ld.1   [plain text]


.TH LD 1 "March 18, 2006" "Apple Computer, Inc."
.SH NAME
ld \- Mach object file link editor
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ld
[
.I "option \&..."
] [
.I "file \&..."
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I ld
command combines several Mach-O (Mach object) files into one by combining like sections
in like segments from all the object files, resolving external references, and
searching libraries.  In the simplest case several object
.I files
are given, and
.I ld
combines them, producing an object file which can either be executed or
become the input for a further
.I ld
run.  (In the latter case, the
.B \-r
option must be given to preserve the relocation information.)  Unless an output
file is specified,
.I ld
produces a file named
.BR a.out .
This file is made executable only if no errors occurred during the link editing
and there are no undefined symbols.
.SH "UNIVERSAL FILE SUPPORT"
The link editor accepts ``universal'' (multiple-architecture) input files, but
always creates a ``thin'' (single-architecture), standard Mach-O output file.
The architecture is specified using the
.B \-arch
.I " arch_type"
option.  If this option is not used,
.IR ld (1)
attempts to determine the output architecture by examining the first object
file encountered on the command line.  If it is a ``thin''
file, its architecture determines that of the output file.  If the first input
file is a ``universal'' file, the ``best'' architecture for the host is used.
(See the explanation of the
.B \-arch
option, below.)
.PP
The compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
handles creating universal executables by calling
.IR ld (1)
multiple times and using
.IR lipo (1)
to create a ``universal'' file from the results of the
.IR ld (1)
executions.
.SH "OUTPUT FILE LAYOUT"
.PP
The object files are loaded in the order in which they are specified on the
command line.  The segments and the
sections in those segments will appear in the output file in the order they are
encountered in the object files being linked.  All zero fill sections will appear
after all non-zero fill sections in their segments.
.PP
Sections created from files with the
.B \-sectcreate
option will appear in the output file last.  Section names for sections created
from files are not allowed to overlap with a section name in the same segment
as a section coming from an object file.  Sections created from files may be in
a segment which has sections from object files and if so will be loaded at the
end of the non-zero fill sections for that segment.
.PP
If the option
.B \-seglinkedit
is specified, the segment it creates is the last segment in the output file.
.PP
The address of each segment can be specified with
.B \-segaddr,
which takes the segment's name as an argument.
The address of the first segment can alternatively be specified using
.B \-seg1addr,
in which case a segment name is not used.
Segments that do not have a specified
address will be assigned addresses in the order in which they appear
in the output file.  A segment's address will be assigned
based on the ending address of the previous segment.
If the address of the
first segment has not been specified by name,
its assigned address will be
the specified (via
.BR \-seg1addr )
or default first segment address.
If neither flag is used to specify the first segment's address, its
default address is zero
for all formats except the demand-paged executable format
.SM (MH_EXECUTE),
in which case the default first address is the value of the segment alignment.
.PP
For demand-paged executable format
.SM (MH_EXECUTE)
output files,
if none of the segments' addresses covers address zero through
the value of the segment alignment, a segment with no access protection
will be created to cover those addresses.  This segment, named
.SM "``_\|_PAGEZERO'',"
is created so that any attempt to dereference a NULL pointer will cause a
memory exception.
.PP
The entry point of the output file is the beginning of
the first section in the first segment (unless the
.B \-e
option is specified).
.SH STATIC ARCHIVE LIBRARIES
.PP
.I ld
supports two types of libraries: static archive libraries and dynamic shared
libraries.  Searching for undefined symbols is performed differently for dynamic
shared libraries than it is for static archive libraries.  The searching of
dynamic shared libraries is described later.
.PP
When a static archive library is specified as an argument to
.IR ld ,
it is searched exactly once, at the
point it is encountered in the argument list.  Only those members defining an unresolved external
reference, as defined by the static archive library's table of contents,
are loaded.  To produce the table of contents, all static archive libraries must be processed by
.IR ranlib (1).
.PP
Generally, a static archive library does not have multiple members that define
the same symbol.  For these types of libraries, the order of the members is not important, so
the table of contents can be sorted for faster link editing using the
.B \-s
option to
.IR ranlib (1).
The first member
of the static archive library is named
.SM "``\_\^\_.SYMDEF SORTED'',"
which is understood to be a sorted table of contents.
.PP
If the static archive library does have multiple members that define
the same symbol, the table of contents that
.IR ranlib (1)
produces can't be sorted.  Instead, it follows the order in which the members
appear in the static archive library.  The link editor searches the table of
contents iteratively, loading members until no further references are
satisfied.  In the unsorted case, the first member of the static archive
library is named
.SM "``\_\^\_.SYMDEF'',"
which is understood to be a table of contents in
the order of the archive members.
.PP
Static archive library members can also be loaded in response to
the
.B \-ObjC
and
.B \-all_load
flags. See their descriptions below.

.SH DYNAMIC SHARED LIBRARIES
.PP
When a dynamic shared library or an object file that was linked against a
dynamic shared library is specified as an argument to
.IR ld ,
that library is placed in the dynamic shared library search list. The order of
the search list is always the same order the libraries were encountered on the
command line. When linking -flat_namespace, all dynamic libraries that the
dynamic libraries are dependent upon are added to the end of the search list.
.PP
Once the search list is constructed, the static link editor checks for undefined
symbols by simulating the way the dynamic linker will search for undefined
symbols at runtime. For each undefined symbol, the static link editor searches
each library in the search list until it finds a module that defines the symbol.
With each undefined symbol, the search starts with the first library in the
list.  This is different than for static archive libraries, where each library
is searched exactly once for all undefined symbols.
.PP
The static link editor simulates dynamic linking as if all the undefined
symbols are to be bound at program launch time. The dynamic linker actually
binds undefined symbols as they are encountered during execution instead of at
program launch. However, the static link editor always produces the same linking
as the dynamic linker as long as none of the dynamic shared libraries define the
same symbol. Different linking can occur only when there is more than one
definition of a symbol and the library modules that contain the definitions for
that symbol do not define and reference exactly the same symbols.  In this case,
even different executions of the same program can produce different linking
because the dynamic linker binds undefined functions as they are called, and
this affects the order in which undefined symbols are bound.  Because it can
produce different dynamic linking, using dynamic shared libraries that define
the same symbols in the same program is strongly discouraged.
.PP
If a static archive library appears after a dynamic shared library on the
command line, the static library is placed in the dynamic library search list
and is searched as a dynamic library.  In this way, when a dynamic library has
undefined symbols, it will cause the appropriate members of the static libraries
to be loaded into the output.  Searching static libraries as dynamic libraries
can cause problems if the dynamic library later changes to reference symbols
from the static library that it did not previously reference. In this case when
the program runs, the dynamic linker will report these symbols as undefined
because the members for these symbols were not loaded into the output.

