dlopen(3p) — Linux manual page

PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLES | APPLICATION USAGE | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

DLOPEN(3P)              POSIX Programmer's Manual             DLOPEN(3P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The
       Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
       or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       dlopen — open a symbol table handle

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <dlfcn.h>

       void *dlopen(const char *file, int mode);

DESCRIPTION         top

       The dlopen() function shall make the symbols (function
       identifiers and data object identifiers) in the executable object
       file specified by file available to the calling program.

       The class of executable object files eligible for this operation
       and the manner of their construction are implementation-defined,
       though typically such files are shared libraries or programs.

       Implementations may permit the construction of embedded
       dependencies in executable object files. In such cases, a
       dlopen() operation shall load those dependencies in addition to
       the executable object file specified by file.  Implementations
       may also impose specific constraints on the construction of
       programs that can employ dlopen() and its related services.

       A successful dlopen() shall return a symbol table handle which
       the caller may use on subsequent calls to dlsym() and dlclose().

       The value of this symbol table handle should not be interpreted
       in any way by the caller.

       The file argument is used to construct a pathname to the
       executable object file. If file contains a <slash> character, the
       file argument is used as the pathname for the file. Otherwise,
       file is used in an implementation-defined manner to yield a
       pathname.

       If file is a null pointer, dlopen() shall return a global symbol
       table handle for the currently running process image. This symbol
       table handle shall provide access to the symbols from an ordered
       set of executable object files consisting of the original program
       image file, any executable object files loaded at program start-
       up as specified by that process file (for example, shared
       libraries), and the set of executable object files loaded using
       dlopen() operations with the RTLD_GLOBAL flag. As the latter set
       of executable object files can change during execution, the set
       of symbols made available by this symbol table handle can also
       change dynamically.

       Only a single copy of an executable object file shall be brought
       into the address space, even if dlopen() is invoked multiple
       times in reference to the executable object file, and even if
       different pathnames are used to reference the executable object
       file.

       The mode parameter describes how dlopen() shall operate upon file
       with respect to the processing of relocations and the scope of
       visibility of the symbols provided within file.  When an
       executable object file is brought into the address space of a
       process, it may contain references to symbols whose addresses are
       not known until the executable object file is loaded.

       These references shall be relocated before the symbols can be
       accessed. The mode parameter governs when these relocations take
       place and may have the following values:

       RTLD_LAZY   Relocations shall be performed at an implementation-
                   defined time, ranging from the time of the dlopen()
                   call until the first reference to a given symbol
                   occurs. Specifying RTLD_LAZY should improve
                   performance on implementations supporting dynamic
                   symbol binding since a process might not reference
                   all of the symbols in an executable object file. And,
                   for systems supporting dynamic symbol resolution for
                   normal process execution, this behavior mimics the
                   normal handling of process execution.

       RTLD_NOW    All necessary relocations shall be performed when the
                   executable object file is first loaded. This may
                   waste some processing if relocations are performed
                   for symbols that are never referenced. This behavior
                   may be useful for applications that need to know that
                   all symbols referenced during execution will be
                   available before dlopen() returns.

       Any executable object file loaded by dlopen() that requires
       relocations against global symbols can reference the symbols in
       the original process image file, any executable object files
       loaded at program start-up, from the initial process image
       itself, from any other executable object file included in the
       same dlopen() invocation, and any executable object files that
       were loaded in any dlopen() invocation and which specified the
       RTLD_GLOBAL flag. To determine the scope of visibility for the
       symbols loaded with a dlopen() invocation, the mode parameter
       should be a bitwise-inclusive OR with one of the following
       values:

       RTLD_GLOBAL The executable object file's symbols shall be made
                   available for relocation processing of any other
                   executable object file. In addition, symbol lookup
                   using dlopen(NULL,mode) and an associated dlsym()
                   allows executable object files loaded with this mode
                   to be searched.

       RTLD_LOCAL  The executable object file's symbols shall not be
                   made available for relocation processing of any other
                   executable object file.

       If neither RTLD_GLOBAL nor RTLD_LOCAL is specified, the default
       behavior is unspecified.

       If an executable object file is specified in multiple dlopen()
       invocations, mode is interpreted at each invocation.

       If RTLD_NOW has been specified, all relocations shall have been
       completed rendering further RTLD_NOW operations redundant and any
       further RTLD_LAZY operations irrelevant.

       If RTLD_GLOBAL has been specified, the executable object file
       shall maintain the RTLD_GLOBAL status regardless of any previous
       or future specification of RTLD_LOCAL, as long as the executable
       object file remains in the address space (see dlclose(3p)).

       Symbols introduced into the process image through calls to
       dlopen() may be used in relocation activities. Symbols so
       introduced may duplicate symbols already defined by the program
       or previous dlopen() operations. To resolve the ambiguities such
       a situation might present, the resolution of a symbol reference
       to symbol definition is based on a symbol resolution order. Two
       such resolution orders are defined: load order and dependency
       order. Load order establishes an ordering among symbol
       definitions, such that the first definition loaded (including
       definitions from the process image file and any dependent
       executable object files loaded with it) has priority over
       executable object files added later (by dlopen()).  Load ordering
       is used in relocation processing. Dependency ordering uses a
       breadth-first order starting with a given executable object file,
       then all of its dependencies, then any dependents of those,
       iterating until all dependencies are satisfied. With the
       exception of the global symbol table handle obtained via a
       dlopen() operation with a null pointer as the file argument,
       dependency ordering is used by the dlsym() function. Load
       ordering is used in dlsym() operations upon the global symbol
       table handle.

       When an executable object file is first made accessible via
       dlopen(), it and its dependent executable object files are added
       in dependency order. Once all the executable object files are
       added, relocations are performed using load order. Note that if
       an executable object file or its dependencies had been previously
       loaded, the load and dependency orders may yield different
       resolutions.

       The symbols introduced by dlopen() operations and available
       through dlsym() are at a minimum those which are exported as
       identifiers of global scope by the executable object file.
       Typically, such identifiers shall be those that were specified in
       (for example) C source code as having extern linkage. The precise
       manner in which an implementation constructs the set of exported
       symbols for an executable object file is implementation-defined.

RETURN VALUE         top

       Upon successful completion, dlopen() shall return a symbol table
       handle. If file cannot be found, cannot be opened for reading, is
       not of an appropriate executable object file format for
       processing by dlopen(), or if an error occurs during the process
       of loading file or relocating its symbolic references, dlopen()
       shall return a null pointer. More detailed diagnostic information
       shall be available through dlerror().

ERRORS         top

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES         top

       Refer to dlsym(3p).

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       None.

RATIONALE         top

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       dlclose(3p), dlerror(3p), dlsym(3p)

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, dlfcn.h(0p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
       form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
       Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
       (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
       Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any
       discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
       are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
       the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group               2017                        DLOPEN(3P)

Pages that refer to this page: dlfcn.h(0p)dlclose(3p)dlerror(3p)dlsym(3p)