Linker script variable in library prevents dynamic linking - c

I have a project set up where I compile and link a shared library (libexample.so) with a linker script that looks like this:
SECTIONS
{
.modules : {
__MODULES_START = .;
KEEP(*(.mod*));
__MODULES_END = .;
}
...
}
I use these in my code to load modules compiled into the library.
extern uint32_t __MODULES_START;
extern uint32_t __MODULES_END;
unsigned int init_mods (void) {
void (*p)(void) = (void *)&__MODULES_START;
...
}
And when I compile the library in my Makefile
build/%.o: %.c
gcc -o $# -c $< -fPIC -g -Os -Iinclude
bin/libexample.so: $(OBJS)
gcc -o $# $^ -shared -fPIC -lc -T$(LINKER_SCRIPT)
It builds and links just fine, and it works when I try to link the library to another project that calls "init_mods".
build/%.o: %.c
gcc -o $# -c $< -fPIE -g -Os -Iinclude -I../libexample/include
bin/untitled-program: $(OBJS)
gcc -o $# $^ -fPIE -lc -lexample -Lbin '-Wl,-rpath,$$ORIGIN'
However, when I run the program where it can find the library, I receive the following linking error:
/bin/untitled-program: error while loading shared libraries: /blah/blah/libexample.so: unexpected PLT reloc type 0x08
When I readelf the shared library, I get the two definitions in my symbol table
Symbol table '.symtab' contains 223 entries:
Num: Value Size Type Bind Vis Ndx Name
...
154: 0000000000000050 0 NOTYPE GLOBAL DEFAULT 2 __MODULE_INIT_END
...
222: 0000000000000028 0 NOTYPE GLOBAL DEFAULT 2 __MODULE_INIT_START
So I'm wondering if my issue has to do with the NOTYPE, but I'm having trouble finding documentation on this.
To explain why I think my issue has to do with the linker script variables, when I run my program with linker debugging on, one of them is the last one to show up.
$ LD_DEBUG=all ./untitled-program
...
23856: symbol=__MODULE_END; lookup in file=./bin/untitled-program [0]
23856: symbol=__MODULE_END; lookup in file=/usr/lib/libc.so.6 [0]
23856: symbol=__MODULE_END; lookup in file=./bin/libexample.so [0]
23856: binding file ./bin/libexample.so [0] to ./bin/libexample.so [0]: normal symbol `__MODULE_END'
...
23856: symbol=__MODULE_START; lookup in file=./bin/untitled-program [0]
23856: symbol=__MODULE_START; lookup in file=/usr/lib/libc.so.6 [0]
23856: symbol=__MODULE_START; lookup in file=./bin/libexample.so [0]
23856: binding file ./bin/libexample.so [0] to ./bin/libexample.so [0]: normal symbol `__MODULE_START'
./bin/untitled-program: error while loading shared libraries: ./bin/libexample.so: unexpected PLT reloc type 0x08
But, that's the weird thing because it's able to bind one of the other linker script variables before it fails.
I have been working on this issue for too long, so I'm having trouble seeing the bigger picture. Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong and the issue is with another symbol. Any help or guidance would be appreciated!

Just mark your module init function with the GCC constructor function attribute (it has nothing to do with C++ constructors!), and it will include its address in the init_array section; the dynamic linker will then execute it before main(), or immediately when a dynamic library is loaded.
static void my_mod_init(void) __attribute__((constructor));
static void my_mod_init(void)
{
/* Initialize this module, hook up to the library */
}
This has the benefit that because the dynamic linker executes these automatically, these are also run when you load a dynamic library with such modules with e.g. dlopen(path, RTLD_NOW | RTLD_GLOBAL).
If you want to replicate the functionality under your own control,
then have each module declare an array of the init function addresses to a special section, say "mod_inits". Define some helper macros:
#define MERGE2_(a, b) a ## b
#define MERGE2(a, b) MERGE2_(a, b)
#define MODULE_INIT(func) \
static void *MERGE2(_init_, __LINE__) \
__attribute__((section ("mod_inits"), used)) = &func
Then, in your module source files, make some functions:
static void hello(void) {
puts("Hello!");
}
MODULE_INIT(hello);
static void also(void) {
puts("Also hello!");
}
MODULE_INIT(also);
In the library file, to scan and execute all functions in any compilation units marked with MODULE_INIT():
extern void *__start_mod_inits;
extern void *__stop_mod_inits;
void run_mod_inits(void)
{
for (void **ptr = &__start_mod_inits; ptr < &__stop_mod_inits; ptr++) {
void (*func)(void) = *ptr;
func(); /* Could pass parameters, if they have the same prototype */
}
}
You do not need any linker file for this, as gcc provides the __start_ and __stop_ symbols for all sections whose names are valid C identifiers.

