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LD(1)			      GNU Development Tools			   LD(1)

NAME
     ld - Using LD, the GNU linker

SYNOPSIS
     ld [options] objfile ...

DESCRIPTION
     ld  combines a number of object and archive files, relocates their data and
     ties up symbol references. Usually the last step in compiling a program  is
     to run ld.

     ld  accepts  Linker  Command Language files written in a superset of AT&T's
     Link Editor Command Language syntax, to provide explicit and total  control
     over the linking process.

     This  man	page does not describe the command language; see the ld entry in
     "info", or the manual ld: the GNU linker, for full details on  the  command
     language and on other aspects of the GNU linker.

     This version of ld uses the general purpose BFD libraries to operate on ob-
     ject files. This allows ld to read, combine, and write object files in many
     different formats---for example, COFF or "a.out".	Different formats may be
     linked together to produce any available kind of object file.

     Aside from its flexibility, the GNU linker is more helpful than other link-
     ers  in  providing  diagnostic information.  Many linkers abandon execution
     immediately upon encountering an error; whenever possible, ld continues ex-
     ecuting, allowing you to identify other errors (or, in some cases,  to  get
     an output file in spite of the error).

     The  GNU linker ld is meant to cover a broad range of situations, and to be
     as compatible as possible with other linkers.  As a result, you  have  many
     choices to control its behavior.

OPTIONS
     The linker supports a plethora of command-line options, but in actual prac-
     tice  few of them are used in any particular context.  For instance, a fre-
     quent use of ld is to link standard Unix object files on a  standard,  sup-
     ported Unix system.  On such a system, to link a file "hello.o":

	     ld -o <output> /lib/crt0.o hello.o -lc

     This  tells ld to produce a file called output as the result of linking the
     file "/lib/crt0.o" with "hello.o" and the library "libc.a", which will come
     from the standard search directories.  (See the discussion of the -l option
     below.)

     Some of the command-line options to ld may be specified at any point in the
     command line.  However, options which refer to files, such  as  -l  or  -T,
     cause  the  file to be read at the point at which the option appears in the
     command line, relative to the object files and other file options.  Repeat-
     ing non-file options with a different argument will either have no  further
     effect,  or  override  prior  occurrences (those further to the left on the
     command line) of that option.  Options which may be meaningfully  specified
     more than once are noted in the descriptions below.

     Non-option  arguments  are  object files or archives which are to be linked
     together.	They may follow, precede, or be mixed in with  command-line  op-
     tions, except that an object file argument may not be placed between an op-
     tion and its argument.

     Usually  the  linker  is invoked with at least one object file, but you can
     specify other forms of binary input files using -l, -R, and the script com-
     mand language.  If no binary input files at all are specified,  the  linker
     does not produce any output, and issues the message No input files.

     If the linker cannot recognize the format of an object file, it will assume
     that  it  is  a linker script.  A script specified in this way augments the
     main linker script used for the link (either the default linker  script  or
     the  one  specified  by using -T).  This feature permits the linker to link
     against a file which appears to be an object or an  archive,  but	actually
     merely defines some symbol values, or uses "INPUT" or "GROUP" to load other
     objects.	Note  that  specifying	a script in this way merely augments the
     main linker script; use the -T option to replace the default linker  script
     entirely.

     For  options  whose names are a single letter, option arguments must either
     follow the option letter without intervening whitespace,  or  be  given  as
     separate arguments immediately following the option that requires them.

     For  options  whose  names are multiple letters, either one dash or two can
     precede the option name; for example, -trace-symbol and --trace-symbol  are
     equivalent.   Note---there  is one exception to this rule.  Multiple letter
     options that start with a lower case 'o'  can  only  be  preceeded  by  two
     dashes.   This  is  to reduce confusion with the -o option.  So for example
     -omagic sets the output file name to magic whereas --omagic sets the NMAGIC
     flag on the output.

     Arguments to multiple-letter options must either be separated from the  op-
     tion  name by an equals sign, or be given as separate arguments immediately
     following the option that requires them.  For example,  --trace-symbol  foo
     and  --trace-symbol=foo  are equivalent.  Unique abbreviations of the names
     of multiple-letter options are accepted.

     Note---if the linker is being invoked indirectly,	via  a	compiler  driver
     (e.g.  gcc)  then all the linker command line options should be prefixed by
     -Wl, (or whatever is appropriate for the particular compiler  driver)  like
     this:

	       gcc -Wl,--startgroup foo.o bar.o -Wl,--endgroup

     This  is  important,  because  otherwise  the  compiler  driver program may
     silently drop the linker options, resulting in a bad link.

     Here is a table of the generic command line switches accepted  by	the  GNU
     linker:

     @file
	 Read  command-line options from file.	The options read are inserted in
	 place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist, or  cannot
	 be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed.

	 Options  in  file  are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace character
	 may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option in either
	 single or double quotes.  Any character (including a backslash) may  be
	 included  by  prefixing  the character to be included with a backslash.
	 The file may itself contain additional @file options; any such  options
	 will be processed recursively.

     -akeyword
	 This option is supported for HP/UX compatibility.  The keyword argument
	 must  be  one of the strings archive, shared, or default.  -aarchive is
	 functionally equivalent to -Bstatic, and the  other  two  keywords  are
	 functionally equivalent to -Bdynamic.	This option may be used any num-
	 ber of times.

     -Aarchitecture
     --architecture=architecture
	 In  the current release of ld, this option is useful only for the Intel
	 960 family of architectures.  In that ld configuration,  the  architec-
	 ture argument identifies the particular architecture in the 960 family,
	 enabling some safeguards and modifying the archive-library search path.

	 Future  releases  of ld may support similar functionality for other ar-
	 chitecture families.

     -b input-format
     --format=input-format
	 ld may be configured to support more than one kind of object file.   If
	 your  ld  is  configured this way, you can use the -b option to specify
	 the binary format for input object files that follow this option on the
	 command line.	Even when ld is configured to support alternative object
	 formats, you don't usually need to specify this, as ld should	be  con-
	 figured  to  expect  as a default input format the most usual format on
	 each machine.	input-format is a text string, the name of a  particular
	 format supported by the BFD libraries.  (You can list the available bi-
	 nary formats with objdump -i.)

	 You  may  want  to use this option if you are linking files with an un-
	 usual binary format.  You can also use -b to switch formats  explicitly
	 (when	linking  object files of different formats), by including -b in-
	 put-format before each group of object files in a particular format.

	 The default format is taken from the environment variable "GNUTARGET".

	 You can also define the input format from a script, using  the  command
	 "TARGET";

     -c MRI-commandfile
     --mri-script=MRI-commandfile
	 For compatibility with linkers produced by MRI, ld accepts script files
	 written  in an alternate, restricted command language, described in the
	 MRI Compatible Script Files section of GNU ld documentation.  Introduce
	 MRI script files with the option -c; use the -T option  to  run  linker
	 scripts  written in the general-purpose ld scripting language.  If MRI-
	 cmdfile does not exist, ld looks for it in the directories specified by
	 any -L options.

     -d
     -dc
     -dp These three options are equivalent; multiple forms  are  supported  for
	 compatibility	with other linkers.  They assign space to common symbols
	 even if a relocatable output file is specified (with -r).   The  script
	 command "FORCE_COMMON_ALLOCATION" has the same effect.

     -e entry
     --entry=entry
	 Use  entry  as the explicit symbol for beginning execution of your pro-
	 gram, rather than the default entry point.  If there is no symbol named
	 entry, the linker will try to parse entry as a number, and use that  as
	 the  entry  address (the number will be interpreted in base 10; you may
	 use a leading 0x for base 16, or a leading 0 for base 8).

     --exclude-libs lib,lib,...
	 Specifies a list of archive libraries from which symbols should not  be
	 automatically exported. The library names may be delimited by commas or
	 colons.   Specifying  "--exclude-libs	ALL"  excludes	symbols  in  all
	 archive libraries from automatic export.  This option is available only
	 for the i386 PE targeted port of the linker and for ELF targeted ports.
	 For i386 PE, symbols explicitly listed in a .def  file  are  still  ex-
	 ported, regardless of this option.  For ELF targeted ports, symbols af-
	 fected by this option will be treated as hidden.

     -E
     --export-dynamic
	 When  creating  a dynamically linked executable, add all symbols to the
	 dynamic symbol table.	The dynamic symbol table is the set  of  symbols
	 which are visible from dynamic objects at run time.

