path name for the desired shared object.
.It Fa lo_major
Specifies the major version number of the shared object to load.
.It Fa lo_minor
Specifies the prefered minor version number of the shared object to load.
.El
.Pp
The run-time link-editor maintains a list of link maps to keep
track of all shared objects loaded into a process' address space.
These structures are only used at run-time and do not occur within
the text or data segment of an executable or shared library.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct link_map {
caddr_t lm_addr;
char *lm_name;
struct link_map *lm_next;
struct link_object *lm_lop;
caddr_t lm_lob;
u_int lm_rwt : 1;
struct link_dynamic *lm_ld;
caddr_t lm_lpd;
};
.Bl -tag -width ld_addr
.It Fa lm_addr
The address at which the shared object associated with this link map has
been loaded.
.It Fa lm_name
The full path name of the loaded object.
.It Fa lm_next
Pointer to the next link map.
.It Fa lm_lop
The
.Fa link_object
structure that was responsible for this shared object to get loaded.
.It Fa lm_lob
Depricated.
.It Fa lm_rwt
Set if this object's text segment is currently writable.
.It Fa lm_ld
Pointer to this object
.Fa link_dynamic
structure.
.It Fa lm_lpd
Hook for attaching private data maintained by the run-time link-editor.
.El
.Ed
.Pp
Symbol description with size. This is simply an
.Fa nlist
structure with one field (
.Fa nz_size
) added. Used to convey size information on items in the data segment
of shared objects. An array of these lives in the shared object's
text segment and is addressed by the
.Fa ld_symbols
field of
.Fa link_dynamic_2.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct nzlist {
struct nlist nlist;
u_long nz_size;
#define nz_un nlist.n_un
#define nz_strx nlist.n_un.n_strx
#define nz_name nlist.n_un.n_name
#define nz_type nlist.n_type
#define nz_value nlist.n_value
#define nz_desc nlist.n_desc
#define nz_other nlist.n_other
};
.Ed
.Bl -tag -width nz_size
.It Fa nlist
(see
.Xr nlist 5
).
.It Fa nz_size
The size of the data represented by this symbol.
.El
.Pp
A hash table is included within the text segment of shared object to
to facilitate quick lookup of symbols during run-time link-editing.
The
.Fa ld_hash
field of the
.Fa link_dynamic_2
structure points at an array of
.Fa rrs_hash
structures:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct rrs_hash {
int rh_symbolnum; /* symbol number */
int rh_next; /* next hash entry */
};
.Ed
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width rh_symbolnum
.It Fa rh_symbolnum
The index of the symbol in the shared object's symbol table (as given by the
.Fa ld_symbols
field).
.It Fa rh_next
In case of collisions, this field is the offset of the next entry in this
hash table bucket. It is zero for the last bucket element.
.El
The
.Fa rt_symbol
structure is used to keep track of run-time allocated commons
and data items copied from shared objects. These items are kept on linked list
and is exported through the
.Fa ldd_cp
field in the
.Fa ld_debug
structure (see below) for use by debuggers.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct rt_symbol {
struct nzlist *rt_sp;
struct rt_symbol *rt_next;
struct rt_symbol *rt_link;
caddr_t rt_srcaddr;
};
.Ed
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width rt_scraddr
.It Fa rt_sp
The symbol description.
.It Fa rt_next
Virtual address of next rt_symbol.
.It Fa rt_link
Next in hash bucket. Used by internally by ld.so.
.It Fa rt_srcaddr
Location of the source of initialized data within a shared object.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fa ld_debug
structure is used by debuggers to gain knowledge of any shared objects
that have been loaded in the process's address space as a result of run-time
link-editing. Since the run-time link-editor runs as a part of process
initialization, a debugger that wishes to access symbols from shared objects
can only do so after the link-editor has been called from crt0.
A dynamically linked binary contains a
.Fa ld_debug
structure which can be located by means of the
.Fa ldd
field in
.Fa link_dynamic.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct ld_debug {
int ldd_version;
int ldd_in_debugger;
int ldd_sym_loaded;
char *ldd_bp_addr;
int ldd_bp_inst;
struct rt_symbol *ldd_cp;
};
.Ed
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ldd_in_debugger
.It Fa ldd_version
Version number of this interface.
