LD.LLD(1)

✨ NAME ✨

okay so bestie, meet ld.lld — the ELF linker from the LLVM project. 💅 That's the whole vibe: it links, it's from LLVM, and this manual page is about to tell you everything. No cap.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ld.lld [options] objfile ...

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

A linker takes one or more object, archive, and library files, and combines them into an output file (an executable, a shared library, or another object file). It relocates code and data from the input files and resolves symbol references between them. literally the glue of the whole build, iconic behavior.

ld.lld is a drop-in replacement for the GNU BFD and gold linkers. It accepts most of the same command line arguments and linker scripts as GNU linkers. slay, compatibility queen.

ld.lld currently supports i386, x86-64, ARM, AArch64, PowerPC32, PowerPC64, MIPS32, MIPS64, RISC-V, AMDGPU, Hexagon and SPARC V9 targets. ld.lld acts as a Microsoft link.exe-compatible linker if invoked as lld-link and as macOS's ld if invoked as ld.ld64. All these targets are always supported however ld.lld was built, so you can always use ld.lld as a native linker as well as a cross linker. main character energy across architectures, periodt.

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

Many options have both a single-letter and long form. When using the long form options other than those beginning with the letter o may be specified using either one or two dashes preceding the option name. Long options beginning with o require two dashes to avoid confusion with the -o path option. iykyk.

