LINK(5)                   OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                  LINK(5)

NAME
     link - dynamic loader and link editor interface

SYNOPSIS
     #include <link.h>

DESCRIPTION
     The include file <link.h> declares several structures that are present in
     dynamically linked programs and libraries.  The structures define the in-
     terface between several components of the link editor and loader mecha-
     nism.  The layout of a number of these structures within the binaries re-
     sembles the a.out(5) 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 Position Independent Code (PIC for short) to improve sharing
     of code pages among different processes.  The collection of data struc-
     tures described here will be referred to as the 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
     a.out(5) format offers no room for it elsewhere.

     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 li-
     braries can be built by ld(1).  The compiler also includes size informa-
     tion of any initialized data items through the ``.size'' assembler direc-
     tive.  PIC code differs from conventional code in that it accesses data
     variables through an indirection table, the Global Offset Table, by con-
     vention accessible by the reserved name _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.

     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.

     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 im-
     age's text and data bits.  Another reserved symbol, _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, crt0.  The
     _DYNAMIC structure is conventionally located at the start of the data
     segment of the image to which it pertains.

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 symbol descriptions and
     names, while the data segments contain the tables that need to be modi-
     fied during the relocation process.

     The _DYNAMIC symbol references a _dynamic structure:

           struct  _dynamic {
                   int     d_version;
                   struct  so_debug *d_debug;
                   union {
                           struct section_dispatch_table *d_sdt;
                   } d_un;
                   struct  ld_entry *d_entry;
           };

     d_version  This field provides for different versions of the dynamic
                linking implementation.  The current version numbers under-
                stood by ld and ld.so(1) are LD_VERSION_SUN(3), which is used
                by the SunOS 4.x releases, and LD_VERSION_BSD(8), which is
                currently in use by OpenBSD.

     d_un       Refers to a d_version dependent data structure.

     d_debug    This field provides debuggers with a hook to access symbol ta-
                bles of shared objects loaded as a result of the actions of
                the run-time link editor.

     d_entry    This field is obsoleted by CRT interface version
                CRT_VERSION_BSD4, and by the crt_ldentry in crt_ldso.

     The section_dispatch_table structure is the main ``dispatcher'' table,
     containing offsets into the image's segments where various symbol and re-
     location information is located.

           struct section_dispatch_table {
                   struct  so_map *sdt_loaded;
                   long    sdt_sods;
                   long    sdt_paths;
                   long    sdt_got;
                   long    sdt_plt;
                   long    sdt_rel;
                   long    sdt_hash;
                   long    sdt_nzlist;
                   long    sdt_filler2;
                   long    sdt_buckets;
                   long    sdt_strings;
                   long    sdt_str_sz;
                   long    sdt_text_sz;
                   long    sdt_plt_sz;
           };

     sdt_loaded  A pointer to the first link map loaded (see below).  This
                 field is set by ld.so(1) for the benefit of debuggers that
                 may use it to load a shared object's symbol table.

     sdt_sods    The start of a (linked) list of shared object descriptors
                 needed by this object.

     sdt_paths   Library search rules.  A colon separated list of directories
                 corresponding to the -R option of ld(1).

     sdt_got     The location of the Global Offset Table within this image.

     sdt_plt     The location of the Procedure Linkage Table within this im-
                 age.

     sdt_rel     The location of an array of relocation_info structures (see
                 a.out(5)) specifying run-time relocations.

     sdt_hash    The location of the hash table for fast symbol lookup in this
                 object's symbol table.

     sdt_nzlist  The location of the symbol table.

     sdt_filler2
                 Currently unused.

     sdt_buckets
                 The number of buckets in sdt_hash.

     sdt_strings
                 The location of the symbol string table that goes with
                 sdt_nzlist.

     sdt_str_sz  The size of the string table.

     sdt_text_sz
                 The size of the object's text segment.

     sdt_plt_sz  The size of the Procedure Linkage Table.