.SH TWO-LEVEL AND FLAT NAMESPACES
.PP
Two-level and flat namespaces refer to how references to symbols in dynamic
libraries are resolved to a definition in specific dynamic library.  For
two-level namespace that resolution is done at static link time when each
image (program, bundle and shared library) is built.  When a program is using
images built with two-level namespace there may be different global symbols
with the same name being used by different images in the program (this is now
the default).  When a program is using all flat namespace images then only one
global symbol for each global symbol name is used by all images of the program
(this was the default in MacOS X 10.0).
.PP
When creating an output file with the static link editor that links against
dynamic libraries, the references to symbols in those libraries can be recorded
at static link time to bind to a specific library definition (two-level
namespace) or left to be bound at execution time to the first library in the
search order of the program (flat namespace).  A program, its dynamic libraries
and its bundles may each be either two-level or flat namespace images.  The
dynamic linker will bind each image according to how it was built.
.PP
When creating an output file with the static link editor when
.B \-twolevel_namespace
is in effect (now the default) all undefined references must be satisfied at
static link time.  The flags to allow undefined references,
.BI \-U symbol_name,
.BI \-undefined " warning"
and
.BI \-undefined " suppress"
can't be used.
When the environment variable
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
is set to
.B 10.3
or higher then
.BI \-undefined " dynamic_lookup"
can also be used.  The specific library definition recorded
for each reference is the first library that has a definition as listed on the
link line.  Listing an umbrella framework implies all of its sub-frameworks,
sub-umbrellas and sub-libraries.  For any reference to a definition found in
an umbrella framework's sub-framework, sub-umbrella or sub-library will be
recorded as coming from the umbrella framework.  Then at execution time the
dynamic linker will search that umbrella framework's sub-frameworks,
sub-umbrellas and sub-libraries for those references.
Also when two-level namespace is in effect only those frameworks listed on the
link line (and sub-frameworks, sub-umbrellas and sub-libraries of umbrella
frameworks) are searched.  Other dependent libraries which are not
sub-frameworks, sub-umbrellas or sub-libraries of umbrella frameworks are not
searched.
.RS
.PP
When creating bundles (MH_BUNDLE outputs) with the static link editor when
two-level namespace is in effect (now the default) and the bundle has
references to symbols
expected to be defined in the program loading the bundle, then the
.BI \-bundle_loader " executable"
must be used.
.PP
When creating a output file with the static link editor when
.B \-flat_namespace
is in effect (the MacOS X 10.0 default) all undefined references must be
satisfied at static link time when
.BI \-undefined " error"
(the default) is used.  The static
link editor checks the undefined references by searching all the libraries
listed on the link line then all dependent libraries.  The undefined symbols
in the created output file are left to be resolved at execution time by the
dynamic link editor in the dynamic libraries in the search order of the program.

.SH MULTIPLY DEFINED SYMBOLS
.PP
If there are multiply defined symbols in the object files being linked into
the output file being created this always results in a multiply defined
symbol error.
.PP
When the static link editor links symbols in from a dynamic library that result
in multiply defined symbols the handling depends on the type of name space of
output file being created and possibly the type of name space of the dynamic
library.
.PP
When the static link editor is creating a two-level namespace image and a
there is a multiply defined symbol from dynamic library then that generates a
multiply defined symbol warning (by default), where the treatment of this
warning can be changed with the
.B \-multiply_defined
flag.
.PP
When the static link editor is creating a flat namespace image and a there is
a multiply defined symbol from dynamic library, if the library is a flat
namespace image then that generates a multiply defined symbol error.  If the
library is a two-level namespace image then that generates a multiply defined
symbol warning (by default), where the treatment of this warning can be changed
with the
.B \-multiply_defined
flag.

.SH "USING THE DYNAMIC LINK EDITOR AND DYNAMIC SHARED LIBRARIES"
.PP
The option
.B \-dynamic
must be specified in order to use dynamic shared libraries (and any of the features used to implement them) and/or the dynamic link editor.
To make sure that the output is not using any features that would
require the dynamic link editor, the flag
.B \-static
can be specified.
Only one of these flags can be specified.

.SH "LINK EDITOR DEFINED SYMBOLS"
.PP
There is a group of link editor defined symbols for the
.SM MH_EXECUTE,
.SM MH_DYLIB
and
.SM MH_PRELOAD
file types (see the header file <mach-o/ldsyms.h>).  Link editor symbols are
reserved; it is an error if an input object file defines such a symbol.
Only those link editor symbols that are referenced by the object file
appear in the output file's symbol table.
.PP
The link editor defined symbol `\_\^\_mh_execute_header'
(`\_mh_execute_header' in C) is reserved when the output file format is
.SM MH_EXECUTE.
This symbol is the address of the Mach header in a Mach-O executable (a
file of type
.SM MH_EXECUTE).
It does not appear in
any other Mach-O file type.  It can be used to get to the addresses and
sizes of all the segments and sections in the executable.  This can be done by parsing the headers
and load commands (see
.IR Mach-O (5)).
.PP
The link editor defined symbol `\_\^\_mh_dylib_header'
(`\_mh_dylib_header' in C) is reserved when the output file format is
.SM MH_DYLIB.
This symbol is the address of the Mach header in a Mach-O dynamic shared library
(a file of type
.SM MH_DYLIB)
and is a private external symbol.
It does not appear in
any other Mach-O file type.  It can be used to get to the addresses and
sizes of all the segments and sections in a dynamic shared library.  The
addresses, however, must have the value
.IR _dyld_get_image_vmaddr_slide (3)
added to them.
.PP
The
.SM MH_PRELOAD
file type has link editor defined symbols for the
beginning and ending of each segment, and for the
beginning and ending of each section within a segment.
These names are provided for use in a Mach-O preloaded file,
since it does not have its headers loaded as part of the first segment.
The names of the symbols for a segment's beginning and end
have the form: \_\^\_SEGNAME\_\^\_begin and \_\^\_SEGNAME\_\^\_end,
where \_\^\_SEGNAME is the name of the segment.  Similarly, the symbols for
a section have the form:
\_\^\_SEGNAME\_\^\_sectname\_\^\_begin and \_\^\_SEGNAME\_\^\_sectname\_\^\_end,
where \_\^\_sectname is the name of the section in the segment \_\^\_SEGNAME.
These symbols' types are those of the section that the names refer to.
(A symbol that refers to the end of a section actually has, as its value, the beginning address of the next section, but the symbol's type is still that of the section mentioned in the symbol's name.)
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
.I Ld
understands several options.  Filenames and
options that refer to libraries (such as
.B \-l
and
.BR \-framework ),
as well as options that create symbols (such as
.B \-u
and
.BR \-i ),
are position-dependent: They define the load order and affect what gets
loaded from libraries.
Some
.I ld
options overlap with compiler options.  If the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
is used to invoke
.I ld ,
it maybe necessary to pass the
.IR ld (1)
options to
.IR cc (1)
using
.BR \-Wl,\-option,argument1,argument2 .

In this release of the static link editor, 64-bit code (-arch ppc64) are processed by a separate
tool /usr/bin/ld64.  Not all of the ld command line options are recognized by this tool.
The options not currently support for building 64-bit binaries are flagged
.BR "(32-bit only)" .

The most common option is:
.TP
.BI  \-o " name"
The output file is named
.IR name ,
instead of
.BR a.out .

