* BFD guidelines:: BFD programming guidelines
* BFD generated files:: BFD generated files
* BFD multiple compilations:: Files compiled multiple times in BFD
+* BFD relocation handling:: BFD relocation handling
* Index:: Index
@end menu
to PE, but includes some additional header information.
@item relocations
-Information used by the linker to adjust section contents.
+Information used by the linker to adjust section contents. Also called
+relocs.
@item section
Object files and executable are composed of sections. Sections have
@itemize @bullet
@item
+Follow the GNU coding standards.
+
+@item
Avoid global variables. We ideally want BFD to be fully reentrant, so
that it can be used in multiple threads. All uses of global or static
variables interfere with that. Initialized constant variables are OK,
itself.
@end table
+@node BFD relocation handling
+@section BFD relocation handling
+@cindex bfd relocation handling
+@cindex relocations in bfd
+
+The handling of relocations is one of the more confusing aspects of BFD.
+Relocation handling has been implemented in various different ways, all
+somewhat incompatible, none perfect.
+
+@menu
+BFD relocation concepts:: BFD relocation concepts
+BFD relocation functions:: BFD relocation functions
+BFD relocation future:: BFD relocation future
+@end menu
+
+@node BFD relocation concepts
+@subsection BFD relocation concepts
+
+A relocation is an action which the linker must take when linking. It
+describes a change to the contents of a section. The change is normally
+based on the final value of one or more symbols. Relocations are
+created by the assembler when it creates an object file.
+
+Most relocations are simple. A typical simple relocation is to set 32
+bits at a given offset in a section to the value of a symbol. This type
+of relocation would be generated for code like @code{int *p = &i;} where
+@samp{p} and @samp{i} are global variables. A relocation for the symbol
+@samp{i} would be generated such that the linker would initialize the
+area of memory which holds the value of @samp{p} to the value of the
+symbol @samp{i}.
+
+Slightly more complex relocations may include an addend, which is a
+constant to add to the symbol value before using it. In some cases a
+relocation will require adding the symbol value to the existing contents
+of the section in the object file. In others the relocation will simply
+replace the contents of the section with the symbol value. Some
+relocations are PC relative, so that the value to be stored in the
+section is the difference between the value of a symbol and the final
+address of the section contents.
+
+In general, relocations can be arbitrarily complex. For
+example,relocations used in dynamic linking systems often require the
+linker to allocate space in a different section and use the offset
+within that section as the value to store. In the IEEE object file
+format, relocations may involve arbitrary expressions.
+
+When doing a relocateable link, the linker may or may not have to do
+anything with a relocation, depending upon the definition of the
+relocation. Simple relocations generally do not require any special
+action.
+
+@node BFD relocation functions
+@subsection BFD relocation functions
+
+In BFD, each section has an array of @samp{arelent} structures. Each
+structure has a pointer to a symbol, an address within the section, an
+addend, and a pointer to a @samp{reloc_howto_struct} structure. The
+howto structure has a bunch of fields describing the reloc, including a
+type field. The type field is specific to the object file format
+backend; none of the generic code in BFD examines it.
+
+Originally, the function @samp{bfd_perform_relocation} was supposed to
+handle all relocations. In theory, many relocations would be simple
+enough to be described by the fields in the howto structure. For those
+that weren't, the howto structure included a @samp{special_function}
+field to use as an escape.
+
+While this seems plausible, a look at @samp{bfd_perform_relocation}
+shows that it failed. The function has odd special cases. Some of the
+fields in the howto structure, such as @samp{pcrel_offset}, were not
+adequately documented.
+
+The linker uses @samp{bfd_perform_relocation} to do all relocations when
+the input and output file have different formats (e.g., when generating
+S-records). The generic linker code, which is used by all targets which
+do not define their own special purpose linker, uses
+@samp{bfd_get_relocated_section_contents}, which for most targets turns
+into a call to @samp{bfd_generic_get_relocated_section_contents}, which
+calls @samp{bfd_perform_relocation}. So @samp{bfd_perform_relocation}
+is still widely used, which makes it difficult to change, since it is
+difficult to test all possible cases.
+
+The assembler used @samp{bfd_perform_relocation} for a while. This
+turned out to be the wrong thing to do, since
+@samp{bfd_perform_relocation} was written to handle relocations on an
+existing object file, while the assembler needed to create relocations
+in a new object file. The assembler was changed to use the new function
+@samp{bfd_install_relocation} instead, and @samp{bfd_install_relocation}
+was created as a copy of @samp{bfd_perform_relocation}.