	 If  you  do not use this option, the dynamic symbol table will normally
	 contain only those symbols which are referenced by some dynamic  object
	 mentioned in the link.

	 If  you use "dlopen" to load a dynamic object which needs to refer back
	 to the symbols defined by the program, rather than some  other  dynamic
	 object, then you will probably need to use this option when linking the
	 program itself.

	 You  can  also use the version script to control what symbols should be
	 added to the dynamic symbol table if the  output  format  supports  it.
	 See the description of --version-script in VERSION.

     -EB Link big-endian objects.  This affects the default output format.

     -EL Link little-endian objects.  This affects the default output format.

     -f
     --auxiliary name
	 When creating an ELF shared object, set the internal DT_AUXILIARY field
	 to  the  specified name.  This tells the dynamic linker that the symbol
	 table of the shared object should be used as an auxiliary filter on the
	 symbol table of the shared object name.

	 If you later link a program against this filter object, then, when  you
	 run  the  program,  the dynamic linker will see the DT_AUXILIARY field.
	 If the dynamic linker resolves any symbols from the filter  object,  it
	 will  first  check  whether  there is a definition in the shared object
	 name.	If there is one, it will be used instead of  the  definition  in
	 the  filter  object.	The shared object name need not exist.	Thus the
	 shared object name may be used to provide an alternative implementation
	 of certain functions, perhaps for debugging  or  for  machine	specific
	 performance.

	 This  option may be specified more than once.	The DT_AUXILIARY entries
	 will be created in the order in which they appear on the command line.

     -F name
     --filter name
	 When creating an ELF shared object, set the internal DT_FILTER field to
	 the specified name.  This tells the dynamic linker that the symbol  ta-
	 ble  of  the  shared  object which is being created should be used as a
	 filter on the symbol table of the shared object name.

	 If you later link a program against this filter object, then, when  you
	 run  the program, the dynamic linker will see the DT_FILTER field.  The
	 dynamic linker will resolve symbols according to the  symbol  table  of
	 the  filter  object  as usual, but it will actually link to the defini-
	 tions found in the shared object name.  Thus the filter object  can  be
	 used to select a subset of the symbols provided by the object name.

	 Some  older  linkers  used the -F option throughout a compilation tool-
	 chain for specifying object-file format for both input and  output  ob-
	 ject files.  The GNU linker uses other mechanisms for this purpose: the
	 -b,  --format,  --oformat  options,  the  "TARGET"  command  in  linker
	 scripts, and the "GNUTARGET" environment variable.  The GNU linker will
	 ignore the -F option when not creating an ELF shared object.

     -fini name
	 When creating an ELF executable or shared object, call  NAME  when  the
	 executable  or shared object is unloaded, by setting DT_FINI to the ad-
	 dress of the function.  By default, the  linker  uses	"_fini"  as  the
	 function to call.

     -g  Ignored.  Provided for compatibility with other tools.

     -Gvalue
     --gpsize=value
	 Set  the  maximum size of objects to be optimized using the GP register
	 to size.  This is only meaningful for object file formats such as  MIPS
	 ECOFF	which  supports  putting  large and small objects into different
	 sections.  This is ignored for other object file formats.

     -hname
     -soname=name
	 When creating an ELF shared object, set the internal DT_SONAME field to
	 the specified name.  When an executable is linked with a shared  object
	 which	has  a	DT_SONAME field, then when the executable is run the dy-
	 namic linker will attempt to load the shared object  specified  by  the
	 DT_SONAME  field  rather  than  the  using  the  file name given to the
	 linker.

     -i  Perform an incremental link (same as option -r).

     -init name
	 When creating an ELF executable or shared object, call  NAME  when  the
	 executable  or  shared  object is loaded, by setting DT_INIT to the ad-
	 dress of the function.  By default, the  linker  uses	"_init"  as  the
	 function to call.

     -larchive
     --library=archive
	 Add archive file archive to the list of files to link.  This option may
	 be  used  any number of times.  ld will search its path-list for occur-
	 rences of "libarchive.a" for every archive specified.

	 On systems which support shared libraries, ld may also search	for  li-
	 braries  with	extensions  other  than  ".a".	Specifically, on ELF and
	 SunOS systems, ld will search a directory for a library with an  exten-
	 sion  of  ".so" before searching for one with an extension of ".a".  By
	 convention, a ".so" extension indicates a shared library.

	 The linker will search an archive only once, at the location  where  it
	 is  specified	on  the  command  line.  If the archive defines a symbol
	 which was undefined in some object which appeared before the archive on
	 the command line, the linker will include the appropriate file(s)  from
	 the archive.  However, an undefined symbol in an object appearing later
	 on  the  command  line  will not cause the linker to search the archive
	 again.

	 See the -( option for a way to force the linker to search archives mul-
	 tiple times.

	 You may list the same archive multiple times on the command line.

	 This type of archive searching is standard for Unix linkers.	However,
	 if  you  are using ld on AIX, note that it is different from the behav-
	 iour of the AIX linker.

     -Lsearchdir
     --library-path=searchdir
	 Add path searchdir to the list of paths that ld will search for archive
	 libraries and ld control scripts.  You may use this option  any  number
	 of  times.  The directories are searched in the order in which they are
	 specified on the command line.  Directories specified	on  the  command
	 line are searched before the default directories.  All -L options apply
	 to all -l options, regardless of the order in which the options appear.

	 If searchdir begins with "=", then the "=" will be replaced by the sys-
	 root prefix, a path specified when the linker is configured.

	 The default set of paths searched (without being specified with -L) de-
	 pends	on  which  emulation mode ld is using, and in some cases also on
	 how it was configured.

	 The paths can also be specified in a link script with the  "SEARCH_DIR"
	 command.   Directories  specified this way are searched at the point in
	 which the linker script appears in the command line.

     -memulation
	 Emulate the emulation linker.	You can list  the  available  emulations
	 with the --verbose or -V options.

	 If the -m option is not used, the emulation is taken from the "LDEMULA-
	 TION" environment variable, if that is defined.

	 Otherwise,  the  default emulation depends upon how the linker was con-
	 figured.

     -M
     --print-map
	 Print a link map to the standard output.  A link map provides	informa-
	 tion about the link, including the following:

	 *   Where object files are mapped into memory.

	 *   How common symbols are allocated.

	 *   All  archive  members  included  in the link, with a mention of the
	     symbol which caused the archive member to be brought in.

	 *   The values assigned to symbols.

	     Note - symbols whose values are computed by an expression which in-
	     volves a reference to a previous value of the same symbol	may  not
	     have correct result displayed in the link map.  This is because the
	     linker  discards  intermediate  results  and only retains the final
	     value of an expression.  Under such circumstances the  linker  will
	     display  the final value enclosed by square brackets.  Thus for ex-
	     ample a linker script containing:

			foo = 1
			foo = foo * 4
			foo = foo + 8

	     will produce the following output in the link map if the -M  option
	     is used:

			0x00000001		  foo = 0x1
			[0x0000000c]		    foo = (foo * 0x4)
			[0x0000000c]		    foo = (foo + 0x8)

	     See  Expressions  for  more information about expressions in linker
	     scripts.

     -n
     --nmagic
	 Turn off page alignment of sections, and mark the output as "NMAGIC" if
	 possible.

     -N
     --omagic
	 Set the text and data sections to be readable and writable.   Also,  do
	 not page-align the data segment, and disable linking against shared li-
	 braries.   If the output format supports Unix style magic numbers, mark
	 the output as "OMAGIC". Note: Although a writable text section  is  al-
	 lowed for PE-COFF targets, it does not conform to the format specifica-
	 tion published by Microsoft.

     --no-omagic
	 This  option negates most of the effects of the -N option.  It sets the
	 text section to be  read-only,  and  forces  the  data  segment  to  be
	 page-aligned.	 Note  -  this	option	does  not enable linking against
	 shared libraries.  Use -Bdynamic for this.

     -o output
     --output=output
	 Use output as the name for the program produced by ld; if  this  option
	 is  not  specified, the name a.out is used by default.  The script com-
	 mand "OUTPUT" can also specify the output file name.

     -O level
	 If level is a numeric values greater than zero ld optimizes the output.
	 This might take significantly longer and therefore probably should only
	 be enabled for the final binary.