Related

**Undefined reference** error while linking two libraries referring to one-another

I am getting undefined reference error while trying to compile main that refers to two libraries. I have two files lib1/func1.c and lib2/func2.c in separate folders. Those files contain two functions print1() and print2(), function print1() is calling print2().
I am compiling those separately into two libraries libfunc1.a and libfunc2.a.
But when I am trying to compile main which is calling print1(), I get the following error:
/usr/bin/ld: /home/sv/ztest2/lib1/libfunc1.a(func1.o): in function print1:
/home/sv/ztest2/lib1/func1.c:7: undefined reference to print2
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [Makefile:21: DP] Error 1
Here is the code and Makefiles:
Makefile:
TARGET = DP
HOME = /home/slav/FORECAST/ztest2
INCDIRS = -I./ \
-I$(HOME)/lib1 \
-I$(HOME)/lib2
LIBDIRS = -L$(HOME)/lib1 \
-L$(HOME)/lib2
SRCFILES = DP.c
OBJFILES = DP.o
CFLAGS = -g -O3 $(INCDIRS)
all: $(TARGET)
$(TARGET): $(OBJFILES)
cc $(CFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(OBJFILES) $(LIBDIRS) -lfunc2 -lfunc1
clean:
-rm *.o $(TARGET)
DP.c:
#include "func1.h"
int main()
{
print1();
return 0;
}
func1.h:
void print1();
func1.c:
#include <stdio.h>
void print1()
{
printf("print1 is called!\n");
print2();
}
func2.h:
extern void print2();
func2.c:
#include <stdio.h>
void print2()
{
printf("print2 is called!\n");
}
Libraries must be listed in the order their symbols are needed.
The command cc $(CFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(OBJFILES) $(LIBDIRS) -lfunc2 -lfunc1 tells the linker to first use the func2 library to resolve any pending references in the executable it is building and then to use the func1 library.
Since the linker processes func2 first, and, at the time it does so, there is no pending reference to print2, the linker does not include the module with print2 in the executable.
Later, when the linker is processing func1, it includes the module with print1 in the executable because main uses it. That module print1 uses print2, so including that module adds a new reference to print2. Then, when the linker is done processing func1, it has an unresolved reference. The linker does not go back to func2 to check it again.
Since the func1 library depends on func2, change the link command to cc $(CFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(OBJFILES) $(LIBDIRS) -lfunc1 -lfunc2.
(If the func2 library also depends on func1, that is a bad design and should be reconsidered. If it is not changed, asking the linker to reconsider the libraries multiple times, as with -lfunc1 -lfunc2 -lfunc1, might fix the immediate problem, but others can arise.)

how to prevent linker from discarding a function?