+
+Unfortunately, the work did not progress any farther, so
+@samp{bfd_install_relocation} remains a simple copy of
+@samp{bfd_perform_relocation}, with all the odd special cases and
+confusing code. This again is difficult to change, because again any
+change can affect any assembler target, and so is difficult to test.
+
+The new linker, when using the same object file format for all input
+files and the output file, does not convert relocations into
+@samp{arelent} structures, so it can not use
+@samp{bfd_perform_relocation} at all. Instead, users of the new linker
+are expected to write a @samp{relocate_section} function which will
+handle relocations in a target specific fashion.
+
+There are two helper functions for target specific relocation:
+@samp{_bfd_final_link_relocate} and @samp{_bfd_relocate_contents}.
+These functions use a howto structure, but they @emph{do not} use the
+@samp{special_function} field. Since the functions are normally called
+from target specific code, the @samp{special_function} field adds
+little; any relocations which require special handling can be handled
+without calling those functions.
+
+So, if you want to add a new target, or add a new relocation to an
+existing target, you need to do the following:
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Make sure you clearly understand what the contents of the section should
+look like after assembly, after a relocateable link, and after a final
+link. Make sure you clearly understand the operations the linker must
+perform during a relocateable link and during a final link.
+
+@item
+Write a howto structure for the relocation. The howto structure is
+flexible enough to represent any relocation which should be handled by
+setting a contiguous bitfield in the destination to the value of a
+symbol, possibly with an addend, possibly adding the symbol value to the
+value already present in the destination.
+
+@item
+Change the assembler to generate your relocation. The assembler will
+call @samp{bfd_install_relocation}, so your howto structure has to be
+able to handle that. You may need to set the @samp{special_function}
+field to handle assembly correctly. Be careful to ensure that any code
+you write to handle the assembler will also work correctly when doing a
+relocateable link. For example, see @samp{bfd_elf_generic_reloc}.
+
+@item
+Test the assembler. Consider the cases of relocation against an
+undefined symbol, a common symbol, a symbol defined in the object file
+in the same section, and a symbol defined in the object file in a
+different section. These cases may not all be applicable for your
+reloc.
+
+@item
+If your target uses the new linker, which is recommended, add any
+required handling to the target specific relocation function. In simple
+cases this will just involve a call to @samp{_bfd_final_link_relocate}
+or @samp{_bfd_relocate_contents}, depending upon the definition of the
+relocation and whether the link is relocateable or not.
+
+@item
+Test the linker. Test the case of a final link. If the relocation can
+overflow, use a linker script to force an overflow and make sure the
+error is reported correctly. Test a relocateable link, whether the
+symbol is defined or undefined in the relocateable output. For both the
+final and relocateable link, test the case when the symbol is a common
+symbol, when the symbol looked like a common symbol but became a defined
+symbol, when the symbol is defined in a different object file, and when
+the symbol is defined in the same object file.
+
+@item
+In order for linking to another object file format, such as S-records,
+to work correctly, @samp{bfd_perform_relocation} has to do the right
+thing for the relocation. You may need to set the
+@samp{special_function} field to handle this correctly. Test this by
+doing a link in which the output object file format is S-records.
+
+@item
+Using the linker to generate relocateable output in a different object
+file format is impossible in the general case, so you generally don't
+have to worry about that. Linking input files of different object file
+formats together is quite unusual, but if you're really dedicated you
+may want to consider testing this case, both when the output object file
+format is the same as your format, and when it is different.
+@end itemize
+
+@node BFD relocation future
+@subsection BFD relocation future
+
+Clearly the current BFD relocation support is in bad shape. A
+wholescale rewrite would be very difficult, because it would require
+thorough testing of every BFD target. So some sort of incremental
+change is required.
+
+My vague thoughts on this would involve defining a new, clearly defined,
+howto structure. Some mechanism would be used to determine which type
+of howto structure was being used by a particular format.
+
+The new howto structure would clearly define the relocation behaviour in
+the case of an assembly, a relocateable link, and a final link. At
+least one special function would be defined as an escape, and it might
+make sense to define more.
+
+One or more generic functions similar to @samp{bfd_perform_relocation}
+would be written to handle the new howto structure.
+
+This should make it possible to write a generic version of the relocate
+section functions used by the new linker. The target specific code
+would provide some mechanism (a function pointer or an initial
+conversion) to convert target specific relocations into howto
+structures.
+
+Ideally it would be possible to use this generic relocate section
+function for the generic linker as well. That is, it would replace the
+@samp{bfd_generic_get_relocated_section_contents} function which is
+currently normally used.
+
+For the special case of ELF dynamic linking, more consideration needs to
+be given to writing ELF specific but ELF target generic code to handle
+special relocation types such as GOT and PLT.
+
@node Index
@unnumberedsec Index
@printindex cp
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