     -q
     --emit-relocs
	 Leave relocation sections and contents in fully  linked  exececutables.
	 Post  link analysis and optimization tools may need this information in
	 order to perform correct modifications of executables.  This results in
	 larger executables.

	 This option is currently only supported on ELF platforms.

     --force-dynamic
	 Force the output file to have dynamic sections.  This	option	is  spe-
	 cific to VxWorks targets.

     -r
     --relocatable
	 Generate relocatable output---i.e., generate an output file that can in
	 turn serve as input to ld.  This is often called partial linking.  As a
	 side  effect, in environments that support standard Unix magic numbers,
	 this option also sets the output file's magic number to  "OMAGIC".   If
	 this option is not specified, an absolute file is produced.  When link-
	 ing  C++ programs, this option will not resolve references to construc-
	 tors; to do that, use -Ur.

	 When an input file does not have the same format as  the  output  file,
	 partial  linking  is only supported if that input file does not contain
	 any relocations.  Different output formats can  have  further	restric-
	 tions;  for  example  some "a.out"-based formats do not support partial
	 linking with input files in other formats at all.

	 This option does the same thing as -i.

     -R filename
     --just-symbols=filename
	 Read symbol names and their addresses from filename, but do  not  relo-
	 cate  it  or include it in the output.  This allows your output file to
	 refer symbolically to absolute locations of  memory  defined  in  other
	 programs.  You may use this option more than once.

	 For  compatibility with other ELF linkers, if the -R option is followed
	 by a directory name, rather than a file name,	it  is	treated  as  the
	 -rpath option.

     -s
     --strip-all
	 Omit all symbol information from the output file.

     -S
     --strip-debug
	 Omit  debugger symbol information (but not all symbols) from the output
	 file.

     -t
     --trace
	 Print the names of the input files as ld processes them.

     -T scriptfile
     --script=scriptfile
	 Use scriptfile as the linker script.  This script replaces ld's default
	 linker script (rather than adding to it), so commandfile  must  specify
	 everything necessary to describe the output file.    If scriptfile does
	 not  exist  in the current directory, "ld" looks for it in the directo-
	 ries specified by any preceding -L options.  Multiple -T options  accu-
	 mulate.

     -u symbol
     --undefined=symbol
	 Force	symbol	to be entered in the output file as an undefined symbol.
	 Doing this may, for example, trigger linking of additional modules from
	 standard libraries.  -u may be repeated with different option arguments
	 to enter additional undefined symbols.  This option  is  equivalent  to
	 the "EXTERN" linker script command.

     -Ur For  anything other than C++ programs, this option is equivalent to -r:
	 it generates relocatable output---i.e., an output file that can in turn
	 serve as input to ld.	When linking C++ programs, -Ur does resolve ref-
	 erences to constructors, unlike -r.  It does not work	to  use  -Ur  on
	 files	that were themselves linked with -Ur; once the constructor table
	 has been built, it cannot be added to.  Use -Ur only for the last  par-
	 tial link, and -r for the others.

     --unique[=SECTION]
	 Creates a separate output section for every input section matching SEC-
	 TION,	or  if	the  optional  wildcard SECTION argument is missing, for
	 every orphan input section.  An orphan section is one not  specifically
	 mentioned  in	a linker script.  You may use this option multiple times
	 on the command line;  It prevents the normal merging of input	sections
	 with  the  same name, overriding output section assignments in a linker
	 script.

     -v
     --version
     -V  Display the version number for ld.  The -V option also lists  the  sup-
	 ported emulations.

     -x
     --discard-all
	 Delete all local symbols.

     -X
     --discard-locals
	 Delete  all temporary local symbols.  For most targets, this is all lo-
	 cal symbols whose names begin with L.

     -y symbol
     --trace-symbol=symbol
	 Print the name of each linked file in which symbol appears.   This  op-
	 tion may be given any number of times.  On many systems it is necessary
	 to prepend an underscore.

	 This  option  is  useful when you have an undefined symbol in your link
	 but don't know where the reference is coming from.

     -Y path
	 Add path to the default library search path.  This  option  exists  for
	 Solaris compatibility.

     -z keyword
	 The recognized keywords are:

	 combreloc
	     Combines  multiple  reloc	sections  and sorts them to make dynamic
	     symbol lookup caching possible.

	 defsDisallows undefined symbols in object files.  Undefined symbols  in
	     shared libraries are still allowed.

	 execstack
	     Marks the object as requiring executable stack.

	 initfirst
	     This  option  is only meaningful when building a shared object.  It
	     marks the object so that its runtime initialization will occur  be-
	     fore  the	runtime initialization of any other objects brought into
	     the process at the same time.  Similarly the  runtime  finalization
	     of  the  object  will  occur  after the runtime finalization of any
	     other objects.

	 interpose
	     Marks the object that its symbol table interposes before  all  sym-
	     bols but the primary executable.

	 loadfltr
	     Marks  the object that its filters be processed immediately at run-
	     time.

	 muldefs
	     Allows multiple definitions.

	 nocombreloc
	     Disables multiple reloc sections combining.

	 nocopyreloc
	     Disables production of copy relocs.

	 nodefaultlib
	     Marks  the  object  that the search for dependencies of this object
	     will ignore any default library search paths.

	 nodelete
	     Marks the object shouldn't be unloaded at runtime.

	 nodlopen
	     Marks the object not available to "dlopen".

	 nodump
	     Marks the object can not be dumped by "dldump".

	 noexecstack
	     Marks the object as not requiring executable stack.

	 norelro
	     Don't create an ELF "PT_GNU_RELRO" segment header in the object.

	 now When generating an executable or shared library, mark  it	to  tell
	     the  dynamic  linker  to  resolve	all  symbols when the program is
	     started, or when the shared library is linked to using dlopen,  in-
	     stead  of	deferring function call resolution to the point when the
	     function is first called.

	 origin
	     Marks the object may contain $ORIGIN.

	 relro
	     Create an ELF "PT_GNU_RELRO" segment header in the object.

	 Other keywords are ignored for Solaris compatibility.

     -( archives -)
     --start-group archives --end-group
	 The archives should be a list of archive files.  They may be either ex-
	 plicit file names, or -l options.

	 The specified archives are searched repeatedly until no  new  undefined
	 references  are created.  Normally, an archive is searched only once in
	 the order that it is specified on the command line.   If  a  symbol  in
	 that archive is needed to resolve an undefined symbol referred to by an
	 object in an archive that appears later on the command line, the linker
	 would not be able to resolve that reference.  By grouping the archives,
	 they  all  be searched repeatedly until all possible references are re-
	 solved.

	 Using this option has a significant performance cost.	It  is	best  to
	 use  it only when there are unavoidable circular references between two
	 or more archives.

     --accept-unknown-input-arch
     --no-accept-unknown-input-arch
	 Tells the linker to accept input files  whose	architecture  cannot  be
	 recognised.   The assumption is that the user knows what they are doing
	 and deliberately wants to link in these unknown input files.  This  was
	 the  default behaviour of the linker, before release 2.14.  The default
	 behaviour from release 2.14 onwards is to reject such input files,  and
	 so the --accept-unknown-input-arch option has been added to restore the
	 old behaviour.

     --as-needed
     --no-as-needed
	 This  option affects ELF DT_NEEDED tags for dynamic libraries mentioned
	 on the command line after the --as-needed option.  Normally, the linker
	 will add a DT_NEEDED tag for each dynamic library mentioned on the com-
	 mand line, regardless	of  whether  the  library  is  actually  needed.
	 --as-needed causes DT_NEEDED tags to only be emitted for libraries that
	 satisfy  some	symbol reference from regular objects which is undefined
	 at the point that the library was linked.  --no-as-needed restores  the
	 default behaviour.

     --add-needed
     --no-add-needed
	 This  option  affects	the  treatment	of  dynamic  libraries	from ELF
	 DT_NEEDED tags in dynamic libraries mentioned on the command line after
	 the --no-add-needed option.  Normally, the linker will add a  DT_NEEDED
	 tag  for  each  dynamic  library  from DT_NEEDED tags.  --no-add-needed
	 causes DT_NEEDED tags will never be emitted for  those  libraries  from
	 DT_NEEDED tags. --add-needed restores the default behaviour.

     -assert keyword
	 This option is ignored for SunOS compatibility.

