I have a assembly file and a c file compiled to .o files (start.o and main.o) and is trying to link them with ld. I'm using this command:
ld -T link.ld -o kernel.bin start.o main.o
where link.ld is a linker script, but when I run it, i get this error:
start.o:start.o:(.text+0x2d): undefined reference to `_main'
in the assembly file, I call the c file with this function:
stublet:
extern _main
call _main
jmp $
Anybody can see what's wrong?
Some compilers (like GCC for Linux) don't add _ by default to C library exports. Try nm main.o to see the actual reference name. It might be main rather than _main.
Some linkers are sensitive to the order that object files or libraries appear on the command line - try swapping the order of your two object files.
I should also point out that the C standard makes no guarantee that main() is a function - in fact, C programs are explicitly forbidden to call main.
Related
I'm trying to understand C compilation
Given this simple C code in main.c:
int main() {
int a;
a = 42;
return 0;
}
I performed the following operations:
cpp main.c main.i
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/9/cc1 main.i -o main.s
as -o main.o main.s
ld -o main.exe main.o
When executing main.exe, I get a Segmentation Fault.
How can I get a good memory addressing in this example?
When I try the sequence of commands from your question on an x86_64 Ubuntu 19.10 system, I get a warning from ld:
ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol _start; defaulting to 0000000000401000
This is an indication that something is wrong.
The error means that the linker did not find a symbol _start and used a default address instead. When running your program it will try to execute code at this address which apparently is invalid.
An executable program compiled from C code doesn't contain only your code. The compiler instructs the linker to add C run-time library and startup code. The startup code is responsible for initialization and for calling your main function.
Run e.g.
gcc -v -o main.exe main.o
to see what other files get added to your program. On my system this shows a few files with names starting with crt which means "C runtime".
If you don't use gcc to link your program but use ld directly, you have to manually add all necessary object files in a similar way as the compiler would do automatically.
I'm getting the following error and can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
$ gcc main.c -o main
Undefined symbols:
"_wtf", referenced from:
_main in ccu2Qr2V.o
ld: symbol(s) not found
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
main.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "wtf.h"
main(){
wtf();
}
wtf.h:
void wtf();
wtf.c:
void wtf(){
printf("I never see the light of day.");
}
Now, if I include the entire function in the header file instead of just the signature, it complies fine so I know wtf.h is being included. Why doesn't the compiler see wtf.c? Or am I missing something?
Regards.
You need to link wtf with your main. Easiest way to compile it together - gcc will link 'em for you, like this:
gcc main.c wtf.c -o main
Longer way (separate compilation of wtf):
gcc -c wtf.c
gcc main.c wtf.o -o main
Even longer (separate compilation and linking)
gcc -c wtf.c
gcc -c main.c
gcc main.o wtf.o -o main
Instead of last gcc call you can run ld directly with the same effect.
You are missing the fact that merely including a header doesn't tell the compiler anything about where the actual implementation (the definitions) of the things declared in the header are.
They could be in a C file next to the one doing the include, they could come from a pre-compiled static link library, or a dynamic library loaded by the system linker when reading your executable, or they could come at run-time user programmer-controlled explicit dynamic loading (the dlopen() family of function in Linux, for instance).
C is not like Java, there is no implicit rule that just because a C file includes a certain header, the compiler should also do something to "magically" find the implementation of the things declared in the header. You need to tell it.
I have two directories, sorting and searching (children of the same directory), that have .c source files and .h header files:
mbp:c $ ls sorting
array_tools.c bubble_sort.c insertion_sort.c main selection_sort.c
array_tools.h bubble_sort.h insertion_sort.h main.c selection_sort.h
mbp:c $ ls searching
array_tools.c array_tools.h binary_search.c binary_search.h linear_search.c linear_search.h main main.c
Within searching, I am building an executable that needs to use insertion_sort function, declared in insertion_sort.h and defined in insertion_sort.c inside sorting. The following compilation successfully produces an executable:
mbp:searching $ clang -Wall -pedantic -g -iquote"../sorting" -o main main.c array_tools.c binary_search.c linear_search.c ../sorting/insertion_sort.c
However, I would like to be able to include functions from arbitrary directories by including a header using #include and then providing the compiler with the search path. Do I need to precompile the .c files to .o files beforehand? The man page for clang lists the following option:
-I<directory>
Add the specified directory to the search path for include files.
But the following compilation fails:
mbp:searching $ clang -Wall -pedantic -g -I../sorting -o main main.c array_tools.c binary_search.c linear_search.c
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_insertion_sort", referenced from:
_main in main-1a1af0.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
main.c has the following includes:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "linear_search.h"
#include "binary_search.h"
#include "array_tools.h"
#include "insertion_sort.h"
I do not understand the link between header files, source files, and object files. To include a function defined in a .c file, is it sufficient to include the homonymous header file, given that the .c file is in the same directory as the header? I have read multiple answers here on SO, the man page for clang and a number of tutorials, but was unable to find a definitive, clear answer.
In response to #spectras:
One by one, you give the compiler a source file to work on. For instance:
cc -Wall -Ipath/to/some/headers foo.c -o foo.o
Running
mbp:sorting $ clang -Wall insertion_sort.c -o insertion_sort.o
produces the following error:
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_main", referenced from:
implicit entry/start for main executable
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
Okay, it's mixed up a bit. Let's see how one typically compiles a simple multi-file project.
One by one, you give the compiler a source file to work on. For instance:
cc -c -Wall -Ipath/to/some/headers foo.c -o foo.o
The -c flag tells the compiler you want an object file, so it should not run the linker.