• --allow-multiple-definition — Do not error if a symbol is defined multiple times. The first definition will be used.
• --allow-shlib-undefined — Allow unresolved references in shared libraries. This option is enabled by default when linking a shared library.
• --apply-dynamic-relocs — Apply link-time values for dynamic relocations.
• --as-needed — Only set DT_NEEDED for shared libraries if used.
• --auxiliary=value — Set the DT_AUXILIARY field to the specified name.
• --Bdynamic, --dy — Link against shared libraries.
• --Bstatic, --static, --dn — Do not link against shared libraries.
• -Bno-symbolic — Don't bind default visibility defined symbols locally for -shared (default).
• -Bsymbolic — Bind default visibility defined symbols locally for -shared. Also set the DF_SYMBOLIC flag.
• -Bsymbolic-functions — Bind default visibility defined function symbols locally for -shared.
• -Bsymbolic-non-weak-functions — Bind default visibility defined STB_GLOBAL function symbols locally for -shared.
• --build-id=value — Generate a build ID note. value may be one of fast, md5, sha1, tree, uuid, 0xhex-string, and none. tree is an alias for sha1. Build-IDs of type fast, md5, sha1, and tree are calculated from the object contents. fast is not intended to be cryptographically secure.
• --build-id — Synonym for --build-id=fast.
• --color-diagnostics=value — Use colors in diagnostics. value may be one of always, auto, and never. auto enables color if and only if output is to a terminal.
• --color-diagnostics — Alias for --color-diagnostics=auto.
• --compress-debug-sections=value — Compress DWARF debug sections. value may be none or zlib. The default compression level is 1 (fastest) as the debug info usually compresses well at that level, but if you want to compress it more, you can specify -O2 to set the compression level to 6.
• --cref — Output cross reference table.
• --define-common, -d — Assign space to common symbols.
• --defsym=symbol=expression — Define a symbol alias. expression may be another symbol or a linker script expression. For example, --defsym=foo=bar or --defsym=foo=bar+0x100.
• --demangle — Demangle symbol names.
• --disable-new-dtags — Disable new dynamic tags.
• --discard-all, -x — Delete all local symbols.
• --discard-locals, -X — Delete temporary local symbols.
• --discard-none — Keep all symbols in the symbol table.
• --dynamic-linker=value — Specify the dynamic linker to be used for a dynamically linked executable. This is recorded in an ELF segment of type PT_INTERP.
• --dynamic-list=file — Read a list of dynamic symbols from file. (executable) Put matched non-local defined symbols to the dynamic symbol table. (shared object) References to matched non-local STV_DEFAULT symbols shouldn't be bound to definitions within the shared object. Implies -Bsymbolic but does not set DF_SYMBOLIC
• --EB — Select the big-endian format in the OUTPUT_FORMAT command.
• --EL — Select the little-endian format in the OUTPUT_FORMAT command.
• --eh-frame-hdr — Request creation of .eh_frame_hdr section and PT_GNU_EH_FRAME segment header.
• --emit-relocs, -q — Generate relocations in the output.
• --enable-new-dtags — Enable new dynamic tags.
• --end-lib — End a grouping of objects that should be treated as if they were together in an archive.
• --entry=entry — Name of entry point symbol.
• --error-limit=value — Maximum number of errors to emit before stopping. A value of zero indicates that there is no limit.
• --error-unresolved-symbols — Report unresolved symbols as errors.
• --error-handing-script=script_path — Call script script_path upon some error, with tag as first argument, and an extra parameter as second argument. The script is expected to return 0 on success. Any other value is considered a generic error. tag may be missing-lib followed by the name of the missing library. undefined-symbol followed by the name of the undefined symbol.
• --execute-only — Mark executable sections unreadable. This option is currently only supported on AArch64.
• --exclude-libs=value — Exclude static libraries from automatic export.
• --export-dynamic, -E — Put symbols in the dynamic symbol table.
• --export-dynamic-symbol=glob — (executable) Put matched non-local defined symbols to the dynamic symbol table. (shared object) References to matched non-local STV_DEFAULT symbols shouldn't be bound to definitions within the shared object even if they would otherwise be due to -Bsymbolic , -Bsymbolic-functions or --dynamic-list
• --fatal-warnings — Treat warnings as errors.
• --filter=value, -F value — Set the DT_FILTER field to the specified value.
• --fini=symbol — Specify a finalizer function.
• --format=input-format, -b input-format — Specify the format of the inputs following this option. input-format may be one of binary, elf, and default. default is a synonym for elf.
• --gc-sections — Enable garbage collection of unused sections.
• --gdb-index — Generate .gdb_index section.
• --hash-style=value — Specify hash style. value may be sysv, gnu, or both. both is the default.
• --help — Print a help message.
• --icf=all — Enable identical code folding.
• --icf=safe — Enable safe identical code folding.
• --icf=none — Disable identical code folding.
• --ignore-data-address-equality — Ignore address equality of data. C/C++ requires each data to have a unique address. This option allows lld to do unsafe optimization that breaks the requirement: create copies of read-only data or merge two or more read-only data that happen to have the same value.
• --ignore-function-address-equality — Ignore address equality of functions. This option allows non-PIC calls to a function with non-default visibility in a shared object. The function may have different addresses within the executable and within the shared object.
• --image-base=value — Set the base address to value.
• --init=symbol — Specify an initializer function.
• --keep-unique=symbol — Do not fold symbol during ICF.
• -l libName, --library=libName — Root name of library to use.
• -L dir, --library-path=dir — Add a directory to the library search path.
• --lto-aa-pipeline=value — AA pipeline to run during LTO. Used in conjunction with --lto-newpm-passes.
• --lto-newpm-passes=value — Passes to run during LTO.
• --lto-Oopt-level — Optimization level for LTO.
• --lto-partitions=value — Number of LTO codegen partitions.
• -m value — Set target emulation.
• --Map=file, -M file — Print a link map to file.
• --nmagic, -n — Do not page align sections, link against static libraries.
• --no-allow-shlib-undefined — Do not allow unresolved references in shared libraries. This option is enabled by default when linking an executable.
• --no-as-needed — Always set DT_NEEDED for shared libraries.
• --no-color-diagnostics — Do not use colors in diagnostics.
• --no-define-common — Do not assign space to common symbols.
• --no-demangle — Do not demangle symbol names.
• --no-dynamic-linker — Inhibit output of an .interp section.
• --no-fortran-common — Do not search archive members for definitions to override COMMON symbols.
• --no-gc-sections — Disable garbage collection of unused sections.
• --no-gnu-unique — Disable STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbol binding.
• --no-merge-exidx-entries — Disable merging .ARM.exidx entries.
• --no-nmagic — Page align sections.
• --no-omagic — Do not set the text data sections to be writable, page align sections.
• --no-relax — Disable target-specific relaxations. This is currently a no-op.
• --no-rosegment — Do not put read-only non-executable sections in their own segment.
• --no-undefined-version — Report version scripts that refer undefined symbols.
• --no-undefined — Report unresolved symbols even if the linker is creating a shared library.
• --no-warn-symbol-ordering — Do not warn about problems with the symbol ordering file or call graph profile.
• --no-whole-archive — Restores the default behavior of loading archive members.
• --no-pie, --no-pic-executable — Do not create a position independent executable.
• --noinhibit-exec — Retain the executable output file whenever it is still usable.
• --nostdlib — okay so, this one is giving “trust issues” energy: the linker will only search the directories you literally specified on the command line. No default paths, no extra vibes. 🎀
• -o path — write the output executable, library, or object to path. If you don’t say anything, a.out is the default. classic. 💅
• -Ovalue — optimize output file size. value can be:
  • 0 — disable string merging.
  • 1 — enable string merging.
  • 2 — enable string tail merging. If --compress-debug-sections is given, compress debug sections at compression level 6 instead of 1.