     -Bdynamic
     -dy
     -call_shared
	 Link  against	dynamic libraries.  This is only meaningful on platforms
	 for which shared libraries are supported.  This option is normally  the
	 default  on  such platforms.  The different variants of this option are
	 for compatibility with various systems.  You may use this option multi-
	 ple times on the command line: it affects library searching for -l  op-
	 tions which follow it.

     -Bgroup
	 Set the "DF_1_GROUP" flag in the "DT_FLAGS_1" entry in the dynamic sec-
	 tion.	 This causes the runtime linker to handle lookups in this object
	 and its dependencies to be performed only inside  the	group.	 --unre-
	 solved-symbols=report-all  is	implied.  This option is only meaningful
	 on ELF platforms which support shared libraries.

     -Bstatic
     -dn
     -non_shared
     -static
	 Do not link against shared libraries.	This is only meaningful on plat-
	 forms for which shared libraries are supported.  The different variants
	 of this option are for compatibility with various systems.  You may use
	 this option multiple times on the  command  line:  it	affects  library
	 searching  for  -l  options  which follow it.	This option also implies
	 --unresolved-symbols=report-all.  This option can be used with -shared.
	 Doing so means that a shared library is being created but that  all  of
	 the  library's  external  references must be resolved by pulling in en-
	 tries from static libraries.

     -Bsymbolic
	 When creating a shared library, bind references to  global  symbols  to
	 the definition within the shared library, if any.  Normally, it is pos-
	 sible for a program linked against a shared library to override the de-
	 finition  within the shared library.  This option is only meaningful on
	 ELF platforms which support shared libraries.

     --check-sections
     --no-check-sections
	 Asks the linker not to check section addresses after they have been as-
	 signed to see if there are any overlaps.  Normally the linker will per-
	 form this check, and if it finds any overlaps it will produce	suitable
	 error	messages.   The linker does know about, and does make allowances
	 for sections in overlays.  The default behaviour can be restored by us-
	 ing the command line switch --check-sections.

     --cref
	 Output a cross reference table.  If a linker map file is  being  gener-
	 ated, the cross reference table is printed to the map file.  Otherwise,
	 it is printed on the standard output.

	 The format of the table is intentionally simple, so that it may be eas-
	 ily  processed  by a script if necessary.  The symbols are printed out,
	 sorted by name.  For each symbol, a list of file names  is  given.   If
	 the symbol is defined, the first file listed is the location of the de-
	 finition.  The remaining files contain references to the symbol.

     --no-define-common
	 This  option  inhibits  the  assignment of addresses to common symbols.
	 The script command "INHIBIT_COMMON_ALLOCATION" has the same effect.

	 The --no-define-common option allows decoupling the decision to  assign
	 addresses  to	Common	symbols from the choice of the output file type;
	 otherwise a non-Relocatable output type forces assigning  addresses  to
	 Common  symbols.   Using  --no-define-common allows Common symbols that
	 are referenced from a shared library to be assigned addresses	only  in
	 the  main  program.   This eliminates the unused duplicate space in the
	 shared library, and also prevents any possible confusion over resolving
	 to the wrong duplicate when there are many dynamic  modules  with  spe-
	 cialized search paths for runtime symbol resolution.

     --defsym symbol=expression
	 Create  a global symbol in the output file, containing the absolute ad-
	 dress given by expression.  You may use this option as  many  times  as
	 necessary  to	define	multiple symbols in the command line.  A limited
	 form of arithmetic is supported for the expression in this context: you
	 may give a hexadecimal constant or the name of an existing  symbol,  or
	 use  "+"  and	"-" to add or subtract hexadecimal constants or symbols.
	 If you need more elaborate expressions, consider using the linker  com-
	 mand  language from a script.	Note: there should be no white space be-
	 tween symbol, the equals sign ("="), and expression.

     --demangle[=style]
     --no-demangle
	 These options control whether to demangle symbol names  in  error  mes-
	 sages	and other output.  When the linker is told to demangle, it tries
	 to present symbol names in a readable fashion: it strips leading under-
	 scores if they are used by the object file  format,  and  converts  C++
	 mangled  symbol  names  into  user readable names.  Different compilers
	 have different mangling styles.  The optional demangling style argument
	 can be used to choose an appropriate demangling  style  for  your  com-
	 piler.   The  linker  will  demangle  by default unless the environment
	 variable COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE is set.  These  options  may  be	used  to
	 override the default.

     --dynamic-linker file
	 Set  the name of the dynamic linker.  This is only meaningful when gen-
	 erating dynamically linked ELF executables.  The default dynamic linker
	 is normally correct; don't use this unless you know what you are doing.

     --fatal-warnings
	 Treat all warnings as errors.

     --force-exe-suffix
	 Make sure that an output file has a .exe suffix.

	 If a successfully built fully linked output file does not have a ".exe"
	 or ".dll" suffix, this option forces the linker to copy the output file
	 to one of the same name with a ".exe" suffix.	This  option  is  useful
	 when using unmodified Unix makefiles on a Microsoft Windows host, since
	 some  versions of Windows won't run an image unless it ends in a ".exe"
	 suffix.

     --no-gc-sections
     --gc-sections
	 Enable garbage collection of unused input sections.  It is  ignored  on
	 targets that do not support this option.  This option is not compatible
	 with  -r. The default behaviour (of not performing this garbage collec-
	 tion) can be restored by specifying  --no-gc-sections	on  the  command
	 line.

     --help
	 Print	a summary of the command-line options on the standard output and
	 exit.

     --target-help
	 Print a summary of all target specific options on the	standard  output
	 and exit.

     -Map mapfile
	 Print	a  link  map to the file mapfile.  See the description of the -M
	 option, above.

     --no-keep-memory
	 ld normally optimizes for speed over memory usage by caching the symbol
	 tables of input files in memory.  This option tells ld to instead opti-
	 mize for memory usage, by rereading the  symbol  tables  as  necessary.
	 This  may  be	required  if ld runs out of memory space while linking a
	 large executable.

     --no-undefined
     -z defs
	 Report unresolved symbol references from regular object files.  This is
	 done even if the linker is creating a non-symbolic shared library.  The
	 switch --[no-]allow-shlib-undefined controls the behaviour for  report-
	 ing unresolved references found in shared libraries being linked in.

     --allow-multiple-definition
     -z muldefs
	 Normally  when  a symbol is defined multiple times, the linker will re-
	 port a fatal error. These options allow multiple  definitions	and  the
	 first definition will be used.

     --allow-shlib-undefined
     --no-allow-shlib-undefined
	 Allows  (the  default)  or  disallows	undefined  symbols in shared li-
	 braries.  This switch is similar to --no-undefined except that  it  de-
	 termines  the	behaviour when the undefined symbols are in a shared li-
	 brary rather than a regular object file.  It does not affect how  unde-
	 fined symbols in regular object files are handled.

	 The  reason  that  --allow-shlib-undefined  is  the default is that the
	 shared library being specified at link time may not be the same as  the
	 one  that  is	available at load time, so the symbols might actually be
	 resolvable at load time.  Plus there are some systems, (eg BeOS)  where
	 undefined  symbols  in shared libraries is normal.  (The kernel patches
	 them at load time to select which function is most appropriate for  the
	 current  architecture.   This is used for example to dynamically select
	 an appropriate memset function).  Apparently it is also normal for HPPA
	 shared libraries to have undefined symbols.

     --no-undefined-version
	 Normally when a symbol has an undefined version, the linker will ignore
	 it. This option disallows symbols with undefined version  and	a  fatal
	 error will be issued instead.

     --default-symver
	 Create  and  use  a default symbol version (the soname) for unversioned
	 exported symbols.

     --default-imported-symver
	 Create and use a default symbol version (the  soname)	for  unversioned
	 imported symbols.

     --no-warn-mismatch
	 Normally  ld will give an error if you try to link together input files
	 that are mismatched for some reason, perhaps  because	they  have  been
	 compiled  for different processors or for different endiannesses.  This
	 option tells ld that it should silently permit  such  possible  errors.
	 This option should only be used with care, in cases when you have taken
	 some special action that ensures that the linker errors are inappropri-
	 ate.

     --no-whole-archive
	 Turn  off  the  effect  of  the  --whole-archive  option for subsequent
	 archive files.