.PP
The following flags are related to architectures:
.TP
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
Specifies the architecture,
.I arch_type,
for the output file. ``Universal'' input files that do not contain this
specified architecture are ignored.  Only one
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
can be specified.  See
.IR arch (3)
for the currently known
.IR arch_type s.
If
.I " arch_type"
specifies a certain implementation of an architecture (such as
.BI \-arch " m68040"
or
.BI \-arch " i486"
), the resulting object file has that specific CPU subtype, and it is an
error if any input file has a CPU subtype that will not combine to the CPU subtype
for
.IR " arch_type" .
.IP
The default output file architecture is determined by the first object file to
be linked.  If it is a ``thin'' (standard Mach-O) file, or a ``universal'' file
that contains only one architecture, the output file will have the same
architecture.  Otherwise, if it is a ``universal'' file
containing an architecture that would execute on the host, then the ``best''
architecture is used, as defined by what the kernel exec(2) would select.
Otherwise, it is an error, and a
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
must be specified.
.TP
.B \-arch_multiple
This flag is used by the
.IR cc (1)
driver program when it is run with multiple
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
flags.  It instructs programs like
.IR ld (1)
to precede any displayed message with a line stating
the program name, in this case
.IR ld ,
and the architecture (from the
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
flag).  This helps distinguish which architecture the error messages refer to.
.TP
.B \-force_cpusubtype_ALL
The
.B \-force_cpusubtype_ALL
flag causes the CPU subtype to remain the
.SM ALL
CPU subtype and not to be combined or
changed.  This flag has precedence over any
.BI \-arch " arch_type"
flag for a specific implementation.
This is the default for all x86 architectures.
.PP
The following flags are related to using the dynamic link editor and/or
dynamic shared libraries (and any of the features used to implement them):
.TP
.B \-dynamic
Allows use of the features associated with dynamic link editor.  The default is
.B \-dynamic.
.TP
.B \-static
Causes those features associated with dynamic link editor to be treated as
an error. (The description for the options that will cause an error if you use them in conjunction with
.B \-static
are marked with the statement "when
.B \-dynamic
 is used").
.TP
.BI \-read_only_relocs " treatment"
Specifies how relocation entries in read-only sections are to be treated when
.B \-dynamic
is used.
To get the best possible sharing, the read-only sections should not have any
relocation entries.
If they do, the dynamic linker will write on the section.
Having relocation entries appear in read-only sections is normally avoided by compiling with the option
.B \-dynamic.
But in such cases non-converted assembly code
or objects not compiled with
.B \-dynamic
relocation entries will appear in read-only sections.
The
.I treatment
can be:
.I error,
.I warning,
or
.I suppress.
Which cause the treatment of relocation entries in read-only sections as either,
errors, warnings, or suppressed messages.
The default is to treat these as errors.
.TP
.BI \-sect_diff_relocs " treatment"
Specifies how section difference relocation enries are to be treated when
.B \-dynamic
and
.B \-execute
are used.
To get the best possible code generation the compiler should not generate code
for executables (MH_EXECUTE format outputs) that have any section difference
relocation entries.  The
.IR gcc (1)
compiler has the
.B \-mdynamic-no-pic
flag for generating code for executables.  The default treatment is
.I suppress,
where no message is printed.  The other treatments are
.I error
or
.I warning.
This option can also be specified by setting the environment variable
.SM LD_SECT_DIFF_RELOCS
to the treatment values.
.TP
.BI \-weak_reference_mismatches " treatment"
Specifies how to treat mismatches of symbol references in the the object files
being linked. Normally the all the undefined symbol references of the object
files being linked should be consistent for each undefined symbol.  That is all
undefined symbols should either be weak or non-weak references. The default
treatment is
.I error,
where the link fails with an error message.  The other treatments are
.I weak
or
.I non-weak,
which makes mismatched undefined symbol references either weak or non-weak
in the output, respectively.  Care must be taken when using the treatment
.I weak
as the use of the non-weak symbol references in an object file may cause the
program to crash when the symbol is not present at execution time.
.TP
.B \-prebind (32-bit only)
Have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
prebind an executable's or dynamic shared library's undefined symbols to the
addresses of the dynamic libraries it is being linked with.
This optimization can only be done if the libraries don't overlap and
no symbols are overridden.
When the resulting program is run and the same libraries are used to run the
program as when the program was linked, the dynamic linker can use the prebound
addresses.
If not, the dynamic linker undoes the prebinding and binds normally.
This option can also be specified by setting the environment variable
.SM LD_PREBIND.
If the environment variable
.SM LD_FORCE_NO_PREBIND
is set both the option
.B \-prebind
.SM LD_PREBIND
environment variable are ignore and the output is not prebound.
Or if the environment variable
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
is set to 10.4 or greater and the output is not a split a dynamic library the
output is not prebound.
.TP
.B \-noprebind (32-bit only)
Do not have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
prebind the output.  If this is specified the environment variable
.SM LD_PREBIND
is ignored.
.TP
.B \-prebind_allow_overlap (32-bit only)
Have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
prebind the output even if the addresses of the dynamic libraries it uses
overlap.  The resulting output can then have
.IR redo_prebinding (1)
run on it to fix up the prebinding after the overlapping dynamic libraries
have been rebuilt.  This option can also be specified by setting the
environment variable
.SM LD_PREBIND_ALLOW_OVERLAP.
.TP
.B \-prebind_all_twolevel_modules (32-bit only)
Have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
mark all modules from prebound two-level namespace dynamic libraries as used
by the program even if they are not statically referenced.  This can provide
improved launch time for programs like Objective-C programs that use symbols
indirectly through NIB files. This option can also be specified by setting the
environment variable
.SM LD_PREBIND_ALL_TWOLEVEL_MODULES.
.TP
.B \-noprebind_all_twolevel_modules (32-bit only)
Don't have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
mark all modules from prebound two-level namespace dynamic libraries as used
by the program.  This flag overrides the setting of the
environment variable
.SM LD_PREBIND_ALL_TWOLEVEL_MODULES.
.TP
.B \-nofixprebinding (32-bit only)
Have the static linker,
.IR ld (1),
mark the executable so that the dynamic linker will never notify the prebinding
agent if this launched and its prebinding is out of date.  This is used when
building the prebinding agent itself.
.PP
The following flags are related to libraries:
.TP
.BI \-l x
This
option is an abbreviation for the library name
.RI `lib x .a',
where
.I x
is a string.
If
.B \-dynamic
is specified the abbreviation for the library name is first search as
.RI `lib x .dylib'
and then
.RI `lib x .a'
is searched for.
.I ld
searches for libraries first in any directories
specified with
.B \-L
options, then in any directories specified in the colon separated set of paths
in the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH, then the standard directories 
.BR /lib , 
.BR /usr/lib , 
and
.BR "/usr/local/lib" .
A library is searched when its name is encountered,
so the placement of the
.B  \-l
flag is significant.  If string
.I x
is of the form
.IR x .o,
then that file is searched for in the same places, but without prepending
`lib' or appending `.a' or `.dylib' to the filename.
.TP
.BI \-weak-l x
This is the same as the
.BI \-l x
but forces the library and all references to it to be marked as weak imports.
Care must be taken when using this as the use of the non-weak symbol references
in an object file may cause the program to crash when the symbol or library is
not present at execution time.
.TP
.BI \-weak_library " file_name_path_to_library"
This is the same as listing a file name path to a library on the link line
except that it forces the library and all references to it to be marked as
weak imports.
Care must be taken when using this as the use of the non-weak symbol references
in an object file may cause the program to crash when the symbol or library is
not present at execution time.
.TP
.BI \-L dir
Add
.I dir
to the list of directories in which to search for libraries.
Directories specified with
.B \-L
are searched before the standard directories.
.TP
.B \-Z
Do not search the standard directories when searching for libraries.
.TP
.BI "\-syslibroot " rootdir " (32-bit only)"
Prepend
.I rootdir
to the standard directories when searching for libraries or frameworks.
.TP
.B \-search_paths_first
By default when the
.B \-dynamic
flag is in effect, the
.BI \-l x
and
.BI \-weak-l x
options first search for a file of the form
.RI `lib x .dylib'
in each directory in the library search path, then a file of the form
.RI `lib x .a'
is searched for in the library search paths.
This option changes it so that in each path
.RI `lib x .dylib'
is searched for then
.RI `lib x .a'
before the next path in the library search path is searched.
.TP
.BI "\-framework " name[,suffix]
Specifies a framework to link against. Frameworks are dynamic shared libraries,
but they are stored in different locations, and therefore must be searched for
differently. When this option is specified,
.I ld
searches for framework `\fIname\fR.framework/\fIname\fR'
first in any directories
specified with the
.B \-F
option, then in the standard framework directories
.BR /Library/Frameworks ,
.BR /Network/Library/Frameworks ,
and
.BR "/System/Library/Frameworks" .
The placement of the
.B \-framework
option is significant, as it determines when and how the framework is searched.
If the optional suffix is specified the framework is first searched for the
name with the suffix and then without.
.TP
.BI "\-weak_framework " name[,suffix]
This is the same as the
.BI "\-framework " name[,suffix]
but forces the framework and all references to it to be marked as weak imports.
Care must be taken when using this as the use of the non-weak symbol references
in an object file may cause the program to crash when the symbol or framework is
not present at execution time.
.TP
.BI \-F dir
Add
.I dir
to the list of directories in which to search for frameworks.
Directories specified with
.B \-F
are searched before the standard framework directories.
.TP
.B \-ObjC
Loads all members of static archive libraries that define an Objective C class or a category. This option does not apply to dynamic shared libraries.
.TP
.B \-all_load
Loads all members of static archive libraries.
This option does not apply to dynamic shared
libraries.
.TP
.BI \-dylib_file " install_name:file_name" (32-bit only)
Specifies that a dynamic shared library is in a different location than its standard location. Use this option when you link with a library that is dependent on a dynamic library, and the dynamic library is in a location other than its default location.
.I install_name
specifies the path where the library normally resides.
.I file_name
specifies the path of the library you want to use instead.
For example, if you link to a library that depends upon the dynamic library libsys and you have libsys installed in a nondefault location, you would use this option:
\fB\-dylib_file /lib/libsys_s.A.dylib:/me/lib/libsys_s.A.dylib\fR.
.TP
.BI \-executable_path " path_name" (32-bit only)
Specifies that
.I path_name
is used to replace
.I @executable_path
for dependent libraries.

