Solaris 8 Release

• The secure directory from which files can be preloaded is now /usr/lib/secure for 32-bit objects and /usr/lib/secure/64 for 64-bit objects. See Security.

• Greater flexibility in modifying the runtime linker's search paths can be achieved with the link-editor's -z nodefaultlib option, and runtime configuration files created by the new utility crle(1). See Directories Searched by the Runtime Linker and Configuring the Default Search Paths.

• The new EXTERN mapfile directive enables you to use -z defs with externally defined symbols. See Defining Additional Symbols.

• The new $ISALIST, $OSNAME, and $OSREL dynamic string tokens provide greater flexibility in establishing instruction set specific, and system specific dependencies. See Dynamic String Tokens.

• The link-editor options -p and -P provide additional means of invoking runtime link auditing libraries. See Recording Local Auditors. The runtime link auditing interfaces la_activity() and la_objsearch() have been added. See Audit Interface Functions.

• A new dynamic section tag, DT_CHECKSUM, enables you to coordinate ELF files with core images. See Table 7-42.

Solaris 7 Release

• The 64-bit ELF object format is now supported. See File Format for details. Link-editor extensions and differences for 64-bit processing include the use of /usr/lib/64 (see Directories Searched by the Link-Editor, Directories Searched by the Runtime Linker, and Naming Conventions), the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 (see Using an Environment Variable, and Directories Searched by the Runtime Linker), and the runtime linker /usr/lib/64/ld.so.1 (see Chapter 3, Runtime Linker).

• You can build shared objects with optimized relocation sections using the link-editor's -z combreloc option. See Combined Relocation Sections.

• The new $ORIGIN dynamic string token provides greater flexibility in establishing dependencies within unbundled software. See Dynamic String Tokens.

• The loading of a shared object can now be deferred until the object is actually referenced by the running program. See Lazy Loading of Dynamic Dependencies.

• The new SHT_SUNW_COMDAT section type enables the elimination of multiply-defined symbols. See COMDAT Section.

• The new SHT_SUNW_move section type enables partially initialized symbols. See Move Section.

• The runtime link auditing interfaces la_symbind64(), la_sparcv9_pltenter(), and la_pltexit64(), together with a new link-auditing flag LA_SYMB_ALTVALUE, have been added. See Audit Interface Functions.

Solaris 2.6 Release

• Weak symbol references can trigger archive member extraction by using the link-editor's -z weakextract option. Extracting all archive members can be achieved using the -z allextract option. See Archive Processing.

• Shared objects specified as part of a link-edit that are not referenced by the object being built can be ignored, and hence their dependency recording suppressed, using the link-editor's -z ignore option. See Shared Object Processing.

• The link-editor generates the reserved symbols _START_ and _END_ to provide a means of establishing an object's address range. See Generating the Output File.

• Changes have been made to the runtime ordering of initialization and finalization code to better accommodate dependency requirements. See Initialization and Termination Routines.

• Symbol resolution semantics have been expanded for dlopen(3DL). See Symbol Lookup, RTLD_GROUP in Isolating a Group, and RTLD_PARENT in Object Hierarchies.

• Symbol lookup semantics have been expanded with a new dlsym(3DL) handle RTLD_DEFAULT. See Default Symbol Lookup Model.

• Extensions have been made to filter processing that allow more than one filtee to be defined, and provide for forcibly loading filtees. See Shared Objects as Filters.

• You can record additional version dependencies using the mapfile file control directive $ADDVERS. See Binding to Additional Version Definitions.

• A runtime linker audit interface provides support for monitoring and modifying a dynamically linked application from within the process. See Runtime Linker Auditing Interface.

• A runtime linker debugger interface provides support for monitoring and modifying a dynamically linked application from an external process. See Runtime Linker Debugger Interface.

• Additional section information is supported. See Table 7-11 for SHN_BEFORE and SHN_AFTER. See Table 7-14 for SHF_ORDERED and SHF_EXCLUDE.

• A new dynamic section tag, DT_1_FLAGS, is supported. See Table 7-44 for the various flag values.

• A package of demonstration ELF programs is provided. See Chapter 7, Object File Format.

• The link-editors now support internationalized messages. All system errors are reported using strerror(3C).

• The new eliminate mapfile directive, or the -B eliminate option, enable you to elimination local symbol table entries. See Symbol Elimination.