.It Fa ldd_in_debugger
Set by the debugger to indicate to ld.so that the program is run under
control of a debugger.
.It Fa ldd_sym_loaded
Set by ld.so whenever it adds symbols by loading shared objects.
.It Fa ldd_bp_addr
The address were a breakpoint will be set by the ld.so to divert control to
the debugger. This address is determined by the start-up module,
.Ev crt0.o,
to be some convenient place before the call to _main.
.It Fa ldd_bp_inst
Contains the original instruction that was at
.Fa ldd_bp_addr.
The debugger is expected to put this instruction back before continuing the
program.
.It Fa ldd_cp
A pointer to the linked list of run-time allocated symbols that the debugger
may interested in.
.El
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent
The
.Fa ld_entry
structure defines a set of service routines within ld.so. See
.Ev libdl.a
for more information.
struct ld_entry {
int (*dlopen)();
int (*dlclose)();
int (*dlsym)();
};
.Ed
.Bd -literal -offset indent
The
.Fa crt_ldso
structure defines the interface between the start-up code in crt0 and ld.so.
struct crt_ldso {
int crt_ba;
int crt_dzfd;
int crt_ldfd;
struct link_dynamic *crt_dp;
char **crt_ep;
caddr_t crt_bp;
};
#define CRT_VERSION_SUN 1
#define CRT_VERSION_BSD 2
.Ed
.Bl -tag -width crt_dzfd
.It Fa crt_ba
The virtual address at which ld.so was loaded by crt0.
.It Fa crt_dzfd
On SunOS systems, this field contains an open file descriptor to
.Dq /dev/zero
used to get demand paged zeroed pages. On NetBSD systems it contains -1.
.It Fa crt_ldfd
Contains an open file descriptor that was used by crt0 to load ld.so.
.It Fa crt_dp
A pointer to main's
.Fa link_dynamic
structure.
.It Fa crt_ep
A pointer to the environment strings.
.It Fa crt_bp
The address at which a breakpoint will be placed by ld.so if run by a debugger.
See
.Fa ld_debug
.El
.Pp
The
.Fa hints_header
and
.Fa hints_bucket
structures define the layout of the library hints, normally found in
.Dq /var/run/ld.so.hints,
which is used by ld.so to quickly locate the shared object images in the
filesystem.
The organization of the hints file is not unlike that of an
.Dq a.out
object file, in that it contains a header determining the offset and size
of a table of fixed sized hash buckets and a common string pool.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct hints_header {
long hh_magic;
#define HH_MAGIC 011421044151
long hh_version;
#define LD_HINTS_VERSION_1 1
long hh_hashtab;
long hh_nbucket;
long hh_strtab;
long hh_strtab_sz;
long hh_ehints;
};
.Ed
.Bl -tag -width hh_strtab_sz
.It Fa hh_magic
Hints file magic number.
.It Fa hh_version
Interface version number.
.It Fa hh_hashtab
Offset of hash table.
.It Fa hh_strtab
Offset of string table.
.It Fa hh_strtab_sz
Size of strings.
.It Fa hh_ehints
Maximum usable offset in hints file.
.El
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent
/*
* Hash table element in hints file.
*/
struct hints_bucket {
int hi_namex;
int hi_pathx;
int hi_dewey[MAXDEWEY];
int hi_ndewey;
#define hi_major hi_dewey[0]
#define hi_minor hi_dewey[1]
int hi_next;
};
.Ed
.Bl -tag -width hi_ndewey
.It Fa hi_namex
Index of the string identifying the library.
.It Fa hi_pathx
Index of the string representing the full path name of the library.
.It Fa hi_dewey
The version numbers of the shared library.
.It Fa hi_ndewey
The number of valid entries in
.Fa hi_dewey.
.It Fa hi_next
Next bucket in case of hashing collisions.
.El
.Sh CAVEATS
Only the GNU C compiler currently supports the creation of shared libraries.
Other programming languages can not be used.