.PP
The following options specify the output file format (the file type):
.TP
.B "\-execute"
Produce a Mach-O demand-paged executable format file.  The headers are placed
in the first segment, and all segments are padded to the segment alignment.
This has a file type of
.SM MH_EXECUTE.
This is the default.  If no segment address is specified at address zero, a
segment with no protection (no read, write, or execute permission) is created
at address zero.
This segment, whose size is that of the segment
alignment, is named
.SM ``_\|_PAGEZERO''.
This option was previously named
.BR "\-Mach" ,
which will continue to be recognized.
.TP
.B \-object (32-bit only)
Produce a Mach-O file in the relocatable object file format that is
intended for execution.  This differs from using the
.B \-r
option in that it defines common symbols, does not allow undefined symbols and
does not preserve relocation entries.  This has a file type of
.SM MH_OBJECT.
In this format all sections are placed in one unnamed segment with all
protections (read, write, execute) allowed on that segment.  This is intended
for extremely small programs that would otherwise be large due to segment
padding.  In this format, and all
.SM non-MH_EXECUTE
formats, the link editor
defined symbol ``\_\^\_mh_execute_header'' is not defined since the headers are
not part of the segment.  This format file can't be used with the dynamic
linker.
.TP
.B \-preload (32-bit only)
Produce a Mach-O preloaded executable format file.  The headers are not placed
in any segment.  All sections are placed in their proper segments and they are
padded to the segment alignment.  This has a file type of
.SM MH_PRELOAD.
This option was previously
.BR "\-p" ,
which will continue to be recognized.
.TP
.B "\-dylib"
Produce a Mach-O dynamically linked shared library format file.  The headers are
placed in the first segment.  All sections are placed in their proper segments
and they are padded to the segment alignment.  This has a file type of
.SM MH_DYLIB.
This option is used by
.IR libtool (1)
when its
.B \-dynamic
option is specified.
.TP
.B "\-bundle"
Produce a Mach-O bundle format file.  The headers are placed in the first
segment.  All sections are placed in their proper segments
and they are padded to the segment alignment.  This has a file type of
.SM MH_BUNDLE.
.TP
.B "\-dylinker"
Produces a Mach-O dynamic link editor format file.  The headers are placed in the
first segment.  All sections are placed in their proper segments, and they are
padded to the segment alignment.  This has a file type of
.SM MH_DYLINKER.
.TP
.B \-fvmlib (32-bit only)
Produce a Mach-O fixed VM shared library format file.  The headers are placed
in the first segment but the first section in that segment will be placed on
the next segment alignment boundary in that segment.  All sections are placed
in their proper segments and they are padded to the segment alignment.
This has a file type of
.SM MH_FVMLIB.

.PP
The following flags affect the contents of the output file:
.TP
.B  \-r
Save the relocation information in the output file
so that it can be the subject of another
.I ld
run.  The resulting file type is a Mach-O relocatable file
.SM (MH_OBJECT)
if not otherwise specified.
This flag also prevents final definitions from being
given to common symbols,
and suppresses the `undefined symbol' diagnostics.
.TP
.B  \-d (32-bit only)
Force definition of common storage even if the
.B \-r
option is present.  This option also forces link editor defined symbols to be defined.
This option is assumed when there is a dynamic link editor load command in the input
and
.B \-r
is not specified.