I have a function in my C code that is being called implicitly, and getting dumped by the linker. how can I prevent this phenomena?
I'm compiling using gcc and the linker flag -gc-sections, and I don't want to exclude the whole file from the flag. I tried using attributes: "used" and "externally_visible" and neither has worked.
void __attribute__((section(".mySec"), nomicromips, used)) func(){
...
}
on map file I can see that the function has compiled but didn't linked. am I using it wrong? is there any other way to do it?
You are misunderstanding the used attribute
used
This attribute, attached to a function, means that code must be emitted for the function even if it appears that the function is not referenced...
i.e the compiler must emit the function definition even the function appears
to be unreferenced. The compiler will never conclude that a function is unreferenced
if it has external linkage. So in this program:
main1.c
static void foo(void){}
int main(void)
{
return 0;
}
compiled with:
$ gcc -c -O1 main1.c
No definition of foo is emitted at all:
$ nm main1.o
0000000000000000 T main
because foo is not referenced in the translation unit, is not external,
and so may be optimised out.
But in this program:
main2.c
static void __attribute__((used)) foo(void){}
int main(void)
{
return 0;
}
__attribute__((used)) compels the compiler to emit the local definition:
$ gcc -c -O1 main2.c
$ nm main2.o
0000000000000000 t foo
0000000000000001 T main
But this does nothing to inhibit the linker from discarding a section
in which foo is defined, in the presence of -gc-sections, even if foo is external, if that section is unused:
main3.c
void foo(void){}
int main(void)
{
return 0;
}
Compile with function-sections:
$ gcc -c -ffunction-sections -O1 main3.c
The global definition of foo is in the object file:
$ nm main3.o
0000000000000000 T foo
0000000000000000 T main
But after linking:
$ gcc -Wl,-gc-sections,-Map=mapfile main3.o
foo is not defined in the program:
$ nm a.out | grep foo; echo Done
Done
And the function-section defining foo was discarded:
mapfile
...
...
Discarded input sections
...
...
.text.foo 0x0000000000000000 0x1 main3.o
...
...
As per Eric Postpischil's comment, to force the linker to retain
an apparently unused function-section you must tell it to assume that the program
references the unused function, with linker option {-u|--undefined} foo:
main4.c
void __attribute__((section(".mySec"))) foo(void){}
int main(void)
{
return 0;
}
If you don't tell it that:
$ gcc -c main4.c
$ gcc -Wl,-gc-sections main4.o
$ nm a.out | grep foo; echo Done
Done
foo is not defined in the program. If you do tell it that:
$ gcc -c main4.c
$ gcc -Wl,-gc-sections,--undefined=foo main4.o
$ nm a.out | grep foo; echo Done
0000000000001191 T foo
Done
it is defined. There's no use for attribute used.
Apart from -u already mentioned here are two other ways to keep the symbol using GCC.
Create a reference to it without calling it
This approach does not require messing with linker scripts, which means it will work for hosted programs and libraries using the operating system's default linker script.
However it varies with compiler optimization settings and may not be very portable.
For example, in GCC 7.3.1 with LD 2.31.1, you can keep a function without actually calling it, by calling another function on its address, or branching on a pointer to its address.
bool function_exists(void *address) {
return (address != NULL);
}
// Somewhere reachable from main
assert(function_exists(foo));
assert(foo != NULL); // Won't work, GCC optimises out the constant expression
assert(&foo != NULL); // works on GCC 7.3.1 but not GCC 10.2.1
Another way is to create a struct containing function pointers, then you can group them all together and just check the address of the struct. I use this a lot for interrupt handlers.
Modify the linker script to keep the section
If you are developing a hosted program or a library, then it's pretty tricky to change the linker script.
Even if you do, its not very portable, for example gcc on OSX does not actually use the GNU linker since OSX uses the Mach-O format instead of ELF.
Your code already shows a custom section though, so it's possible you are working on an embedded system and can easily modify the linker script.
SECTIONS {
// ...
.mySec {
KEEP(*(.mySec));
}
}

Can you compile a shared object to prefer local symbols even if it's being loaded by a program compiled with -rdynamic?