-O1 is the default. ✨

• --oformat=format — specify the format for the output object file. The only supported format is binary, which produces output with no ELF header. iconic. 🌈
• --omagic, -N — set the text and data sections to be readable and writable, do not page align sections, link against static libraries. wild. 🔥
• --opt-remarks-filename file — write optimization remarks in YAML format to file. fancy. ✨
• --opt-remarks-passes pass-regex — filter optimization remarks by only allowing the passes matching pass-regex. filtered. 💅
• --opt-remarks-with-hotness — include hotness information in the optimization remarks file. hot. 🔥
• --orphan-handling=mode — control how orphan sections are handled. An orphan section is one not specifically mentioned in a linker script. mode may be:
  • place — place orphan sections in suitable output sections.
  • warn — place orphan sections as for place and also report a warning.
  • error — place orphan sections as for place and also report an error.

place is the default. periodt. 💖

• --pack-dyn-relocs=format — pack dynamic relocations in the given format. format may be:
  • none — do not pack. Dynamic relocations are encoded in SHT_REL(A).
  • android — pack dynamic relocations in SHT_ANDROID_REL(A).
  • relr — pack relative relocations in SHT_RELR, and the rest of dynamic relocations in SHT_REL(A).
  • android+relr — pack relative relocations in SHT_RELR, and the rest of dynamic relocations in SHT_ANDROID_REL(A).

none is the default. If --use-android-relr-tags is specified, use SHT_ANDROID_RELR instead of SHT_RELR. choices. 🌈