.PP
The following flags support segment specifications:
.TP
.BI "\-segalign" " value" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the segment alignment.
.I value
is a hexadecimal number that must be an integral power of 2.
The default is the target pagesize (currently 1000 hex for the PowerPC and
i386).
.TP
.BI "\-seg1addr" " addr"
Specifies the starting address of the first segment in the output file.
.I addr
is a hexadecimal number and must be a multiple of the segment alignment.
This option can also be specified as
.B "\-image_base."
.TP
.BI "\-segaddr" " name addr" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the starting address of the segment named
.I name
to be
.I addr.
The address must be a hexadecimal number that is a multiple of the segment alignment.
.TP
.BI "\-segs_read_only_addr" " addr" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the starting address of the read-only segments in a dynamic shared
library.  When this option is used the dynamic shared library is built such
that the read-only and read-write segments are split into separate address
ranges.  By default the read-write segments are 256meg (0x10000000) after
the read-only segments.
.I addr
is a hexadecimal number and must be a multiple of the segment alignment.
.TP
.BI "\-segs_read_write_addr" " addr" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the starting address of the read-write segments in a dynamic shared
library.  When this option is used the
.B \-segs_read_only_addr
must also be used (see above).
.I addr
is a hexadecimal number and must be a multiple of the segment alignment.
.TP
.BI "\-seg_addr_table" " filename" " (32-bit only)"
For dynamic shared libraries the
.B "\-seg1addr"
or the pair of
.B "\-segs_read_only_addr"
and
.B "\-segs_read_write_addr"
are specified by an entry in the segment address table in
.I filename
that matches the install name of the library.
The entries in the table are lines containing either a single hex address and an
install name or two hex addresses and an install name.  In the first form the
single hex address is used as the
.B "\-seg1addr".
In the second form the first address is used as the
.B "\-segs_read_only_addr"
address and the second address is used as the
.B "\-segs_read_write_addr"
address.
This option can also be specified by setting the environment variable
.SM LD_SEG_ADDR_TABLE.
If the environment variable is set then any
.BR "\-seg1addr" ,
.BR "\-segs_read_only_addr" ,
.B "\-segs_read_write_addr"
and
.B "\-seg_addr_table"
options are ignored and a warning is printed.
.TP
.BI "\-seg_addr_table_filename" " pathname" " (32-bit only)"
Use
.B pathname
instead of the install name of the library for matching an entry in the segment
address table.
.TP
.BI "\-segprot" " name max init" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the maximum and initial virtual memory protection of the named
segment,
.I name,
to be
.I max
and
.I init
,respectively.  The values for
.I max
and
.I init
are any combination of the characters `r' (for read), `w' (for write),
`x' (for execute) and '\-' (no access).  The default is `rwx' for the maximum
protection for all segments for PowerPC architecures and `rw` for the all Intel
architecures.
The default for the initial protection for all segments is `rw' unless the
segment contains a section which contains some machine instructions, in which
case the default for the initial protection is `rwx' (and for Intel
architecures it also sets the maximum protection to `rwx' in this case).
The default for the initial protection for the
.SM "``_\|_TEXT''"
segment is `rx' (not writable).
.TP
.B \-seglinkedit (32-bit only)
Create the link edit segment, named
.SM "``_\|_LINKEDIT''"
(this is the default).
This segment contains all the link edit information (relocation information,
symbol table, string table, etc.) in the object file.  If the segment protection
for this segment is not specified, the initial protection is not writable.
This can only be specified when the output file type is not
.SM MH_OBJECT
and
.SM MH_PRELOAD
output file types.  To get at the contents of this section, the Mach header
and load commands must be parsed from the link editor defined symbols like
`\_\^\_mh_execute_header' (see
.IR Mach-O (5)).
.TP
.B \-noseglinkedit (32-bit only)
Do not create the link edit segment (see
.B \-seglinkedit
above).
.TP
.BI "\-pagezero_size" " value"
Specifies the segment size of _\|_PAGEZERO to be of size
.IR value ,
where
.I value
is a hexadecimal number rounded to the segment alignment.
The default is the target pagesize (currently, 1000 hexadecimal for the PowerPC
and for i386).
.TP
.BI "\-stack_addr" " value"
Specifies the initial address of the stack pointer
.IR value ,
where
.I value
is a hexadecimal number rounded to the segment alignment.
The default segment alignment is the target pagesize (currently, 1000
hexadecimal for the PowerPC and for i386).
If
.B \-stack_size
is specified and
.B \-stack_addr
is not, a default stack address specific for the architecture being linked will
be used and its value printed as a warning message.
This creates a segment named _\|_UNIXSTACK.  Note that the initial stack address
will be either at the high address of the segment or the low address of the
segment depending on which direction the stack grows for the architecture being
linked.
.TP
.BI "\-stack_size" " value"
Specifies the size of the stack segment
.IR value ,
where
.I value
is a hexadecimal number rounded to the segment alignment.
The default segment alignment is the target pagesize (currently, 1000
hexadecimal for the PowerPC and for i386).
If
.B \-stack_addr
is specified and
.B \-stack_size
is not, a default stack size specific for the architecture being linked will be
used and its value printed as a warning message.
This creates a segment named _\|_UNIXSTACK .
.TP
.B \-allow_stack_execute
Marks executable so that all stacks in the task will be given stack execution
privilege.  This includes pthread stacks.

.PP
The following flags support section specifications:
.TP
.BI "\-sectcreate" " segname sectname file"
The section
.I sectname
in the segment
.I segname
is created from the contents of
.I file.
The combination of
.I segname
and
.I sectname
must be unique; there cannot already be a section
.I (segname,sectname)
in any input object file.
This option was previously called
.BR "\-segcreate" ,
which will continue to be recognized.
.TP
.BI "\-sectalign" " segname sectname value"
The section named
.I sectname
in the segment
.I segname
will have its alignment set to
.IR value ,
where
.I value
is a hexadecimal number that must be an integral power of 2.
This can be used to set the alignment of a section created from a file, or to
increase the alignment of a section from an object file, or to set the maximum
alignment of the
.SM (_\|_DATA,_\|_common)
section, where common symbols are defined
by the link editor.  Setting the alignment of a literal section causes the
individual literals to be aligned on that boundary.  If the section
alignment is not specified by a section header in an object file or on the
command line, it defaults to 10 (hex), indicating 16-byte alignment.
.TP
.BI "\-sectorder" " segname sectname orderfile" (32-bit only)
The section
.I sectname
in the segment
.I segname
of the input files will be broken up into blocks associated with
symbols in the section.  The output section will be created by ordering
the blocks as specified by the lines in the
.I orderfile.
These blocks are aligned to the output file's section alignment for this
section.  Any section can be ordered in the output file except symbol pointer and symbol stub sections.
.IP
For non-literal sections, each line of the
.I orderfile
contains an object name and a symbol name, separated by a single colon (':').
Lines that start with # are ignored and treated as comments.
If the object file is
in an archive, the archive name, followed by a single colon, must precede the
object file name.  The object file names and archive names should be exactly the
names as seen by the link editor, but if not, the link editor attempts to match
up the names the best it can.
For non-literal sections, the easiest way to generate an order file is
with the ``\f3\-jonls +\f2segname sectname\f1'' options to
.IR nm (1).
.IP
The format of the
.I orderfile
for literal sections is specific to each type of literal section.  For C
string literal sections, each line of the order file contains one literal C
string, which may include ANSI C escape sequences.  For four-byte literal
sections, the order file format is one 32-bit hex number with a leading 0x
per
line, with the rest of the line treated as a comment.  For eight-byte literal
sections, the order file has two 32-bit hex numbers per line; each number
has a leading 0x, the two numbers are separated by white
space, and the rest of the line is treated as a comment.
For literal pointer sections, the lines in the order file represent
pointers, one per line.  A literal pointer is represented by the name of
the segment that contains the literal being pointed to, followed by the
section name, followed by the literal. These three strings are separated
by colons with no extra white space.
For all the literal sections, each line in the the order file is simply entered
into the literal section and will appear in the output file in the same order
as in the
order file.  There is no check to see whether the literal is present
in the loaded objects.
For literal sections, the easiest way to generate an order file is with
the ``\f3\-X \-v \-s \f2segname sectname\f1'' options to
.IR otool (1).
.TP
.B \-sectorder_detail (32-bit only)
When using the
.B \-sectorder
option,  any pairs of object file names and symbol names that are found in
the loaded objects, but not specified in the
.IR orderfile ,
are placed last in the output file's section.   These pairs are ordered by
object file (as the filenames appear
on the command line), with the different symbols from a given object
file being ordered by
increasing symbol address (that is, the order
in which the symbols occurred in the object file,
not their order in the symbol table).  By default, the link editor displays a summary
that simply shows the number
of symbol names found in the loaded objects but not in the
.IR orderfile ,
as well as the number of symbol names listed in the
.I orderfile
but not found in the loaded objects.  (The summary is omitted if both values
are zero.)  To instead produce a detailed list of these symbols, use the
.B \-sectorder_detail
flag.  If an object file-symbol name pair is listed multiple times, a
warning is generated, and the first occurrence is used.
.TP
.BI "\-sectobjectsymbols" " segname sectname" " (32-bit only)"
This causes the link editor to generate local symbols in the section
.I sectname
in the segment
.IR segname .
Each object file that has one of these sections will have a local
symbol created
whose name is that of the object file, or of the member of the archive.
The symbol's value will be the first address where that object file's section
was loaded.  The symbol has the type N_SECT and its section number is the
the same as that of the section
.I (segname,sectname)
in the output file.
This symbol will be placed in the symbol table just before all other local
symbols
for the object file.  This feature is typically used where the section is
.SM (\_\^\_TEXT,\_\^\_text),
in order to help the debugger debug object files produced by old versions of
the compiler or by non-Apple compilers.

