V1/man/man1/ld.1

       11/3/71                                                       LD (I)


NAME             ld -- link editor

SYNOPSIS         ld [ --usaol ] name1 ]

DESCRIPTION      ld combines several object programs into one; resolves
                 external references; and searches libraries. In the
                 simplest case the names of several object programs are
                 given, and ld combines them, producing an object module
                 which can be either executed or become the input for a
                 further ld run.

                 The argument routines are concatenated in the order
                 specified. The entry point of the output is the beginning
                 of the first routine.

                 If any argument is a library, it is searched, and only
                 those routines defining an unresolved external reference
                 are loaded. If any routine loaded from a library refers to
                 an undefined symbol which does not become defined by the
                 end of the library, the library is searched again. Thus the
                 order of libraries primarily affects the efficiency of
                 loading, not what routines get loaded.

                 ld understands several flag arguments which are written
                 preceded by a "--"

                    --s "squash" the output, that is, remove the symbol
                        table and relocation bits to save space (but impair
                        the usefulness of the debugger). This information
                        can also be removed by strip.

                    --u take the following argument as a symbol and enter it
                        as undefined in the symbol table. This is useful for
                        loading wholly from a library, since initially the
                        symbol table is empty and an unresolved reference is
                        needed to force the loading of the first routine.

                    --o set the origin of the load to the octal number which
                        is given as the next argument. This option affects
                        only the definition of relocatable external symbols.
                        See DMR before using.

                       --l This option is an abbreviation for a library
                       name. "-l" alone stands for "/etc/liba.a", which is
                       the standard system library for assembly language
                       programs. "-lx" stands for /etc/libx.a where x is
                       any character. There are libraries for Fortran
                       (x="f") and B (x="b").
        11/3/71                                                          LD (I)


                        --a means absolute" (load at origin absolute
                             0) but it doesn't work.

                  The output of ld is left on a.out. This file is executable
                  only if no errors occurred during the load.

FILES             /etc/libx.a, for various x;
                  /etc/ltma, ltmb, ... (temporary)
                  a.out (output file)

SEE ALSO          as, strip, ar (maintains libraries)

DIAGNOSTICS       "can't create temp file"---- unwritable directory
                  or someone else is using ld in the same directory.

                  "can't open temp file" -- maybe someone has deleted it out
                  from under you.

                   "file not found" -- bad argument

                  "bad format" -- bad argument

                  "relocation error" -- bad argument (relocation bits
                  corrupted)

                  "bad relocation" -- user error: a relocatable
                  reference to an external symbol that turns out to be
                  absolute.

                  "multiply defined" -- same symbol defined twice in same
                  load

                  "un" -- stands for undefined symbol

                  "symbol not found" ---- loader bug

BUGS              Option "-a" doesn't work at all; option "-o" doesn't work
                  right.

OWNER             dmr