     A sod structure describes a shared object that is needed to complete the
     link-edit process of the object containing it.  A list of such objects
     (chained through sod_next) is pointed at by the sdt_sods in the
     section_dispatch_table structure.

           struct sod {
                   long    sod_name;
                   u_int   sod_library : 1,
                           sod_reserved : 31;
                   short   sod_major;
                   short   sod_minor;
                   long    sod_next;
           };

     sod_name     The offset in the text segment of a string describing this
                  link object.

     sod_library  If set, sod_name specifies a library that is to be searched
                  for by ld.so(1).  The path name is obtained by searching a
                  set of directories (see also ldconfig(8)) for a shared ob-
                  ject matching lib<sod_name>.so.n.m.  If not set, sod_name
                  should point at a full path name for the desired shared ob-
                  ject.

     sod_major    Specifies the major version number of the shared object to
                  load.

     sod_minor    Specifies the preferred minor version number of the shared
                  object to load.

     The run-time link editor maintains a list of structures called ``link
     maps'' to keep track of all shared objects loaded into a process's ad-
     dress 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.

           struct so_map {
                   caddr_t som_addr;
                   char    *som_path;
                   struct  so_map *som_next;
                   struct  sod *som_sod;
                   caddr_t som_sodbase;
                   u_int   som_write : 1;
                   struct  _dynamic *som_dynamic;
                   caddr_t som_spd;
           };

     som_addr     The address at which the shared object associated with this
                  link map has been loaded.

     som_path     The full path name of the loaded object.

     som_next     Pointer to the next link map.

     som_sod      The sod structure that was responsible for loading this
                  shared object.

     som_sodbase  Tossed in later versions of the run-time linker.

     som_write    Set if (some portion of) this object's text segment is cur-
                  rently writable.

     som_dynamic  Pointer to this object's _dynamic structure.

     som_spd      Hook for attaching private data maintained by the run-time
                  link editor.

     Symbol description with size.  This is simply an nlist structure with one
     field (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 sdt_nzlist field of
     section_dispatch_table.

           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
           };

     nlist    See nlist(3).

     nz_size  The size of the data represented by this symbol.

     A hash table is included within the text segment of shared objects to fa-
     cilitate quick lookup of symbols during run-time link-editing.  The
     sdt_hash field of the section_dispatch_table structure points at an array
     of rrs_hash structures:

           struct rrs_hash {
                   int     rh_symbolnum;           /* symbol number */
                   int     rh_next;                /* next hash entry */
           };

     rh_symbolnum  The index of the symbol in the shared object's symbol table
                   (as given by the ld_symbols field).

     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.

     The rt_symbol structure is used to keep track of run-time allocated com-
     mons and data items copied from shared objects.  These items are kept in
     a linked list and are exported through the dd_cc field in the so_debug
     structure (see below) for use by debuggers.

           struct rt_symbol {
                   struct nzlist           *rt_sp;
                   struct rt_symbol        *rt_next;
                   struct rt_symbol        *rt_link;
                   caddr_t                 rt_srcaddr;
                   struct so_map           *rt_smp;
           };

     rt_sp       The symbol description.

     rt_next     Virtual address of next rt_symbol.

     rt_link     Next in hash bucket.  Used internally by ld.so(1).

     rt_srcaddr  Location of the source of initialized data within a shared
                 object.

     rt_smp      The shared object which is the original source of the data
                 that this run-time symbol describes.

     The so_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 sym-
     bols from shared objects can only do so after the link editor has been
     called from crt0.  A dynamically linked binary contains a so_debug struc-
     ture which can be located by means of the d_debug field in _dynamic.

           struct  so_debug {
                   int     dd_version;
                   int     dd_in_debugger;
                   int     dd_sym_loaded;
                   char    *dd_bpt_addr;
                   int     dd_bpt_shadow;
                   struct rt_symbol *dd_cc;
           };

     dd_version      Version number of this interface.

     dd_in_debugger  Set by the debugger to indicate to the run-time linker
                     that the program is run under control of a debugger.

     dd_sym_loaded   Set by the run-time linker whenever it adds symbols by
                     loading shared objects.

     dd_bpt_addr     The address where a breakpoint will be set by the run-
                     time linker to divert control to the debugger.  This ad-
                     dress is determined by the start-up module, crt0.o, to be
                     some convenient place before the call to _main.

     dd_bpt_shadow   Contains the original instruction that was at
                     dd_bpt_addr.  The debugger is expected to put this in-
                     struction back before continuing the program.

     dd_cc           A pointer to the linked list of run-time allocated sym-
                     bols that the debugger may be interested in.