     --noinhibit-exec
	 Retain the executable output file whenever it is  still  usable.   Nor-
	 mally,  the linker will not produce an output file if it encounters er-
	 rors during the link process; it exits without writing an  output  file
	 when it issues any error whatsoever.

     -nostdlib
	 Only  search  library	directories  explicitly specified on the command
	 line.	Library  directories  specified  in  linker  scripts  (including
	 linker scripts specified on the command line) are ignored.

     --oformat output-format
	 ld  may be configured to support more than one kind of object file.  If
	 your ld is configured this way, you can use  the  --oformat  option  to
	 specify  the binary format for the output object file.  Even when ld is
	 configured to support alternative object  formats,  you  don't  usually
	 need  to  specify  this, as ld should be configured to produce as a de-
	 fault output format the most usual format on each machine.  output-for-
	 mat is a text string, the name of a particular format supported by  the
	 BFD libraries.  (You can list the available binary formats with objdump
	 -i.)	The  script  command "OUTPUT_FORMAT" can also specify the output
	 format, but this option overrides it.

     -pie
     --pic-executable
	 Create a position independent executable.  This is currently only  sup-
	 ported  on ELF platforms.  Position independent executables are similar
	 to shared libraries in that they are relocated by the dynamic linker to
	 the virtual address the OS chooses for them (which can vary between in-
	 vocations).  Like normal dynamically linked executables they can be ex-
	 ecuted and symbols defined in the executable cannot  be  overridden  by
	 shared libraries.

     -qmagic
	 This option is ignored for Linux compatibility.

     -Qy This option is ignored for SVR4 compatibility.

     --relax
	 An  option  with  machine  dependent effects.	This option is only sup-
	 ported on a few targets.

	 On some platforms, the --relax  option  performs  global  optimizations
	 that  become  possible  when the linker resolves addressing in the pro-
	 gram, such as relaxing address modes and synthesizing new  instructions
	 in the output object file.

	 On  some  platforms  these link time global optimizations may make sym-
	 bolic debugging of the resulting executable impossible.  This is  known
	 to be the case for the Matsushita MN10200 and MN10300 family of proces-
	 sors.

	 On  platforms where this is not supported, --relax is accepted, but ig-
	 nored.

     --retain-symbols-file filename
	 Retain only the symbols listed in the	file  filename,  discarding  all
	 others.  filename is simply a flat file, with one symbol name per line.
	 This  option  is  especially  useful  in environments (such as VxWorks)
	 where a large global symbol table is accumulated gradually, to conserve
	 run-time memory.

	 --retain-symbols-file does not discard undefined  symbols,  or  symbols
	 needed for relocations.

	 You  may  only  specify --retain-symbols-file once in the command line.
	 It overrides -s and -S.

     -rpath dir
	 Add a directory to the runtime library search path.  This is used  when
	 linking  an  ELF  executable with shared objects.  All -rpath arguments
	 are concatenated and passed to the runtime linker, which uses	them  to
	 locate  shared objects at runtime.  The -rpath option is also used when
	 locating shared objects which are needed by shared  objects  explicitly
	 included  in  the  link; see the description of the -rpath-link option.
	 If -rpath is not used when linking an ELF executable, the  contents  of
	 the environment variable "LD_RUN_PATH" will be used if it is defined.

	 The -rpath option may also be used on SunOS.  By default, on SunOS, the
	 linker will form a runtime search patch out of all the -L options it is
	 given.   If  a  -rpath  option is used, the runtime search path will be
	 formed exclusively using the -rpath options, ignoring the  -L	options.
	 This can be useful when using gcc, which adds many -L options which may
	 be on NFS mounted filesystems.

	 For  compatibility with other ELF linkers, if the -R option is followed
	 by a directory name, rather than a file name,	it  is	treated  as  the
	 -rpath option.

     -rpath-link DIR
	 When  using ELF or SunOS, one shared library may require another.  This
	 happens when an "ld -shared" link includes a shared library as  one  of
	 the input files.

	 When  the  linker encounters such a dependency when doing a non-shared,
	 non-relocatable link, it will automatically try to locate the	required
	 shared  library  and  include it in the link, if it is not included ex-
	 plicitly.  In such a case, the -rpath-link option specifies  the  first
	 set of directories to search.	The -rpath-link option may specify a se-
	 quence  of  directory	names either by specifying a list of names sepa-
	 rated by colons, or by appearing multiple times.

	 This option should be used with caution as it overrides the search path
	 that may have been hard compiled into a shared library. In such a  case
	 it  is possible to use unintentionally a different search path than the
	 runtime linker would do.

	 The linker uses the following search paths to	locate	required  shared
	 libraries.

	 1.  Any directories specified by -rpath-link options.

	 2.  Any  directories  specified  by -rpath options.  The difference be-
	     tween -rpath and  -rpath-link  is	that  directories  specified  by
	     -rpath  options are included in the executable and used at runtime,
	     whereas the -rpath-link option is only effective at link  time.  It
	     is for the native linker only.

	 3.  On  an  ELF system, if the -rpath and "rpath-link" options were not
	     used,   search   the   contents   of   the   environment	variable
	     "LD_RUN_PATH". It is for the native linker only.

	 4.  On SunOS, if the -rpath option was not used, search any directories
	     specified using -L options.

	 5.  For  a  native  linker,  the  contents  of the environment variable
	     "LD_LIBRARY_PATH".

	 6.  For a  native  ELF  linker,  the  directories  in	"DT_RUNPATH"  or
	     "DT_RPATH"  of  a	shared library are searched for shared libraries
	     needed by it. The "DT_RPATH" entries are  ignored	if  "DT_RUNPATH"
	     entries exist.

	 7.  The default directories, normally /lib and /usr/lib.

	 8.  For  a  native linker on an ELF system, if the file /etc/ld.so.conf
	     exists, the list of directories found in that file.

	 If the required shared library is not found, the linker  will	issue  a
	 warning and continue with the link.

     -shared
     -Bshareable
	 Create  a  shared  library.   This  is currently only supported on ELF,
	 XCOFF and SunOS platforms.  On SunOS,	the  linker  will  automatically
	 create  a shared library if the -e option is not used and there are un-
	 defined symbols in the link.

     --sort-common
	 This option tells ld to sort the common symbols by size when it  places
	 them  in  the appropriate output sections.  First come all the one byte
	 symbols, then all the two byte, then all the four byte, and then every-
	 thing else.  This is to prevent gaps between symbols due  to  alignment
	 constraints.

     --sort-section name
	 This  option will apply "SORT_BY_NAME" to all wildcard section patterns
	 in the linker script.

     --sort-section alignment
	 This option will apply "SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT" to all wildcard section pat-
	 terns in the linker script.

     --split-by-file [size]
	 Similar to --split-by-reloc but creates a new output section  for  each
	 input	file  when size is reached.  size defaults to a size of 1 if not
	 given.

     --split-by-reloc [count]
	 Tries to creates extra sections in the output file so	that  no  single
	 output  section in the file contains more than count relocations.  This
	 is useful when generating huge relocatable files for  downloading  into
	 certain  real time kernels with the COFF object file format; since COFF
	 cannot represent more than 65535 relocations in a single section.  Note
	 that this will fail to work with object file formats which do not  sup-
	 port arbitrary sections.  The linker will not split up individual input
	 sections for redistribution, so if a single input section contains more
	 than  count relocations one output section will contain that many relo-
	 cations.  count defaults to a value of 32768.

     --stats
	 Compute and display statistics about the operation of the linker,  such
	 as execution time and memory usage.

     --sysroot=directory
	 Use directory as the location of the sysroot, overriding the configure-
	 time  default.  This option is only supported by linkers that were con-
	 figured using --with-sysroot.

     --traditional-format
	 For some targets, the output of ld is different in some ways  from  the
	 output  of  some  existing  linker.  This switch requests ld to use the
	 traditional format instead.

	 For example, on SunOS, ld combines  duplicate	entries  in  the  symbol
	 string table.	This can reduce the size of an output file with full de-
	 bugging information by over 30 percent.  Unfortunately, the SunOS "dbx"
	 program can not read the resulting program ("gdb" has no trouble).  The
	 --traditional-format switch tells ld to not combine duplicate entries.

