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Overview of ld, the GNU linker

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.

For specific discussion on the linker, see the following documentation.

Invocation

Command Line Options

Environment Variables

Command Language

Linker Scripts

Expressions

Integers

Symbol Names

The Location Counter

Operators

Evaluation

Assignment: Defining Symbols

Arithmetic Functions

Memory Layout

Specifying Output Sections

Section Definitions

Section Placement

Section Data Expressions

Optional Section Attributes

The Entry Point

Option Commands

Machine Dependent Features

ld and the H8/300

ld and the Intel 960 family

BFD

How it works: an outline of BFD

Information Loss

The BFD canonical object-file format

MRI Compatible Script Files

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 version of ld uses the general purpose BFD libraries to operate on object 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. See BFD for more information.

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