• --pic-veneer — always generate position independent thunks. PIC vibes only. 🦋
• --pie, --pic-executable — create a position independent executable. main character energy. 👑
• --print-gc-sections — list removed unused sections. cleanup crew. 🧹
• --print-icf-sections — list identical folded sections. twins. 👯
• --print-map — print a link map to the standard output. map it out. 🗺️
• --print-archive-stats=file — write archive usage statistics to the specified file. Print the numbers of members and fetched members for each archive. receipts. 🧾
• --push-state — save the current state of --as-needed, --static, and --whole-archive. save point. 💾
• --pop-state — undo the effect of --push-state. undo. ↩️
• --relocatable, -r — create relocatable object file. portable. 📦
• --reproduce=path — write a tar file to path, containing all the input files needed to reproduce the link, a text file called response.txt containing the command line options and a text file called version.txt containing the output of ld.lld --version. The archive when unpacked can be used to re-run the linker with the same options and input files. reproducible queen. 👑
• --retain-symbols-file=file — retain only the symbols listed in file. keep list. 📝
• --rpath=value, -R value — add a DT_RUNPATH to the output. runtime path. 🛣️
• --rsp-quoting=value — quoting style for response files. The supported values are windows and posix. pick your vibe. 💅
• --script=file, -T file — read linker script from file. If multiple linker scripts are given, they are processed as if they were concatenated in the order they appeared on the command line. scripted. 📜
• --section-start=section=address — set address of section. address it. 📍
• --shared, --Bsharable — build a shared object. shared is caring. 🌈
• --shuffle-sections=seed — shuffle matched sections using the given seed before mapping them to the output sections. If -1, reverse the section order. If 0, use a random seed. shuffle mode. 🔀
• --soname=value, -h value — set DT_SONAME to value. name tag. 🏷️
• --sort-common — this option is ignored for GNU compatibility. ghosted. 👻
• --sort-section=value — specifies sections sorting rule when linkerscript is used. sort it out. 🧹
• --start-lib — start a grouping of objects that should be treated as if they were together in an archive. squad up. 👯
• --strip-all, -s — strip all symbols. Implies --strip-debug. naked. 💅
• --strip-debug, -S — strip debugging information. debug be gone. 🫥
• --symbol-ordering-file=file — lay out sections in the order specified by file. order up. 📋
• --sysroot=value — set the system root. root access. 🌳
• --target1-abs — interpret R_ARM_TARGET1 as R_ARM_ABS32. absolutely. 💯
• --target1-rel — interpret R_ARM_TARGET1 as R_ARM_REL32. relative. 🔄
• --target2=type — interpret R_ARM_TARGET2 as type, where type is one of rel, abs, or got-rel. choose your type. 💅
• --Tbss=value — same as --section-start with .bss as the sectionname. bss babe. 🧠
• --Tdata=value — same as --section-start with .data as the sectionname. data darling. 📊
• --Ttext=value — same as --section-start with .text as the sectionname. text time. 📝
• --thinlto-cache-dir=value — path to ThinLTO cached object file directory. cache palace. 🏰
• --thinlto-cache-policy=value — pruning policy for the ThinLTO cache. prune it. ✂️
• --thinlto-jobs=value — number of ThinLTO jobs. work work work. 💼
• --threads=N — number of threads. all (default) means all of concurrent threads supported. 1 disables multi-threading. thread squad. 🧵
• --time-trace — record time trace. time tracking. ⏱️
• --time-trace-file=file — write time trace output to file. save the receipts. 🧾
• --time-trace-granularity=value — minimum time granularity (in microseconds) traced by time profiler. micro vibes. 🔬
• --trace — print the names of the input files. spill the tea. ☕
• --trace-symbol=symbol, -y symbol — trace references to symbol. follow the symbol. 🕵️
• --undefined=symbol, -u symbol — if symbol is not defined after symbol resolution, and there’s a static library that contains an object file defining the symbol, load the member to include the object file in the output file. undefined but found. 👻
• --undefined-glob=pattern — synonym for --undefined, except that it takes a glob pattern. In a glob pattern, * matches zero or more characters, ? matches any single character, and [...] matches the characters within brackets. All symbols that match a given pattern are handled as if they were given as arguments of --undefined. glob queen. 🌈
• --unique — creates a separate output section for every orphan input section. one of a kind. 💎
• --unresolved-symbols=value — determine how to handle unresolved symbols. mystery solved. 🔍
• --use-android-relr-tags — use SHT_ANDROID_RELR / DT_ANDROID_RELR* tags instead of SHT_RELR / DT_RELR*. android vibes. 🤖
• -v — display the version number and proceed with linking if object files are specified. version check. ✅
• -V, --version — display the version number and exit. peace out. ✌️
• --verbose — verbose mode. talkative. 🗣️
• --version-script=file — read version script from file. scripted. 📜
• --warn-backrefs — warn about reverse or cyclic dependencies to or between static archives. This can be used to ensure linker invocation remains compatible with traditional Unix-like linkers. back it up. 🔙
• --warn-backrefs-exclude=glob — glob describing an archive (or an object file within --start-lib) which should be ignored for --warn-backrefs. excluded. 🚫
• --warn-common — warn about duplicate common symbols. duplicate alert. 🚨
• --warn-ifunc-textrel — warn about using ifunc symbols in conjunction with text relocations. Older versions of glibc library (2.28 and earlier) has a bug that causes the segment that includes ifunc symbols to be marked as not executable when they are relocated. As a result, although the program compiles and links successfully, it gives segmentation fault when the instruction pointer reaches an ifunc symbol. Use -warn-ifunc-textrel to let lld give a warning, if the code may include ifunc symbols, may do text relocations and be linked with an older glibc version. Otherwise, there is no need to use it, as the default value does not give a warning. This flag has been introduced in late 2018, has no counter part in ld and gold linkers, and may be removed in the future. glibc drama. 😭
• --warn-unresolved-symbols — report unresolved symbols as warnings. warning not error. ⚠️
• --whole-archive — force load of all members in a static library. all in. 💯
• --wrap=symbol — redirect symbol references to __wrap_symbol and __real_symbol references to symbol. wrapped up. 🎁
• -z option — linker option extensions. the extra sauce. 🌈
  • dead-reloc-in-nonalloc=section_glob=value — resolve a relocation in a matched non-SHF_ALLOC section referencing a discarded symbol to value Accepts globs, in the event of a section matching more than one option, the last option takes precedence. An order of least specific to most specific match is recommended. glob galore. 🧩
  • execstack — make the main stack executable. Stack permissions are recorded in the PT_GNU_STACK segment. stack go brrr. 💀
  • force-bti — force enable AArch64 BTI instruction in PLT, warn if Input ELF file does not have GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI property. BTI vibes. 🛡️
  • force-ibt — force enable Intel Indirect Branch Tracking in PLT, warn if an input ELF file does not have GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT property. IBT vibes. 🛡️
  • global — sets the DF_1_GLOBAL flag in the DYNAMIC section. Different loaders can decide how to handle this flag on their own. global queen. 🌍
  • ifunc-noplt — do not emit PLT entries for ifunc symbols. Instead, emit text relocations referencing the resolver. This is an experimental optimization and only suitable for standalone environments where text relocations do not have the usual drawbacks. This option must be combined with the -z notext option. experimental. 🧪
  • initfirst — sets the DF_1_INITFIRST flag to indicate the module should be initialized first. first place. 🥇
• interpose — sets the DF_1_INTERPOSE flag to tell the runtime linker that this object is an interposer. During symbol resolution, interposers get searched after the application but before other dependencies. periodt.
• muldefs — do not error if a symbol is defined multiple times. The first definition will be used. This is a synonym for --allow-multiple-definition. 💅
• nocombreloc — disables combining and sorting multiple relocation sections.
• nocopyreloc — disables the creation of copy relocations.
• nodefaultlib — sets the DF_1_NODEFLIB flag to indicate that default library search paths should be ignored.
• nodelete — sets the DF_1_NODELETE flag to indicate that the object cannot be unloaded from a process.
• nodlopen — sets the DF_1_NOOPEN flag to indicate that the object may not be opened by dlopen(3).
• nognustack — do not emit the PT_GNU_STACK segment.
• norelro — do not indicate that portions of the object should be mapped read-only after initial relocation processing. The object will omit the PT_GNU_RELRO segment.
• notext — allow relocations against read-only segments. Sets the DT_TEXTREL flag in the DYNAMIC section.
• now — set the DF_BIND_NOW flag to indicate that the run-time loader should perform all relocation processing as part of object initialization. By default relocations may be performed on demand.
• origin — set the DF_ORIGIN flag to indicate that the object requires $ORIGIN processing.
• pac-plt — AArch64 only, use pointer authentication in PLT.
• rel — use REL format for dynamic relocations.
• rela — use RELA format for dynamic relocations.
• retpolineplt — emit retpoline format PLT entries as a mitigation for CVE-2017-5715.
• rodynamic — make the .dynamic section read-only. The DT_DEBUG tag will not be emitted.
• the overlap trio: these specify whether two adjacent PT_LOAD segments are allowed to overlap in pages.
  • separate-loadable-segments — disallows overlap.
  • separate-code — allows overlap between two executable segments, or two non-executable segments.
  • noseparate-code — (default) allows overlap.
• shstk — x86 only, use shadow stack.
• stack-size=size — set the main thread's stack size to size. The stack size is recorded as the size of the PT_GNU_STACK program segment.
• start-stop-gc — don't let __start_/__stop_ references retain the associated C identifier name sections (default).
• nostart-stop-gc — let __start_/__stop_ references retain the associated C identifier name sections.
• text — do not allow relocations against read-only segments. This is the default.
• wxneeded — create a PT_OPENBSD_WXNEEDED segment.