I am building a shared library in C that is dynamically loaded by a program that I do not have source access to. The target platform is a 64-bit Linux platform and we're using gcc to build. I was able to build a reproduction of the issue in ~100 lines, but it's still a bit to read. Hopefully it's illustrative.
The core issue is I have two non-static functions (bar and baz) defined in my shared library. Both need to be non-static as we expect the caller to be able to dlsym them. Additionally, baz calls bar. The program that is using my library also has a function named bar, which wouldn't normally be an issue, but the calling program is compiled with -rdynamic, as it has a function foo that needs to be called in my shared library. The result is my shared library ends up linked to the calling program's version of bar at runtime, producing unintuitive results.
In an ideal world I would be able to include some command line switch when compiling my shared library that would prevent this from happening.
The current solution I have is to rename my non-static functions as funname_local and declare them static. I then define a new function:
funname() { return funname_local(); }, and change any references to funname in my shared library to funname_local. This works, but it feels cumbersome, and I'd much prefer to just tell the linker to prefer symbols defined in the local compilation unit.
internal.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include "internal.h"
void
bar(void)
{
printf("I should only be callable from the main program\n");
}
internal.h
#if !defined(__INTERNAL__)
#define __INTERNAL__
void
bar(void);
#endif /* defined(__INTERNAL__) */
main.c
#include <dlfcn.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "internal.h"
void
foo(void)
{
printf("It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so "
"that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic\n");
}
int
main()
{
void *handle;
void (*fun1)(void);
void (*fun2)(void);
char *error;
if(NULL == (handle = dlopen("./shared.so", RTLD_NOW))) { /* Open library */
fprintf(stderr, "dlopen: %s\n", dlerror());
return 1;
}
dlerror(); /* Clear any existing error */
*(void **)(&fun1) = dlsym(handle, "baz"); /* Get function pointer */
if(NULL != (error = dlerror())) {
fprintf(stderr, "dlsym: %s\n", error);
dlclose(handle);
return 1;
}
*(void **)(&fun2) = dlsym(handle, "bar"); /* Get function pointer */
if(NULL != (error = dlerror())) {
fprintf(stderr, "dlsym: %s\n", error);
dlclose(handle);
return 1;
}
printf("main:\n");
foo();
bar();
fun1();
fun2();
dlclose(handle);
return 0;
}
main.h
#if !defined(__MAIN__)
#define __MAIN__
extern void
foo(void);
#endif /* defined(__MAIN__) */
shared.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include "main.h"
void
bar(void)
{
printf("bar:\n");
printf("It's important that I'm callable from a program that loads shared.so"
" as well as from other functions in shared.so\n");
}
void
baz(void)
{
printf("baz:\n");
foo();
bar();
return;
}
compile:
$ gcc -m64 -std=c89 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -o main main.c internal.c -l dl -rdynamic
$ gcc -m64 -std=c89 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -shared -fPIC -o shared.so shared.c
run:
$ ./main
main:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
I should only be callable from the main program
baz:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
I should only be callable from the main program
bar:
It's important that I'm callable from a program that loads shared.so as well as from other functions in shared.so
Have you tried -Bsymbolic linker option (or -Bsymbolic-functions)? Quoting from ld man:
-Bsymbolic
When creating a shared library, bind references to global symbols to the definition within the shared library, if any. Normally, it is possible for a program linked against a shared library to override the definition within the shared library. This option can also be used with the --export-dynamic option, when creating a position independent executable, to bind references to global symbols to the definition within the executable. This option is only meaningful on ELF platforms which support shared libraries and position independent executables.
It seems to solve the problem:
$ gcc -m64 -std=c89 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -shared -fPIC -o shared.so shared.c
$ gcc -m64 -std=c89 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -o main main.c internal.c -l dl -rdynamic
$ ./main
main:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
I should only be callable from the main program
baz:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
I should only be callable from the main program
bar:
It's important that I'm callable from a program that loads shared.so as well as from other functions in shared.so
$ gcc -m64 -std=c89 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -shared -fPIC -Wl,-Bsymbolic -o shared.so shared.c
$ ./main
main:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
I should only be callable from the main program
baz:
It's important that I am callable from both main and from any .so that we dlopen, that's why we compile with -rdynamic
bar:
It's important that I'm callable from a program that loads shared.so as well as from other functions in shared.so
bar:
It's important that I'm callable from a program that loads shared.so as well as from other functions in shared.so
A common solution for this problem is to not actually depend on a global symbol not being overriden. Instead do the following:
Call the function bar from your library mylib_bar or something like that
Hide mylib_bar with __attribute__((visibility("hidden"))) or similar
Make bar a weak symbol, referring to mylib_bar like this:
#pragma weak bar = mylib_bar
Make your library call mylib_bar everywhere instead of bar
Now everything works as expected:
When your library calls mylib_bar, this always refers to the definition in the library as the visibility is hidden.
When other code calls bar, this calls mylib_bar by default.
If someone defines his own bar, this overrides bar but not mylib_bar, leaving your library untouched.