     --section-start sectionname=org
	 Locate  a  section  in the output file at the absolute address given by
	 org.  You may use this option as many times as necessary to locate mul-
	 tiple sections in the command line.  org must be a  single  hexadecimal
	 integer; for compatibility with other linkers, you may omit the leading
	 0x  usually  associated with hexadecimal values.  Note: there should be
	 no white space between sectionname, the equals sign ("="), and org.

     -Tbss org
     -Tdata org
     -Ttext org
	 Same as --section-start, with ".bss", ".data" or ".text"  as  the  sec-
	 tionname.

     --unresolved-symbols=method
	 Determine  how  to  handle unresolved symbols.  There are four possible
	 values for method:

	 ignore-all
	     Do not report any unresolved symbols.

	 report-all
	     Report all unresolved symbols.  This is the default.

	 ignore-in-object-files
	     Report unresolved symbols that are contained in  shared  libraries,
	     but ignore them if they come from regular object files.

	 ignore-in-shared-libs
	     Report  unresolved symbols that come from regular object files, but
	     ignore them if they come from shared libraries.  This can be useful
	     when creating a dynamic binary and it is known that all the  shared
	     libraries	that  it  should  be  referencing  are	included  on the
	     linker's command line.

	 The behaviour for shared libraries on their own can also be  controlled
	 by the --[no-]allow-shlib-undefined option.

	 Normally  the	linker	will generate an error message for each reported
	 unresolved symbol but the option --warn-unresolved-symbols  can  change
	 this to a warning.

     --dll-verbose
     --verbose
	 Display  the  version number for ld and list the linker emulations sup-
	 ported.  Display which input files can and cannot be  opened.	 Display
	 the linker script being used by the linker.

     --version-script=version-scriptfile
	 Specify  the name of a version script to the linker.  This is typically
	 used when creating shared libraries to specify  additional  information
	 about the version hierarchy for the library being created.  This option
	 is only meaningful on ELF platforms which support shared libraries.

     --warn-common
	 Warn  when  a	common	symbol is combined with another common symbol or
	 with a symbol definition.  Unix  linkers  allow  this	somewhat  sloppy
	 practise, but linkers on some other operating systems do not.	This op-
	 tion  allows  you to find potential problems from combining global sym-
	 bols.	Unfortunately, some C libraries use this practise,  so	you  may
	 get  some  warnings  about  symbols in the libraries as well as in your
	 programs.

	 There are three kinds of global symbols, illustrated here  by	C  exam-
	 ples:

	 int i = 1;
	     A	definition,  which  goes  in the initialized data section of the
	     output file.

	 extern int i;
	     An undefined reference, which does not allocate space.  There  must
	     be  either  a  definition or a common symbol for the variable some-
	     where.

	 int i;
	     A common symbol.  If there are only (one or  more)  common  symbols
	     for  a variable, it goes in the uninitialized data area of the out-
	     put file.	The linker merges multiple common symbols for  the  same
	     variable  into a single symbol.  If they are of different sizes, it
	     picks the largest size.  The linker turns a common  symbol  into  a
	     declaration, if there is a definition of the same variable.

	 The  --warn-common  option  can  produce  five kinds of warnings.  Each
	 warning consists of a pair of lines: the  first  describes  the  symbol
	 just  encountered, and the second describes the previous symbol encoun-
	 tered with the same name.  One or both of the two  symbols  will  be  a
	 common symbol.

	 1.  Turning  a common symbol into a reference, because there is already
	     a definition for the symbol.

		     <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
			overridden by definition
		     <file>(<section>): warning: defined here

	 2.  Turning a common symbol into a reference, because a  later  defini-
	     tion for the symbol is encountered.  This is the same as the previ-
	     ous  case,  except  that the symbols are encountered in a different
	     order.

		     <file>(<section>): warning: definition of `<symbol>'
			overriding common
		     <file>(<section>): warning: common is here

	 3.  Merging a common symbol with a previous same-sized common symbol.

		     <file>(<section>): warning: multiple common
			of `<symbol>'
		     <file>(<section>): warning: previous common is here

	 4.  Merging a common symbol with a previous larger common symbol.

		     <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
			overridden by larger common
		     <file>(<section>): warning: larger common is here

	 5.  Merging a common symbol with  a  previous	smaller  common  symbol.
	     This  is the same as the previous case, except that the symbols are
	     encountered in a different order.

		     <file>(<section>): warning: common of `<symbol>'
			overriding smaller common
		     <file>(<section>): warning: smaller common is here

     --warn-constructors
	 Warn if any global constructors are used.  This is only  useful  for  a
	 few  object file formats.  For formats like COFF or ELF, the linker can
	 not detect the use of global constructors.

     --warn-multiple-gp
	 Warn if multiple global pointer values are required in the output file.
	 This is only meaningful for certain  processors,  such  as  the  Alpha.
	 Specifically,	some  processors put large-valued constants in a special
	 section.  A special register (the global pointer) points into the  mid-
	 dle  of this section, so that constants can be loaded efficiently via a
	 base-register relative addressing mode.  Since the offset in  base-reg-
	 ister relative mode is fixed and relatively small (e.g., 16 bits), this
	 limits the maximum size of the constant pool.	Thus, in large programs,
	 it is often necessary to use multiple global pointer values in order to
	 be  able to address all possible constants.  This option causes a warn-
	 ing to be issued whenever this case occurs.

     --warn-once
	 Only warn once for each undefined symbol, rather than once  per  module
	 which refers to it.

     --warn-section-align
	 Warn  if  the address of an output section is changed because of align-
	 ment.	Typically, the alignment will be set by an input  section.   The
	 address  will	only be changed if it not explicitly specified; that is,
	 if the "SECTIONS" command does not specify a start address for the sec-
	 tion.

     --warn-shared-textrel
	 Warn if the linker adds a DT_TEXTREL to a shared object.

     --warn-unresolved-symbols
	 If the linker is going to report an unresolved symbol (see  the  option
	 --unresolved-symbols)	it will normally generate an error.  This option
	 makes it generate a warning instead.

     --error-unresolved-symbols
	 This restores the linker's default behaviour of generating errors  when
	 it is reporting unresolved symbols.

     --whole-archive
	 For   each   archive	mentioned   on	 the   command	line  after  the
	 --whole-archive option, include every object file in the archive in the
	 link, rather than searching the archive for the required object  files.
	 This  is  normally  used to turn an archive file into a shared library,
	 forcing every object to be included in the  resulting	shared	library.
	 This option may be used more than once.

	 Two  notes  when  using  this	option from gcc: First, gcc doesn't know
	 about this option, so you  have  to  use  -Wl,-whole-archive.	 Second,
	 don't	forget to use -Wl,-no-whole-archive after your list of archives,
	 because gcc will add its own list of archives to your link and you  may
	 not want this flag to affect those as well.

     --wrap symbol
	 Use  a  wrapper function for symbol.  Any undefined reference to symbol
	 will be  resolved  to	"__wrap_symbol".   Any	undefined  reference  to
	 "__real_symbol" will be resolved to symbol.

	 This can be used to provide a wrapper for a system function.  The wrap-
	 per  function	should	be called "__wrap_symbol".  If it wishes to call
	 the system function, it should call "__real_symbol".

	 Here is a trivial example:

		 void *
		 __wrap_malloc (size_t c)
		 {
		   printf ("malloc called with %zu\n", c);
		   return __real_malloc (c);
		 }

	 If you link other code with this file using  --wrap  malloc,  then  all
	 calls	to "malloc" will call the function "__wrap_malloc" instead.  The
	 call to "__real_malloc" in "__wrap_malloc" will call the real	"malloc"
	 function.

	 You  may  wish  to  provide a "__real_malloc" function as well, so that
	 links without the --wrap option will succeed.	 If  you  do  this,  you
	 should  not  put  the definition of "__real_malloc" in the same file as
	 "__wrap_malloc"; if you do, the assembler may resolve the  call  before
	 the linker has a chance to wrap it to "malloc".

     --eh-frame-hdr
	 Request  creation  of ".eh_frame_hdr" section and ELF "PT_GNU_EH_FRAME"
	 segment header.

     --enable-new-dtags
     --disable-new-dtags
	 This linker can create the new dynamic tags in ELF. But the  older  ELF
	 systems may not understand them. If you specify --enable-new-dtags, the
	 dynamic  tags	will  be  created  as  needed.	 If  you  specify --dis-
	 able-new-dtags, no new dynamic tags will be created.  By  default,  the
	 new  dynamic  tags  are  not  created. Note that those options are only
	 available for ELF systems.

