README revision 89857 
1		README for LD
2
3This is the GNU linker.  It is distributed with other "binary
4utilities" which should be in ../binutils.  See ../binutils/README for
5more general notes, including where to send bug reports.
6
7There are many features of the linker:
8
9* The linker uses a Binary File Descriptor library (../bfd)
10  that it uses to read and write object files.  This helps
11  insulate the linker itself from the format of object files.
12
13* The linker supports a number of different object file
14  formats.  It can even handle multiple formats at once:
15  Read two input formats and write a third.
16
17* The linker can be configured for cross-linking.
18
19* The linker supports a control language.
20
21* There is a user manual (ld.texinfo), as well as the
22  beginnings of an internals manual (ldint.texinfo).
23
24Installation
25============
26
27See ../binutils/README.
28
29If you want to make a cross-linker, you may want to specify
30a different search path of -lfoo libraries than the default.
31You can do this by setting the LIB_PATH variable in ./Makefile.
32
33To build just the linker, make the target all-ld from the top level
34directory (one directory above this one).
35
36Porting to a new target
37=======================
38
39See the ldint.texinfo manual.
40
41Reporting bugs etc
42===========================
43
44See ../binutils/README.
45
46Known problems
47==============
48
49The Solaris linker normally exports all dynamic symbols from an
50executable.  The GNU linker does not do this by default.  This is
51because the GNU linker tries to present the same interface for all
52similar targets (in this case, all native ELF targets).  This does not
53matter for normal programs, but it can make a difference for programs
54which try to dlopen an executable, such as PERL or Tcl.  You can make
55the GNU linker export all dynamic symbols with the -E or
56--export-dynamic command line option.
57
58HP/UX 9.01 has a shell bug that causes the linker scripts to be
59generated incorrectly.  The symptom of this appears to be "fatal error
60- scanner input buffer overflow" error messages.  There are various
61workarounds to this:
62  * Build and install bash, and build with "make SHELL=bash".
63  * Update to a version of HP/UX with a working shell (e.g., 9.05).
64  * Replace "(. ${srcdir}/scripttempl/${SCRIPT_NAME}.sc)" in
65    genscripts.sh with "sh ${srcdir}..." (no parens) and make sure the
66    emulparams script used exports any shell variables it sets.
67