C plugin system: dlopen fails

as a continuation to this post C pluginsystem: symbol lookup error, I am still writing my plugin system and encounter new bugs.
To recap what the plugins are, the program consists of a network application interfaced by a shell, messages has a type and therefore can be use to create applications on the network. For exemple, a possible application would be a chat or a transfert application.
So shell commands can send message of a particular application on the network, when a message is received, if it corresponds to a particular application then an action function is executed with the message content as argument, it could be the application.
A plugin is a shared library with an init function that register it's commands and actions. A command could just be a simple command that doesn't interact with the network, and that's why I achieved at the moment.
The plugin system consists in modules:
plugin_system.c
list.c used by the first module to store plugins
The network part consists in:
protocol.c main part of the protocol
message.c main part for message treatment
application.c main part used to program applications
common.c file with ccommon functions
network.c useful network functions
The modules in protocole are all interdependent, I have split files for conveniency.
All modules are compiled with -fPIC option.
To compile a plugin called plug.c wich doesn't interact with the network, I use:
gcc -Wall -O2 -std=gnu99 -D DEBUG -g -fPIC -c -o plug.o plug.c
gcc -Wall -O2 -std=gnu99 -D DEBUG -g -o plug.so plug.o plugin_system.o list.o -shared
And it works perfectly, the library is loaded with dlopen with no problem, the init function loaded with dlsym and executed correctly so the plugin is registered, I then executed the command and I can see that it work.
Now I wan't to add supports for network communications for the plugins, so I have modified the same test plugin that I used which has just a command to print a message. I have had a call to sendappmessage_all a function that send a message to everyone over the network, defined in message.c.
I can compile the new plugin without adding the network module objects, it compile, the plugin loads correctly, but when it call sendappmessage_all obviously it fails with the message
symbol lookup error: ./plugins/zyva.so: undefined symbol: sendappmessage_all
So to make it work, I should like the plugin with network modules so that's what I have done with
gcc -Wall -O2 -std=gnu99 -D DEBUG -g -o plug.so plug.o plugin_system.o list.o protocol.o message.o thread.o common.o application.o network.o -shared
It compile but when I try to load the plugin, dlopen return NULL.
I have also tried to add just one module, at worst it would only result in an undefined symbol error, but I dlopen still return NULL.
I know it's a lot of informations and on the otherside you probably wan't to see the code but I tried to be the clearer in the most succint way I could be because is way more complex and bigger than the post.
Thank you for your understanding.
The problem is that when you compile the plugin system (i.e. functions called by plugins), and link it to the final executable, the linker does not export the symbols used by the plugins in the dynamic symbol table.
There are two options:
Use -rdynamic when linking the final executable, adding all symbols to the dynamic symbol table.
Use -Wl,-dynamic-list,plugin-system.list when linking the final executable, adding symbols listed in file plugin-system.list to the dynamic symbol table.
The file format is simple:
{
sendappmessage_all;
plugin_*;
};
In other words, you can list either each symbol name (function or data structure), or a glob pattern that matches the desired symbol names. Remember the semicolon after each symbol, and after the closing brace, or you'll get a "syntax error in dynamic list" error at link time.
Note that just marking a function "used" via __attribute__((used)) is not sufficient to make the linker include it in the dynamic symbol table (with GCC 4.8.4 and GNU ld 2.24, at least).
Since the OP thinks what I wrote above is incorrect, here is a fully verifiable proof of the above.
First, a simple main.c that loads plugin files named on the command line, and executes their const char *register_plugin(void); function. Because the function name is shared across all plugins, we need to link them locally (RTLD_LOCAL).
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <dlfcn.h>
#include <stdio.h>
static const char *load_plugin(const char *pathname)
{
const char *errmsg;
void *handle; /* We deliberately leak the handle */
const char * (*initfunc)(void);
if (!pathname || !*pathname)
return "No path specified";
dlerror();
handle = dlopen(pathname, RTLD_NOW | RTLD_LOCAL);
errmsg = dlerror();
if (errmsg)
return errmsg;
initfunc = dlsym(handle, "register_plugin");
errmsg = dlerror();
if (errmsg)
return errmsg;