     --hash-size=number
	 Set the default size of the linker's hash  tables  to	a  prime  number
	 close	to  number.  Increasing this value can reduce the length of time
	 it takes the linker to perform its tasks, at the expense of  increasing
	 the  linker's	memory	requirements.  Similarly reducing this value can
	 reduce the memory requirements at the expense of speed.

     --reduce-memory-overheads
	 This option reduces memory requirements at ld runtime, at  the  expense
	 of  linking  speed.  This was introduced to select the old O(n^2) algo-
	 rithm for link map file generation, rather than the new O(n)  algorithm
	 which uses about 40% more memory for symbol storage.

	 Another  effect  of the switch is to set the default hash table size to
	 1021, which again saves memory at the cost of lengthening the	linker's
	 run  time.  This is not done however if the --hash-size switch has been
	 used.

	 The --reduce-memory-overheads switch may be  also  be	used  to  enable
	 other tradeoffs in future versions of the linker.

     The  i386 PE linker supports the -shared option, which causes the output to
     be a dynamically linked library (DLL) instead of a normal executable.   You
     should  name the output "*.dll" when you use this option.	In addition, the
     linker fully supports the standard "*.def" files, which may be specified on
     the linker command line like an object file (in  fact,  it  should  precede
     archives  it  exports symbols from, to ensure that they get linked in, just
     like a normal object file).

     In addition to the options common to all targets, the i386 PE  linker  sup-
     port  additional command line options that are specific to the i386 PE tar-
     get.  Options that take values may be separated from their values by either
     a space or an equals sign.

     --add-stdcall-alias
	 If given, symbols with a stdcall suffix (@nn) will  be  exported  as-is
	 and  also  with  the  suffix stripped.  [This option is specific to the
	 i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --base-file file
	 Use file as the name of a file in which to save the base  addresses  of
	 all  the relocations needed for generating DLLs with dlltool.	[This is
	 an i386 PE specific option]

     --dll
	 Create a DLL instead of a regular executable.	You may also use -shared
	 or specify a "LIBRARY" in a given ".def" file.  [This	option	is  spe-
	 cific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --enable-stdcall-fixup
     --disable-stdcall-fixup
	 If  the  link finds a symbol that it cannot resolve, it will attempt to
	 do "fuzzy linking" by looking for another defined symbol  that  differs
	 only  in  the format of the symbol name (cdecl vs stdcall) and will re-
	 solve that symbol by linking to the match.  For example, the  undefined
	 symbol  "_foo"  might be linked to the function "_foo@12", or the unde-
	 fined symbol "_bar@16" might be linked to the	function  "_bar".   When
	 the  linker  does  this,  it prints a warning, since it normally should
	 have failed to link, but  sometimes  import  libraries  generated  from
	 third-party  dlls  may  need this feature to be usable.  If you specify
	 --enable-stdcall-fixup, this feature is fully enabled and warnings  are
	 not  printed.	 If you specify --disable-stdcall-fixup, this feature is
	 disabled and such mismatches are considered to be errors.  [This option
	 is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --export-all-symbols
	 If given, all global symbols in the objects used to build a DLL will be
	 exported by the DLL.  Note that this is the default if there  otherwise
	 wouldn't be any exported symbols.  When symbols are explicitly exported
	 via  DEF  files or implicitly exported via function attributes, the de-
	 fault is to not export anything else unless this option is given.  Note
	 that  the   symbols   "DllMain@12",   "DllEntryPoint@0",   "DllMainCRT-
	 Startup@12",  and  "impure_ptr"  will	not  be  automatically exported.
	 Also, symbols imported from other DLLs will  not  be  re-exported,  nor
	 will  symbols specifying the DLL's internal layout such as those begin-
	 ning with "_head_" or ending with "_iname".  In  addition,  no  symbols
	 from  "libgcc", "libstd++", "libmingw32", or "crtX.o" will be exported.
	 Symbols whose names begin with "__rtti_" or "__builtin_"  will  not  be
	 exported,  to	help with C++ DLLs.  Finally, there is an extensive list
	 of cygwin-private symbols that are not exported  (obviously,  this  ap-
	 plies on when building DLLs for cygwin targets).  These cygwin-excludes
	 are:  "_cygwin_dll_entry@12", "_cygwin_crt0_common@8", "_cygwin_noncyg-
	 win_dll_entry@12", "_fmode", "_impure_ptr", "cygwin_attach_dll",  "cyg-
	 win_premain0", "cygwin_premain1", "cygwin_premain2", "cygwin_premain3",
	 and  "environ".   [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port
	 of the linker]

     --exclude-symbols symbol,symbol,...
	 Specifies a list of symbols which should not be automatically exported.
	 The symbol names may be delimited by commas or colons.  [This option is
	 specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --file-alignment
	 Specify the file alignment.  Sections in the file will always begin  at
	 file offsets which are multiples of this number.  This defaults to 512.
	 [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --heap reserve
     --heap reserve,commit
	 Specify  the  amount of memory to reserve (and optionally commit) to be
	 used as heap for this program.  The default is 1Mb reserved, 4K commit-
	 ted.  [This option is specific to the i386  PE  targeted  port  of  the
	 linker]

     --image-base value
	 Use value as the base address of your program or dll.	This is the low-
	 est  memory  location	that  will  be	used when your program or dll is
	 loaded.  To reduce the need to relocate and improve performance of your
	 dlls, each should have a unique base address and not overlap any  other
	 dlls.	 The  default  is  0x400000  for executables, and 0x10000000 for
	 dlls.	[This option is specific to the i386 PE  targeted  port  of  the
	 linker]

     --kill-at
	 If  given, the stdcall suffixes (@nn) will be stripped from symbols be-
	 fore they are exported.  [This option is specific to the i386	PE  tar-
	 geted port of the linker]

     --large-address-aware
	 If given, the appropriate bit in the "Charateristics" field of the COFF
	 header  is  set  to  indicate that this executable supports virtual ad-
	 dresses greater than 2 gigabytes.  This should be  used  in  conjuction
	 with the /3GB or /USERVA=value megabytes switch in the "[operating sys-
	 tems]"  section  of  the  BOOT.INI.  Otherwise, this bit has no effect.
	 [This option is specific to PE targeted ports of the linker]

     --major-image-version value
	 Sets the major number of the "image version".	Defaults  to  1.   [This
	 option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --major-os-version value
	 Sets  the  major number of the "os version".  Defaults to 4.  [This op-
	 tion is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --major-subsystem-version value
	 Sets the major number of  the	"subsystem  version".	Defaults  to  4.
	 [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --minor-image-version value
	 Sets  the  minor  number of the "image version".  Defaults to 0.  [This
	 option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --minor-os-version value
	 Sets the minor number of the "os version".  Defaults to 0.   [This  op-
	 tion is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --minor-subsystem-version value
	 Sets  the  minor  number  of  the  "subsystem version".  Defaults to 0.
	 [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --output-def file
	 The linker will create the file file which will contain a DEF file cor-
	 responding to the DLL the linker is generating.  This DEF  file  (which
	 should  be called "*.def") may be used to create an import library with
	 "dlltool" or may be used as a reference to automatically or  implicitly
	 exported  symbols.   [This  option  is specific to the i386 PE targeted
	 port of the linker]

     --out-implib file
	 The linker will create the file file which will contain an  import  lib
	 corresponding	to  the  DLL  the  linker is generating. This import lib
	 (which should be called "*.dll.a" or "*.a" may be used to link  clients
	 against  the  generated DLL; this behaviour makes it possible to skip a
	 separate "dlltool" import library creation step.  [This option is  spe-
	 cific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --enable-auto-image-base
	 Automatically	choose	the image base for DLLs, unless one is specified
	 using the "--image-base" argument.  By using a hash generated from  the
	 dllname to create unique image bases for each DLL, in-memory collisions
	 and  relocations  which can delay program execution are avoided.  [This
	 option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --disable-auto-image-base
	 Do not automatically generate a unique image  base.   If  there  is  no
	 user-specified  image	base  ("--image-base") then use the platform de-
	 fault.  [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted  port  of  the
	 linker]

     --dll-search-prefix string
	 When linking dynamically to a dll without an import library, search for
	 "<string><basename>.dll" in preference to "lib<basename>.dll". This be-
	 haviour  allows  easy	distinction  between  DLLs built for the various
	 "subplatforms": native, cygwin, uwin, pw, etc.   For  instance,  cygwin
	 DLLs typically use "--dll-search-prefix=cyg".	[This option is specific
	 to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --enable-auto-import
	 Do  sophisticated  linking of "_symbol" to "__imp__symbol" for DATA im-
	 ports from DLLs, and create the necessary thunking symbols when  build-
	 ing  the  import  libraries  with  those DATA exports. Note: Use of the
	 'auto-import' extension will cause the text section of the  image  file
	 to be made writable. This does not conform to the PE-COFF format speci-
	 fication published by Microsoft.