.PP
The following flags are related to name spaces:
.TP
.B \-twolevel_namespace
Specifies the output to be built as a two-level namespace image.
This option can also be specified by setting the environment variable
.SM LD_TWOLEVEL_NAMESPACE.
This is the default.
.TP
.B \-flat_namespace
Specifies the output to be built as a flat namespace image.
This is not the default (but was the default in MacOS X 10.0).
.TP
.B \-force_flat_namespace
Specifies the executable output to be built and executed treating all its
dynamic libraries as flat namespace images.  This marks the executable so that
the dynamic link editor treats all dynamic libraries as flat namespace
images when the program is executed.
.TP
.BI \-bundle_loader " executable" " (32-bit only)"
This specifies the
.I executable
that will be loading the bundle output file being linked.  Undefined symbols
from the bundle are checked against the specified executable like it was one of
the dynamic libraries the bundle was linked with.  If the bundle being created
with
.B \-twolevel_namespace
in effect then the searching of the executable for
symbols is based on the placement of the
.B \-bundle_loader
flag relative to the dynamic libraries.  If the the bundle being created with
.B \-flat_namespace
then the searching of the executable is done before all dynamic libraries.
.TP
.B \-private_bundle (32-bit only)
This allows symbols defined in the output to also be defined in executable in
the
.B \-bundle_loader
argument
when
.B \-flat_namespace
is in effect.
This implies that the bundle output file being created is going to be loaded by
the executable with the
.B NSLINKMODULE_OPTION_PRIVATE
option to
.IR NSLinkModule (3).
.TP
.B \-twolevel_namespace_hints (32-bit only)
Specifies to create the output with the two-level namespace hints table to be
used by the dynamic linker.  This is the default except when the
.B \-bundle
flag is specified.  If this is used when the
.B \-bundle
flag is specified the bundle will fail to load on a MacOS X 10.0 system with a
malformed object error.
.TP
.BI \-multiply_defined " treatment" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies how multiply defined symbols in dynamic libraries when
.B \-twolevel_namespace
is in effect are to be treated.
.I treatment
can be:
.I error,
.I warning,
or
.I suppress.
Which cause the treatment of multiply defined symbols in dynamic libraries
as either, errors, warnings, or suppresses the checking of multiply symbols
from dynamic libraries when
.B \-twolevel_namespace
is in effect.
The default is to treat multiply defined symbols in dynamic libraries as
warnings when
.B \-twolevel_namespace
is in effect.
.TP
.BI \-multiply_defined_unused " treatment" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies how unused multiply defined symbols in dynamic libraries when
.B \-twolevel_namespace
is in effect are to be treated.
An unused multiply defined symbol is one in which there is a symbol defined in
the output that is also defined in the dynamic libraries the output is linked
with but the symbol in the dynamic library is not used by any reference in the
output.
.I treatment
can be:
.I error,
.I warning,
or
.I suppress.
The default for unused multiply defined symbols is to suppress these messages.
.TP
.B -nomultidefs (32-bit only)
specifying this flag marks the umbrella being created such that the dynamic
linker is guaranteed that no multiple definitions of symbols in the umbrella's
sub-images will ever exist.  This allows the dynamic linker to always use the
two-level namespace lookup hints even if the timestamps of the sub-images
do not match.  This flag implies
.BI \-multiply_defined " error".

.PP
The following flags are related to symbols.  These flags' arguments
are external symbols whose names have `_' prepended to the C,
.SM FORTRAN,
or Pascal variable name.
.TP
.BI \-y sym " (32-bit only)"
Display each file in which
.I sym
appears, its type, and whether the file defines or references it.  Any
multiply defined symbols are automatically
traced.  Like most of the other symbol-related flags,
.B \-y
takes only one argument; the flag may be specified more than once in the
command line to trace more than one symbol.
.TP
.BI \-Y " number" " (32-bit only)"
For the first
.I number
undefined symbols, displays each file in which the symbol appears, its type and whether the file defines or references it (that is, the same style of output produced by the
.B \-y
option). To keep the output manageable, this option displays at most
.I number
references.
.TP
.B \-keep_private_externs
Don't turn private external symbols into static symbols, but rather leave them
as private external in the resulting output file.
.TP
.B \-m (32-bit only)
Don't treat multiply defined symbols from the linked objects as a hard error;
instead, simply print a warning.  The first linked object defining such a symbol
is used for linking; its value is used for the symbol in the symbol table.  The
code and data for all such symbols are copied into the output.  The duplicate
symbols other than the first symbol may still end up being used in the resulting
output file through local references.  This can still produce a resulting output
file that is in error.  This flag's use is strongly discouraged!
.TP
.B \-whyload (32-bit only)
Indicate why each member of a library is loaded.  In other words, indicate
which currently undefined symbol is being resolved, causing that
member to be loaded.  This in combination with the above
.BI \-y sym
flag can help determine exactly why a link edit is failing due to multiply
defined symbols.
.B
.TP
.BI  \-u " sym"
Enter the argument
.I sym
into the symbol table as an undefined symbol.  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 object file.
.TP
.BI \-e " sym"
The argument
.I sym
is taken to be the symbol name of the entry point of
the resulting file.  By default, the entry point is the address of the
first section in the first segment.
.TP
.BI \-i definition:indirect " (32-bit only)"
Create an indirect symbol for the symbol name
.I definition
which is defined to be the same as the symbol name
.I indirect
(which is taken to be undefined).  When a definition of the symbol named
.I indirect
is linked, both symbols will take on the defined type and value.
.IP
This option overlaps with a compiler option.
If you use the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
to invoke \fIld\fR,
invoke this option in this way:
.BI \-Wl,\-i definition:indirect.