return initfunc();
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
const char *errmsg;
int arg;
if (argc < 1 || !strcmp(argv[1], "-h") || !strcmp(argv[1], "--help")) {
fprintf(stderr, "\n");
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s [ -h | --help ]\n", argv[0]);
fprintf(stderr, " %s plugin [ plugin ... ]\n", argv[0]);
fprintf(stderr, "\n");
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
for (arg = 1; arg < argc; arg++) {
errmsg = load_plugin(argv[arg]);
if (errmsg) {
fflush(stdout);
fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s.\n", argv[arg], errmsg);
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
}
fflush(stdout);
fprintf(stderr, "All plugins loaded successfully.\n");
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
The plugins will have access via certain functions (and/or variables), declared in plugin_system.h:
#ifndef PLUGIN_SYSTEM_H
#define PLUGIN_SYSTEM_H
extern void plugin_message(const char *);
#endif /* PLUGIN_SYSTEM_H */
They are implemented in plugin_system.c:
#include <stdio.h>
void plugin_message(const char *msg)
{
fputs(msg, stderr);
}
and listed as dynamic symbols in plugin_system.list:
{
plugin_message;
};
We'll also need a plugin, plugin_foo.c:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "plugin_system.h"
const char *register_plugin(void) __attribute__((used));
const char *register_plugin(void)
{
plugin_message("Plugin 'foo' is here.\n");
return NULL;
}
and just to remove any confusion about what effect there is having each plugin a registration function by the same name, another plugin named plugin_bar.c:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "plugin_system.h"
const char *register_plugin(void) __attribute__((used));
const char *register_plugin(void)
{
plugin_message("Plugin 'bar' is here.\n");
return NULL;
}
To make all of this easy to compile, we'll need a Makefile:
CC := gcc
CFLAGS := -Wall -Wextra -O2
LDFLAGS := -ldl -Wl,-dynamic-list,plugin_system.list
PLUGIN_CFLAGS := $(CFLAGS)
PLUGIN_LDFLAGS := -fPIC
PLUGINS := plugin_foo.so plugin_bar.so
PROGS := example
.phony: all clean progs plugins
all: clean progs plugins
clean:
rm -f *.o $(PLUGINS) $(PROGS)
%.so: %.c
$(CC) $(PLUGIN_CFLAGS) $^ $(PLUGIN_LDFLAGS) -shared -Wl,-soname,$# -o $#
%.o: %.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $^
plugins: $(PLUGINS)
progs: $(PROGS)
example: main.o plugin_system.o
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDFLAGS) -o $#
Note that Makefiles require intendation by tabs, not spaces; listing the file here always converts them to spaces. So, if you paste the above to a file, you'll need to fix the indentation, via e.g.
sed -e 's|^ *|\t|' -i Makefile
It is safe to run that more than once; the worst it can do, is mess up your "human-readable" layout.
Compile the above using e.g.
make
and run it via e.g.
./example ./plugin_bar.so ./plugin_foo.so
which shall output
Plugin 'bar' is here.
Plugin 'foo' is here.
All plugins loaded successfully.
to standard error.
Personally, I prefer to register my plugins via a structure, with a version number, and at least one function pointer (to the initialization function). This lets me load all plugins before initializing them, and resolve e.g. interplugin conflicts or dependencies. (In other words, I use a structure with a fixed name, rather than a function with a fixed name, to identify plugins.)
Now, as to __attribute__((used)). If you modify plugin_system.c into
#include <stdio.h>
void plugin_message(const char *msg) __attribute__((used));
void plugin_message(const char *msg)
{
fputs(msg, stderr);
}
and modify the Makefile to have LDFLAGS := -ldl only, the example program and plugins will compile just fine, but running it will yield
./plugin_bar.so: ./plugin_bar.so: undefined symbol: plugin_message.
In other words, if the API exported to plugins is compiled in a separate compilation unit, you will need to use either -rdynamic or -Wl,-dynamic-list,plugin-system.list to ensure the functions are included in the dynamic symbol table in the final executable; the used attribute does not suffice.
If you want all and only non-static functions and symbols in plugin_system.o included in dynamic symbol table in the final binary, you can e.g. modify the end of the Makefile into
example: main.o plugin_system.o
#rm -f plugin_system.list
./list_globals.sh plugin_system.o > plugin_system.list
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDFLAGS) -o $#
with list_globals.sh:
#!/bin/sh
[ $# -ge 1 ] || exit 0
export LANG=C LC_ALL=C
IFS=:
IFS="$(printf '\t ')"
printf '{\n'
readelf -s "$#" | while read Num Value Size Type Bind Vis Ndx Name Dummy ; do
[ -n "$Name" ] || continue
if [ "$Bind:$Type" = "GLOBAL:FUNC" ]; then
printf ' %s;\n' "$Name"
elif [ "$Bind:$Type:$Ndx" = "GLOBAL:OBJECT:COM" ]; then
printf ' %s;\n' "$Name"
fi
done
printf '};\n'
Remember to make the script executable, chmod u+x list_globals.sh.