	 Using 'auto-import' generally will 'just work' -- but sometimes you may
	 see this message:

	 "variable '<var>' can't be auto-imported. Please read the documentation
	 for ld's "--enable-auto-import" for details."

	 This message occurs when some (sub)expression accesses an address ulti-
	 mately  given by the sum of two constants (Win32 import tables only al-
	 low one).  Instances where this may occur include  accesses  to  member
	 fields of struct variables imported from a DLL, as well as using a con-
	 stant	index into an array variable imported from a DLL.  Any multiword
	 variable (arrays, structs, long long, etc) may trigger this error  con-
	 dition.   However,  regardless  of the exact data type of the offending
	 exported variable, ld will always detect it,  issue  the  warning,  and
	 exit.

	 There	are  several  ways to address this difficulty, regardless of the
	 data type of the exported variable:

	 One way is to use --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc switch. This leaves the
	 task of adjusting references in your client code for  runtime	environ-
	 ment,	so this method works only when runtime environment supports this
	 feature.

	 A second solution is to force one of the 'constants' to be  a	variable
	 --  that  is,	unknown and un-optimizable at compile time.  For arrays,
	 there are two possibilities: a) make the indexee (the array's	address)
	 a variable, or b) make the 'constant' index a variable.  Thus:

		 extern type extern_array[];
		 extern_array[1] -->
		    { volatile type *t=extern_array; t[1] }

	 or

		 extern type extern_array[];
		 extern_array[1] -->
		    { volatile int t=1; extern_array[t] }

	 For structs (and most other multiword data types) the only option is to
	 make the struct itself (or the long long, or the ...) variable:

		 extern struct s extern_struct;
		 extern_struct.field -->
		    { volatile struct s *t=&extern_struct; t->field }

	 or

		 extern long long extern_ll;
		 extern_ll -->
		   { volatile long long * local_ll=&extern_ll; *local_ll }

	 A  third method of dealing with this difficulty is to abandon 'auto-im-
	 port' for  the  offending  symbol  and  mark  it  with  "__declspec(dl-
	 limport)".   However, in practise that requires using compile-time #de-
	 fines to indicate whether you are building a DLL, building client  code
	 that  will  link to the DLL, or merely building/linking to a static li-
	 brary.   In making the choice between the various methods of  resolving
	 the  'direct address with constant offset' problem, you should consider
	 typical real-world usage:

	 Original:

		 --foo.h
		 extern int arr[];
		 --foo.c
		 #include "foo.h"
		 void main(int argc, char **argv){
		   printf("%d\n",arr[1]);
		 }

	 Solution 1:

		 --foo.h
		 extern int arr[];
		 --foo.c
		 #include "foo.h"
		 void main(int argc, char **argv){
		   /* This workaround is for win32 and cygwin; do not "optimize" */
		   volatile int *parr = arr;
		   printf("%d\n",parr[1]);
		 }

	 Solution 2:

		 --foo.h
		 /* Note: auto-export is assumed (no __declspec(dllexport)) */
		 #if (defined(_WIN32) || defined(__CYGWIN__)) && \
		   !(defined(FOO_BUILD_DLL) || defined(FOO_STATIC))
		 #define FOO_IMPORT __declspec(dllimport)
		 #else
		 #define FOO_IMPORT
		 #endif
		 extern FOO_IMPORT int arr[];
		 --foo.c
		 #include "foo.h"
		 void main(int argc, char **argv){
		   printf("%d\n",arr[1]);
		 }

	 A fourth way to avoid this problem is to re-code your library to use  a
	 functional  interface	rather	than  a data interface for the offending
	 variables (e.g. set_foo() and get_foo() accessor functions).  [This op-
	 tion is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --disable-auto-import
	 Do not attempt to do sophisticated linking of "_symbol" to "__imp__sym-
	 bol" for DATA imports from DLLs.  [This option is specific to the  i386
	 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc
	 If  your  code  contains  expressions described in --enable-auto-import
	 section, that is, DATA imports from  DLL  with  non-zero  offset,  this
	 switch  will  create a vector of 'runtime pseudo relocations' which can
	 be used by runtime environment to adjust references  to  such	data  in
	 your  client  code.   [This  option is specific to the i386 PE targeted
	 port of the linker]

     --disable-runtime-pseudo-reloc
	 Do not create pseudo relocations for non-zero offset DATA imports  from
	 DLLs.	 This  is  the default.  [This option is specific to the i386 PE
	 targeted port of the linker]

     --enable-extra-pe-debug
	 Show additional debug info  related  to  auto-import  symbol  thunking.
	 [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --section-alignment
	 Sets  the  section  alignment.  Sections in memory will always begin at
	 addresses which are a multiple of this  number.   Defaults  to  0x1000.
	 [This option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     --stack reserve
     --stack reserve,commit
	 Specify  the  amount of memory to reserve (and optionally commit) to be
	 used as stack for this program.  The default is 2Mb reserved,	4K  com-
	 mitted.   [This  option is specific to the i386 PE targeted port of the
	 linker]

     --subsystem which
     --subsystem which:major
     --subsystem which:major.minor
	 Specifies the subsystem under which your program will execute.  The le-
	 gal values for which are "native", "windows", "console",  "posix",  and
	 "xbox".   You	may  optionally set the subsystem version also.  Numeric
	 values are also accepted for which.  [This option is  specific  to  the
	 i386 PE targeted port of the linker]

     The  68HC11 and 68HC12 linkers support specific options to control the mem-
     ory bank switching mapping and trampoline code generation.

     --no-trampoline
	 This option disables the generation of trampoline. By default a trampo-
	 line is generated for each far function which is called using	a  "jsr"
	 instruction (this happens when a pointer to a far function is taken).

     --bank-window name
	 This  option  indicates  to the linker the name of the memory region in
	 the MEMORY specification that describes the memory  bank  window.   The
	 definition  of such region is then used by the linker to compute paging
	 and addresses within the memory window.

ENVIRONMENT
     You can change the behaviour of ld with the environment variables	"GNUTAR-
     GET", "LDEMULATION" and "COLLECT_NO_DEMANGLE".

     "GNUTARGET" determines the input-file object format if you don't use -b (or
     its synonym --format).  Its value should be one of the BFD names for an in-
     put  format.   If	there  is no "GNUTARGET" in the environment, ld uses the
     natural format of the target. If "GNUTARGET" is set to "default"  then  BFD
     attempts to discover the input format by examining binary input files; this
     method  often succeeds, but there are potential ambiguities, since there is
     no method of ensuring that the magic number  used	to  specify  object-file
     formats  is  unique.   However, the configuration procedure for BFD on each
     system places  the  conventional  format  for  that  system  first  in  the
     search-list, so ambiguities are resolved in favor of convention.

     "LDEMULATION"  determines the default emulation if you don't use the -m op-
     tion.  The emulation can affect various aspects of linker	behaviour,  par-
     ticularly the default linker script.  You can list the available emulations
     with  the	--verbose  or -V options.  If the -m option is not used, and the
     "LDEMULATION" environment variable is not defined,  the  default  emulation
     depends upon how the linker was configured.

     Normally, the linker will default to demangling symbols.  However, if "COL-
     LECT_NO_DEMANGLE"	is  set  in the environment, then it will default to not
     demangling symbols.  This environment variable is used in a similar fashion
     by the "gcc" linker wrapper program.  The default may be overridden by  the
     --demangle and --no-demangle options.

SEE ALSO
     ar(1),  nm(1),  objcopy(1), objdump(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries for
     binutils and ld.

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (c) 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
     2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
     the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or  any  later
     version  published  by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sec-
     tions, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy  of
     the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation Li-
     cense".

binutils-2.17			   2006-06-23				   LD(1)

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