.TP
.BI \-undefined " treatment"
Specifies how undefined symbols are to be treated.
.I treatment
can be:
.I error,
.I warning,
or
.I suppress.
Which cause the treatment of undefined symbols as either, errors, warnings, or
suppresses the checking of undefined symbols.
The default is to treat undefined symbols as errors.
When the environment variable
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
is set to
.B 10.3
or higher then
.BI \-undefined " dynamic_lookup"
can also be used to allow any undefined symbols to be looked up dynamically at
runtime.  Use of a binary built with this flag requires a system with a dynamic
linker from Mac OS X 10.3 or later.
The flag
.BI \-undefined " define_a_way"
can also be used to cause the static linker to create a private definition for
all undefined symbols.  This flag should only be used if it is known that the
undefined symbols are not referenced as any use of them may cause a crash.
.TP
.BI  \-U " sym"
Allow the symbol
.I sym
to be undefined, even if the
.B \-r
flag is not given.  Produce an executable file if the only undefined
symbols are those specified with
.BR \-U.
.IP
This option overlaps with a compiler option.
If you use the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
to invoke \fIld\fR,
invoke this option in this way:
.BI \-Wl,\-U, sym.
.TP
.B \-bind_at_load
Causes the output file to be marked such that the dynamic linker will bind all
undefined references when the file is loaded or launched.
.TP
.BI \-commons " treatment" " (64-bit only)"
Specifies how common symbols (tentative defintions) from object files interact with dynamic libraries.
.I treatment
can be:
.I ignore_dylibs,
.I use_dylibs,
or
.I error.
The default is ignore_dylibs
which means the static linker will use a common defintion from an object file even if a true definition
exisits in a dynamic library.  If you want your code to use a dynamic library definition, then add
the extern keyword to your tentative definition (e.g. change
.I int foo;
to
.I extern int foo;
).  The treatment use_dylibs means a definition form a dynamic library should override a common symbol
in an object file. Note, the 32-bit linker always uses this treatment.
The treatment error means the linker should abort whenever if finds a common symbol in
an object file and an external definition with the same name in a dynamic library.
.TP
.B \-warn_commons (64-bit only)
Causes the static linker to write a diagnostic line about how common symbols were processed.  This is
useful for debugging problems with common symbols.

.PP
The following flags are related to stripping link edit information.
This information can also be removed by
.IR strip (1),
which uses the same options.  (The
exception is the
.B \-s
flag below, but this is the same as
.IR strip (1)
with no arguments.)
The following flags are listed in decreasing level of stripping.
.TP
.B \-s (32-bit only)
Completely strip the output; that is, remove the symbol table
and relocation information.
.TP
.B \-x (32-bit only)
Strips the non-global symbols; only saves external symbols.
.IP
This option overlaps with a compiler option.
If you use the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
to invoke \fIld\fR,
invoke this option in this way:
.B \-Wl,\-x.
.TP
.B \-S (32-bit only)
Strip debugging symbols; only save local and global symbols.
.TP
.B \-X (32-bit only)
Strip local symbols whose names begin with `L'; save all other symbols.
(The compiler and assembler currently strip these internally-generated
labels by default, so they generally do not appear in object files
seen by the link editor.)
.TP
.B \-Sp
Strip, edit and add debugging symbols so the debugger can used most of the
debugging symbols from the object files.
.TP
.B \-Si (32-bit only)
Strip duplicate debugging symbols from include files.  This is
the default.
.TP
.B  \-b (32-bit only)
Strip the base file's symbols from the output file.  (The base file
is given as the argument to the
.B \-A
option.)
.IP
This option overlaps with a compiler option.
If you use the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
to invoke \fIld\fR,
invoke this option in this way:
.B \-Wl,\-b.
.TP
.B \-Sn (32-bit only)
Don't strip any symbols.
.TP
.BI \-exported_symbols_list " filename"
The specified
.I filename
contains lists of global symbol names that will remain as global symbols in the
output file.  All other global symbols will be treated as if they were marked as
.I __private_extern__
and will not be global in the output file. The symbol names listed in
.I filename
must be one per line. Leading and trailing white space are not part of the
symbol name.  Lines starting with # are ignored, as are lines with only white
space.
.TP
.BI \-unexported_symbols_list " filename"
The specified
.I filename
contains lists of global symbol names that will not remain as global symbols in
the output file.  The symbols will be treated as if they were marked as
.I __private_extern__
and will not be global in the output file. The symbol names listed in
.I filename
must be one per line. Leading and trailing white space are not part of the
symbol name.  Lines starting with # are ignored, as are lines with only white
space.
.TP
.BI \-no_uuid
Do not emit an LC_UUID load command in the linked output file.

.TP
.B -dead_strip (32-bit only)
Remove blocks of code and data that are unreachable by the entry point or
exported symbols.
.TP
.B -no_dead_strip_inits_and_terms (32-bit only)
When specified along with
.B -dead_strip
cause all constructors and destructors to never be dead stripped.