✨ IMPLEMENTATION NOTES ✨

okay so real talk: ld.lld's handling of archive files (the ones with a .a file extension) is different from traditional linkers used on Unix-like systems.

Traditional linkers maintain a set of undefined symbols during linking. The linker processes each file in the order in which it appears on the command line, until the set of undefined symbols becomes empty. An object file is linked into the output object when it is encountered, with its undefined symbols added to the set. Upon encountering an archive file a traditional linker searches the objects contained therein, and processes those that satisfy symbols in the unresolved set.

Handling mutually dependent archives may be awkward when using a traditional linker. Archive files may have to be specified multiple times, or the special command line options --start-group and --end-group may be used to have the linker loop over the files in the group until no new symbols are added to the set.

ld.lld records all symbols found in objects and archives as it iterates over command line arguments. When ld.lld encounters an undefined symbol that can be resolved by an object file contained in a previously processed archive file, it immediately extracts and links it into the output object.

With certain archive inputs ld.lld may produce different results compared to traditional linkers. In practice, large bodies of third party software have been linked with ld.lld without material issues.

The --warn-backrefs option may be used to identify a linker invocation that may be incompatible with traditional Unix-like linker behavior.

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sourced from Debian, dated May 12, 2019, for LD.LLD(1) — go link something iconic, bestie. 💖✨🦋