The compiler runs the preprocessor on the source file. Among other things, every time it sees a #include directive, it searches the include paths for named file and basically copy-pastes it, replacing the #include with the content. This is done recursively.
This is the step where all .h you include get merged into the source file. We call the whole thing a translation unit.
You can see the result of this step by using -E flag and inspect the result, for instance:
cc -Wall -Ipath/to/some/headers foo.c -E -o foo.test
Let's make this short as other steps are not relevant to your question. The compiler then creates an object file from the resulting source code. The object file contains binary version of all code and data that was in the translation unit, plus metadata that will be used to put everything together and some other stuff (like debugging info).
You can inspect the contents of an object file using objdump -xd foo.o.
Note that as this is done for each source file, this means that headers get parsed and compiled again and again and again. That's the reason they should only declare stuff and not contain actual code: you would end up with that code in every object file.
Once done, you link all the object files into an executable, for instance:
cc foo.o bar.o baz.o -o myprogram
This step will gather all, resolve dependencies and write everything into an executable binary. You may also pull in external object files using -l, like when you do -lrt or -lm.
For instance:
foo.c includes bar.h
bar.h contains a declaration of function do_bar: void do_bar(int);
foo.c can use it, and compiler will generate foo.o correctly
foo.o will have placeholders and the information that it requires do_bar
bar.c defines the implementation of do_bar.
so bar.o will have the information “hey if anyone needs do_bar, I got it here”.
linking step will replace placeholders with actual calls to do_bar.
Finally, when you pass multiple .c files to the compiled like you do in your question, the compiler does basically the same thing, only it won't generate the intermediate object files. Overall process behaves the same though.
So, what about your error?
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_insertion_sort", referenced from:
_main in main-1a1af0.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
See? It says linking step failed. That means previous step went well. The #include worked. It's just in the linking step, it's looking for a symbol (data or code) called _insertion_sort, and does not find it. That's because that symbol was declared somewhere (otherwise source using it would not have compiled), but its definition is not available. Either no source file implemented it, or the object file that contains it was not given to the linker.
=> You need to make _insertion_sort's definition available. Either by adding ../sorting/insertion_sort.c to the source lists you pass or by compiling it into an object file and passing that. Or by building it into a library so it can be shared by your two binaries (otherwise they'll each have a copy embedded).
When you get there, usually starting to use a build toolsuite such as CMake is a good idea. It will take care of all the details for you.
I have two files, main.o and modules.o, and I'm trying to compile them so that main.o can call functions in modules.o. I was explicitly told not to try #include module.o. I really don't know what I should be doing instead. I tried a few different versions of gcc (such as gcc -x c driver main.o modules.o), but nothing I get works: the compiler continuously returns
error: called object is not a function
The .o files are my source code files (I was instructed to put my source code in files with extension .o.) What do I do to compile this?
If you have your two source files, you can compile them into object files without linking, as so:
gcc main.c -o main.o -c
gcc module.c -o module.o -c
where the -c flag tells the compiler to stop after the compilation phase, without linking. Then, you can link your two object files as so:
gcc -o myprog main.o module.o
This is all perfectly normal behavior, you'll usually get your makefile to compile things separately and link them at the end, so you don't have to recompile every single source file every time you change one of them.
Talking about main.o "calling functions in" module.o is perfectly fine, but an .o file is not a source file, it's a compiled object file. If "put my source code in files with extension .o" actually meant "compile my source code into files with extension .o" then the situation would make a whole lot more sense.
You should define the functions that you want to call from modules.c into main.c into a header file, let us say modules.h, and include that header file in main.c. Once you have the header file, please compile both of the files together: gcc main.c modules.c -o output
Two additional notes. First, modules.o is an object file and it should not be included in a C source file. Second, we cannot have a C file have a .o extension. You should actually get an error when compiling a .o file. Something like:
$ cat t.o
int main() {
int x = 1;
return 0;
}
$
$ gcc t.o
ld: warning: in t.o, file is not of required architecture
Undefined symbols:
"_main", referenced from:
start in crt1.10.6.o
ld: symbol(s) not found
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
$
program: main.o
gcc -o main main.c anotherSource.c
This works for me.
You should be including .h files which are "headers". So if your main file is using modules then you should include module's header file.
I'm getting the following error and can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
$ gcc main.c -o main
Undefined symbols:
"_wtf", referenced from:
_main in ccu2Qr2V.o
ld: symbol(s) not found
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
main.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "wtf.h"
main(){
wtf();
}
wtf.h:
void wtf();
wtf.c:
void wtf(){
printf("I never see the light of day.");
}
Now, if I include the entire function in the header file instead of just the signature, it complies fine so I know wtf.h is being included. Why doesn't the compiler see wtf.c? Or am I missing something?
Regards.
You need to link wtf with your main. Easiest way to compile it together - gcc will link 'em for you, like this:
gcc main.c wtf.c -o main
Longer way (separate compilation of wtf):
gcc -c wtf.c
gcc main.c wtf.o -o main
Even longer (separate compilation and linking)
gcc -c wtf.c
gcc -c main.c
gcc main.o wtf.o -o main
Instead of last gcc call you can run ld directly with the same effect.
You are missing the fact that merely including a header doesn't tell the compiler anything about where the actual implementation (the definitions) of the things declared in the header are.
They could be in a C file next to the one doing the include, they could come from a pre-compiled static link library, or a dynamic library loaded by the system linker when reading your executable, or they could come at run-time user programmer-controlled explicit dynamic loading (the dlopen() family of function in Linux, for instance).
C is not like Java, there is no implicit rule that just because a C file includes a certain header, the compiler should also do something to "magically" find the implementation of the things declared in the header. You need to tell it.