.PP
The remaining options are infrequently used:
.TP
.B \-v
Print the version of the linker.
.TP
.B \-w (32-bit only)
Suppresses all warning messages.
.TP
.B \-no_arch_warnings
Suppresses warning messages about files that have the wrong architecture for the
.B \-arch
flag.
.TP
.B \-arch_errors_fatal (32-bit only)
Cause the errors having to do with files that have the wrong architecture to be
fatal and stop the link editor.
.TP
.B \-M (32-bit only)
Produce a load map, listing all the segments and sections.  The list
includes the address where each input file's section appears in the
output file, as well as the section's size.
.IP
This option overlaps with a compiler option.
If you use the compiler driver
.IR cc (1)
to invoke \fIld\fR,
invoke this option in this way:
.B \-Wl,\-M.
.TP
.B \-whatsloaded (32-bit only)
Display a single line listing each object file that is
loaded.  Names of objects in archives have the form libfoo.a(bar.o).
.TP
.BI \-filelist " listfile[,dirname]"
Specifies that the linker should link the files listed in
.I listfile .
This is an alternative to listing the files on the command line. The file names are listed one per line separated
only by newlines. (Spaces and tabs are assumed to be part of the file name.)
If the optional directory name,
.I dirname
is specified, it is prepended to each name in the list file.
.TP
.BI "\-headerpad" " value"
Specifies the minimum amount of space ("padding") following
the headers for the
.SM MH_EXECUTE
format and all output file types with the dynamic linker.
.I value
is a hexadecimal number.
When a segment's size is rounded up to the segment alignment, there
is extra space left over, which is placed between the headers and the sections, rather than at the end of the segment.  The
.B headerpad
option specifies the minimum size of this padding,
which can be useful if the headers will be altered later.
The default value is the larger of 2 * sizeof(struct section) so the program
/usr/bin/objcunique can always add two section headers, or if the output is an
MH_EXECUTE filetype and
.B \-prebind
is specified 3 times the size of the LC_PREBOUND_DYLIB load commands.
The actual amount of pad will be as large as the amount of the first
segment's round-off.
(That is, take the total size of the first segments'
headers and non-zerofill sections, round this size
up to the segment alignment,
and use the difference between the rounded
and unrounded sizes as the minimum amount of padding.)
.TP
.B \-headerpad_max_install_names (32-bit only)
Add to the header padding enough space to allow changing all dynamic shared
library paths recorded in the output file to be changed to MAXPATHLEN in length.
.TP
.B \-t
Trace the progress of the link editor; display the name of each file
that is
loaded as it is processed in the first and second pass of the link
editor.
.TP
.BI \-A " basefile" " (32-bit only)"
Incremental loading: linking is to be done in a manner
that lets the resulting object be read into an already executing
program, the
.IR basefile .
.I basefile
is the name of a file whose symbol table will be taken as a basis
on which to define additional symbols.
Only newly linked material will be entered into the
.BR a.out
file, but the new symbol table will reflect
every symbol defined in the base file and the newly linked files.
Option(s) to specify the addresses of the segments are typically
needed, since
the default addresses tend to overlap with the
.I basefile.
The default format of the object file is
.SM MH_OBJECT.
Note: It is strongly recommended that this option NOT be used,
because the dyld package described in
.IR dyld (3)
is a much easier alternative.
.TP
.BI \-dylib_install_name " name"
For dynamic shared library files, specifies the name of the file
the library will be installed in for programs that use it.  If this is not
specified, the name specified in the
.BI \-o " name"
option will be used.
This option is used as the
.IR libtool (1)
.BI \-install_name " name"
option when its
.B \-dynamic
option is specified.
.TP
.BI \-umbrella " framework_name"
Specifies this is a subframework where
.I framework_name
is the name of the umbrella framework this subframework is a part of.  Where
.I framework_name
is the same as the argument to the
.BI \-framework " framework_name"
option.  This subframework can then only be linked into the umbrella framework
with the same
.I framework_name
or another subframework with the same umbrella framework name.  Any other
attempt to statically link this subframework directly will result in an error
stating to link with the umbrella framework instead.  When building the umbrella
framework that uses this subframework no additional options are required.
However the install name of the umbrella framework, required to be specified
with
.BR \-dylib_install_name ,
must have the proper format for an install name of a framework for the
.I framework_name
of the umbrella framework to be determined.
.TP
.BI \-allowable_client " client_name" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies that for this subframework the
.I client_name
can link with this subframework without error even though it is not part of
the umbrella framework that this subframework is part of.  The
.I client_name
can be another framework name or a name used by bundles (see the
.BI \-client_name " client_name"
option below).
.TP
.BI \-client_name " client_name" " (32-bit only)"
Specifies the
.I client_name
of a bundle for checking of allowable clients of subframeworks (see the
.BI \-allowable_client " client_name"
option above).
.TP
.BI \-sub_umbrella " framework_name"
Specifies that the
.I framework_name
being linked by a dynamic library is to be treated as one of the
subframeworks with respect to twolevel namespace.
.TP
.BI \-sub_library " library_name"
Specifies that the
.I library_name
being linked by a dynamic library is to be treated as one of the
sublibraries with respect to twolevel namespace.  For example the
.I library_name
for
.I /usr/lib/libobjc_profile.A.dylib
would be
.I libobjc.
.TP
.BI \-init " sym"
The argument
.I sym
is taken to be the symbol name of the dynamic shared library initialization
routine.  If any module is used from the dynamic library the library
initialization routine is called before any symbol is used from the library
including C++ static initializers (and #pragma CALL_ON_LOAD routines).
.TP
.B \-run_init_lazily (32-bit only)
This option is obsolete.
.TP
.BI \-dylib_compatibility_version " number"
For dynamic shared library files, this specifies the compatibility version number
of the library.  When a library is used by a program, the compatibility version is checked
and if the program's version is greater that the library's version, it is an error.
The format of
.I number
is
.I X[.Y[.Z]]
where
.I X
must be a positive non-zero number less than or equal to 65535, and
.I .Y
and
.I .Z
are optional and if present must be non-negative numbers less than or
equal to 255.
If the compatibility version number is not specified, it has a
value of 0 and no checking is done when the library is used.
This option is used as the
.IR libtool (1)
.BI \-compatibility_version " number"
option
when its
.B \-dynamic
option is set.
.TP
.BI \-dylib_current_version " number"
For dynamic shared library files, specifies the current version number
of the library.  The current version of the library can be obtained
programmatically by the user of the library so it can determine exactly which version of the library it is using.
The format of
.I number
is
.I X[.Y[.Z]]
where
.I X
must be a positive non-zero number less than or equal to 65535, and
.I .Y
and
.I .Z
are optional and if present must be non-negative numbers less than or
equal to 255.
If the version number is not specified, it has a
value of 0.
This option is used as the
.IR libtool (1)
.BI \-current_version " number"
option when its
.B \-dynamic
option is set.
.TP
.BI \-single_module
When building a dynamic library build the library so that it contains only
one module.
.TP
.BI \-multi_module  (32-bit only)
When building a dynamic library build the library so that it contains one
module for each object file linked in.  This is the default.
.TP
.BI \-dylinker_install_name " name"
For dynamic link editor files, specifies the name of the file
the dynamic link editor will be installed in for programs that use it.
.TP
.BI \-macosx_version_min " version"
This overrides the
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
environment variable (see below).  Unlike other linker options, this one may
be specified multiple times; only the last occurrence is effective.
.PP
The following environment variable is used to control the use of incompatible
features in the output with respect to Mac OS X releases.
.TP
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
This is set to indicate the oldest Mac OS X version that that the output is to
be used on.  When this is set to a release that is older than the current
release features that are incompatible with that release will be disabled.  If
a feature is seen in the input that can't be in the output due to this setting
a warning is issued.  The current allowable values for this are
.B 10.1,
.B 10.2
.B 10.3,
and
.B 10.4
with the default being
.B 10.4
for the i386 architecture and
.B 10.1
for all other architectures.
.PP
The following environment variables are used by Apple's Build and Integration
team:
.TP
.B LD_TRACE_ARCHIVES
When this is set it causes a message of the form ``[Logging for XBS]
Used static archive:
.I filename''
for each static archive that has members linked into the output.
.TP
.B LD_TRACE_DYLIBS
When this is set it causes a message of the form ``[Logging for XBS]
Used dynamic library:
.I filename''
for each dynamic library linked into the output.
.TP
.B RC_TRACE_PREBINDING_DISABLED
When this is set it causes a message of the form ``[Logging for XBS
prebinding disabled for
.I filename
because
.I reason''.
Where
.I filename
is the value of the
.B \-final_output
argument if specified or the value of the
.B \-o
argument.
.TP
.BI \-final_output " filename"
The argument
.I filename
is used in the above message when RC_TRACE_PREBINDING_DISABLED is set.
.TP
.B LD_TRACE_FILE
When this is set, messages displayed due to the
.B LD_TRACE_ARCHIVES
,
.B LD_TRACE_DYLIBS
, and
.B LD_TRACE_PREBINDING_DISABLED
environment variables are printed to the file whose path is specified
by this variable instead of stdout.
.TP
.B LD_SPLITSEGS_NEW_LIBRARIES
When set and
.B MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
is set to 10.4 or greater and the output is a dynamic library, and if the
install name of the library is not listed the segment address table, and if the
environment variable
.B LD_UNPREBOUND_LIBRARIES
is set with a file name with a list of library install names and the install
name is not listed, then this is built as a split shared library.

.PP
Options available in early versions of the Mach-O link editor
may no longer be supported.

.SH FILES
.ta \w'/Network/Library/Frameworks/*.framework/*\ \ 'u
/lib/lib*.{a,dylib}	libraries
.br
/usr/lib/lib*.{a,dylib}
.br
/usr/local/lib/lib*.{a,dylib}
.br
/Library/Frameworks/*.framework/*	framework libraries
.br
/Network/Library/Frameworks/*.framework/*	framework libraries
.br
/System/Library/Frameworks/*.framework/*	framework libraries
.br
a.out	output file
.SH "SEE ALSO"
as(1), ar(1), cc(1), libtool(1), ranlib(1), nm(1), otool(1) lipo(1),
arch(3), dyld(3), Mach-O(5), strip(1), redo_prebinding(1)