forked from OSchip/llvm-project
103 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
103 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
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<!-- Material used from: HTML 4.01 specs: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/ -->
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<html>
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<head>
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<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
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<title>lld: a linker for LLVM</title>
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<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="menu.css">
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<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<div id="menu">
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<div>
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<a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Home</a>
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</div>
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<div class="submenu">
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<label>lld Info</label>
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<a href="./index.html">About</a>
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<a href="linker_design.html">Design</a>
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</div>
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<div class="submenu">
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<label>Quick Links</label>
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<a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/pipermail/llvm-commits/">commits</a>
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<a href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">Bug Reports</a>
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<a href="http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lld/trunk/">Browse SVN</a>
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<a href="http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/lld/trunk/">Browse ViewVC</a>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div id="content">
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<!--*********************************************************************-->
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<h1>lld: a linker for LLVM</h1>
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<!--*********************************************************************-->
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<p>lld is a new set of modular code for creating linker tools.</p>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<p><b>End-User Features:</b></p>
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<ul>
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<li>Compatible with existing linker options</li>
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<li>Reads standard Object Files (e.g. ELF, mach-o, PE/COFF)</li>
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<li>Writes standard Executable Files (e.g. ELF, mach-o, PE)</li>
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<li>Fast link times</li>
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<li>Minimal memory use</li>
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<li>Remove clang's reliance on "the system linker"</li>
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</ul>
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<p><b>Applications:</b></p>
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<ul>
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<li>Use the LLVM 'BSD' License</li>
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<li>Modular design</li>
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<li>Support cross linking</li>
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<li>Easy to add new CPU support</li>
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<li>Can be built as static tool or library</li>
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</ul>
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<p><b>Design and Implementation:</b></p>
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<ul>
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<li>Extensive unit tests</li>
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<li>Internal linker model can be dumped/read to textual format</li>
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<li>Internal linker model can be dumped/read to new native format</li>
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<li>Native format designed to be fast to read and write</li>
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<li>Additional linking features can be plugged in as "passes"</li>
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<li>OS specific and CPU specific code factored out</li>
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</ul>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<h2 id="why">Why a new linker?</h2>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<p>The fact that clang relies on whatever linker tool you happen to have
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installed means that clang has been very conservative adopting features
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which require a recent linker.</p>
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<p>In the same way that the MC layer of LLVM has removed clang's reliance
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on the system assembler tool, the lld project will remove clang's reliance
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on the system linker tool.</p>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<h2 id="status">Current Status</h2>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<p>lld is in its very early stages of development.</p>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<h2>Design Documents</h2>
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<!--=====================================================================-->
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<ul>
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<li><a href="linker_design.html">Design of lld</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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