Compiling multiple files in C

I recently asked this question about compiling multiple files in C so that a file main.c can reference a file modules.c. The answer ended up being to make the modules file into a header file and having main import it.
I have now been told that this is an incorrect way to do it, as C supports modular compilation. My Makefile is below, and this is supposedly supposed to be correct, but I receive errors for each function call in main.c -- warning: implicit declaration of function X.
What do I need to do to compile this correctly, with two .c files rather than a .c and .h file? The main.c file has a main() function that needs to be able to call the functions in modules.c.
Makefile:
#################################################################
# Variables
# -- allows C-source and assembly-source files mix. Again, the
# -- indented lines start with a TAB(^I) and not spaces..
#################################################################
CFLAGS = -g -Wall -Werror
LDFLAGS =
CC = gcc
LD = gcc
TARG = driver
OBJS = modules.o main.o
#################################################################
# Rules for make
#################################################################
$(TARG): $(OBJS)
$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) $(OBJS) -o $(TARG)
%.o: %.c %.s
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $<
clean:
rm -f *.o *˜ $(TARG)
print:
pr -l60 Makefile modules.c main.c | lpr
#################################################################
# Dependencies -- none in this program
#################################################################
You've already gotten feedback about using GCC and Makefiles, and it's been noted that the typical way to accomplish your task would be two .c files and one .h file. But it's not required to have a .h file if you use function declarations (which is arguably simpler, just less maintainable and useful), as demonstrated by the following below example.
main.c:
void moduleFunc1(int); // extern keyword required for vars, not for functions
int main()
{
moduleFunc1(100);
return 0;
}
module.c:
#include <stdio.h>
void moduleFunc1(int value)
{
printf("%d\n", value);
}
To compile:
gcc main.c module.c
Edit: After having looked at the assignment you linked, my best guess is actually still that function declarations are what you are looking for. To quote from the assignment, under "Others", #7:
A function should be declared in the module/function where
it is called and not in global scope. Say A calls B and C does
not call it then B should be declared in A only.
In my example, the function declaration is in the module where it's called and seems to meet the A-B-C example. (The confusing part is the global scope comment, but I wouldn't say that the function declaration's scope is global. Observe that if you move the declaration below main(), for example, it messes things up. I haven't found something strictly authoritative for this point, though.)
Having read the assignment, could your instructor possibly mean the following?
main.c:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int plus(int a, int b); /* declaration */
printf("%d ", plus(4, 5));
exit(0);
}
module.c:
int plus(int a, int b) {
return a + b;
}
gcc -Wall -Wextra main.c module.c
The thing is though, that plus() is available in the global namespace. So I am a bit lost.
Just an aside:
3. int next = 234;
printf("%6d ", next);
will print value of next, right justified in 6 columns
6. Use separate statements for declaration and initialization
of a variable as:
int xval;
xval = 100;
Do as I say, not as I do!
You can do this a few ways, but regardless of which you choose, if main.c calls functions from module.c, then main.c must #include a header which declares prototypes for those functions.
The first and simplest way is to just do this:
gcc -Wall -g main.c module.c -o myprogram
The second and more ornate way is to build module.c first as an object file. The primary purpose of this method is to save time when developing/debugging/compiling large programs with multiple parts -- rather than having to recompile the whole thing, you can just recompile the parts the have changed. It also allows you to easily mix and match parts. This is easiest to do with a makefile:
myprogram: main.c module.o
CC $(CFLAGS) main.c module.o -o myprogram
module.o:
CC $(CFLAGS) -c module.c
Notice the "myprogram" target from the makefile works with (prereq) module.o whereas the plain gcc method works with module.c.
If, as per your assignment, you can't use a header or global declarations, you can declare prototypes inside functions:
void somefunc () {
char *whatever (int x); // prototype
printf("%s\n", whatever(12));
}
Is fine, and presuming whatever() is defined somewhere, will work when you compile and run it.

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