update_dyld_shared_cache.1   [plain text]

.Dd March 23, 2007
.Dt update_dyld_shared_cache 1
.Os Darwin
.Sh NAME
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
.Nd "Updates dyld's shared cache"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl root Ar directory 
.Op Fl arch Ar arch 
.Op Fl force 
.Op Fl debug
.Op Fl sort_by_name 
.Op Fl universal_boot 
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
ensures that dyld's shared cache is up-to-date.  Normally, this command 
never needs to be manually run.  Instead, it is automatically run by launchd
when dyld notices the shared cache is out of date.  To prevent the cache
from being regeneated during an install or during development of OS dylibs,
dyld will not trigger a shared cache rebuild if the environment variable 
DYLD_NO_FIX_PREBINDING is set, or if the main executable is a setuid binary,
or alternate dylibs are loaded via one of the DYLD_ environment variables.
.Pp
The dyld shared cache
is mapped by dyld into a process at launch time. Later, when loading
any mach-o image, dyld will first check if is in the share cache, and if
it is will use that pre-bound version instead of opening, mapping, and binding
the original file.  This results in significant performance improvements to
launch time.
.Pp
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
scans the directory /var/db/dyld/shared_region_roots for text files containing paths to
mach-o executables.  The full dependencies of all dylibs required by those executables is
used to determine which libraries are commonly used and should be placed in the
shared cache. If one of the text files contains a path to a dylib, that dylib and its
depenents will be forced into the cache.
.Pp
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
builds a separate cache file for each architecture.  The cache files and a readable text
map of the cached are generated to /var/db/dyld.
.Pp
You must be root to run this tool.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag
.It Fl root Ar directory
This option specifies the root of an OS installation for which dyld's
shared cache should be updated.  This allosw you to update the
shared cache on a non-running version of the OS.  The cache files
are created in the var/db/dyld directory of the specified directory.
.It Fl arch Ar arch
By default 
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache 
generates cache files for all architecture that the current machine
can execute.  You can override this behavior by specifying one or more -arch options and list
exactly which architectures should have their shared caches updated.
.It Fl force
This option will cause 
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
to regenerated the shared cache files even if they appear to be already up-to-date. 
.It Fl debug
This option prints out additional information about the work being done.
.It Fl sort_by_name
By default
.Nm update_dyld_shared_cache
assignes a random start address to each mach-o image in the cache.
This option causes the start addresses to be choosen in path order, thus subsequent runs will
produce the same address layout which can help reproduce some bugs.
.It Fl universal_boot
This option can only be used running on an machine with an Intel processor.  It builds caches
that can be used when booting on an Intel or a PowerPC based machine.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Tp
/var/db/dyld/shared_region_roots
directory of text files with paths to mach-o images used to determine what should be in shared cache.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr dyld 1