     The ld_entry structure defines a set of service routines within ld.so(1).
     See dlfcn(3) for more information.

           struct ld_entry {
                   void    *(*dlopen)(const char *, int);
                   int     (*dlclose)(void *);
                   void    *(*dlsym)(void *, const char *);
                   int     (*dlctl)(void *, int, void *);
                   void    (*dlexit)(void);
                   void    (*dlrsrvd[3])(void);
           };

     The crt_ldso structure defines the interface between ld.so(1) and the
     start-up code in crt0.

           struct crt_ldso {
                   int             crt_ba;
                   int             crt_dzfd;
                   int             crt_ldfd;
                   struct _dynamic *crt_dp;
                   char            **crt_ep;
                   caddr_t         crt_bp;
                   char            *crt_prog;
                   char            *crt_ldso;
                   struct ld_entry *crt_ldentry;
           };
           #define CRT_VERSION_SUN         1
           #define CRT_VERSION_BSD2        2
           #define CRT_VERSION_BSD3        3
           #define CRT_VERSION_BSD4        4

     crt_ba    The virtual address at which ld.so(1) was loaded by crt0.

     crt_dzfd  On SunOS systems, this field contains an open file descriptor
               to /dev/zero used to get demand paged zeroed pages.  On OpenBSD
               systems it contains -1.

     crt_ldfd  Contains an open file descriptor that was used by crt0 to load
               ld.so(1).

     crt_dp    A pointer to main's _dynamic structure.

     crt_ep    A pointer to the environment strings.

     crt_bp    The address at which a breakpoint will be placed by the run-
               time linker if the main program is run by a debugger.  See
               so_debug.

     crt_prog  The name of the main program as determined by crt0 (CRT_VER-
               SION_BSD3 only).

     crt_ldso  The path of the run-time linker as mapped by crt0 (CRT_VER-
               SION_BSD4 only).

     crt_ldentry
               The dlfcn(3) entry points provided by the run-time linker
               (CRT_VERSION_BSD4 only).

     The hints_header and hints_bucket structures define the layout of the li-
     brary hints, normally found in /var/run/ld.so.hints, which is used by
     ld.so(1) to quickly locate the shared object images in the filesystem.
     The organization of the hints file is not unlike that of an a.out(5) ob-
     ject 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.

           struct hints_header {
                   long            hh_magic;
           #define HH_MAGIC        011421044151
                   long            hh_version;
           #define LD_HINTS_VERSION_1      1
           #define LD_HINTS_VERSION_2      2
                   long            hh_hashtab;
                   long            hh_nbucket;
                   long            hh_strtab;
                   long            hh_strtab_sz;
                   long            hh_ehints;
                   long            hh_dirlist;
           };

     hh_magic      Hints file magic number.

     hh_version    Interface version number.

     hh_hashtab    Offset of hash table.

     hh_strtab     Offset of string table.

     hh_strtab_sz  Size of strings.

     hh_ehints     Maximum usable offset in hints file.

     hh_dirlist    Offset in string table of a colon-separated list of direc-
                   tories that was used in constructing the hints file.  See
                   also ldconfig(8).  This field is only available with inter-
                   face version number LD_HINTS_VERSION_2 and higher.

           /*
            * 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;
           };

     hi_namex   Index of the string identifying the library.

     hi_pathx   Index of the string representing the full path name of the li-
                brary.

     hi_dewey   The version numbers of the shared library.

     hi_ndewey  The number of valid entries in hi_dewey.

     hi_next    Next bucket in case of hashing collisions.

CAVEATS
     Only the (GNU) C compiler currently supports the creation of shared li-
     braries.  Other programming languages can not be used.

OpenBSD 4.7                      May 31, 2007                                7
