xref: /dragonfly/sbin/ldconfig/ldconfig.8 (revision 984263bc)
1.\"
2.\" Copyright (c) 1993 Paul Kranenburg
3.\" All rights reserved.
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15.\"      This product includes software developed by Paul Kranenburg.
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30.\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/ldconfig/ldconfig.8,v 1.19.2.10 2003/05/13 19:25:19 trhodes Exp $
31.\"
32.Dd October 3, 1993
33.Dt LDCONFIG 8
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm ldconfig
37.Nd configure the shared library cache
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl aout | Fl elf
41.Op Fl Rimrsv
42.Op Fl f Ar hints_file
43.Op Ar directory | Ar
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47utility is used to prepare a set of
48.Dq hints
49for use by the dynamic linker
50to facilitate quick lookup of shared libraries available in multiple
51directories.  It scans a set of built-in system directories and any
52.Ar directories
53specified on the command line (in the given order) looking for
54shared libraries and stores the results in a system file to forestall
55the overhead that would otherwise result from the directory search
56operations the dynamic linker would have to perform to load the
57required shared libraries.
58.Pp
59Files named on the command line are expected to contain directories
60to scan for shared libraries.  Each directory's pathname must start on a new
61line.  Blank lines and lines starting with the comment character
62.Ql \&#
63are ignored.
64Filenames must conform to the
65.Pa lib*.so.[0-9]
66pattern in order to be added to the hints file.
67.Pp
68For security reasons, directories which are world or group-writable or which
69are not owned by root produce warning messages and are skipped, unless
70the
71.Fl i
72option is present.
73.Pp
74The shared libraries which are found will be automatically available for loading
75if needed by the program being prepared for execution.
76This obviates the need
77for storing search paths within the executable.
78.Pp
79The
80.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
81environment variable can be used to override the use of
82directories (or the order thereof) from the cache or to specify additional
83directories where shared libraries might be found.
84.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
85is a
86.Sq \&:
87separated list of directory paths which are searched by
88the dynamic linker
89when it needs to load a shared library.
90It can be viewed as the run-time
91equivalent of the
92.Fl L
93switch of
94.Xr ld 1 .
95.Pp
96The
97.Nm
98utility is typically run as part of the boot sequence.
99.Pp
100The following options are recognized by
101.Nm :
102.Bl -tag -width indent
103.It Fl aout
104Generate the hints for a.out format shared libraries.
105.It Fl elf
106Generate the hints for ELF format shared libraries.
107.It Fl R
108Rescan the previously configured directories.  This opens the previous hints
109file and fetches the directory list from the header.  Any additional pathnames
110on the command line are also processed.
111This is the default action when no parameters are given.
112.It Fl f Ar hints_file
113Read and/or update the specified hints file, instead of the standard file.
114This option is provided primarily for testing.
115.It Fl i
116Run in insecure mode. The security checks will not be performed.
117.It Fl m
118Instead of replacing the contents of the hints file
119with those found in the directories specified,
120.Dq merge
121in new entries.
122Directories recorded in the hints file by previous runs of
123.Nm
124are also rescanned for new shared libraries.
125.It Fl r
126List the current contents of the hints file
127on the standard output.
128The hints file is not modified.  The list of
129directories stored in the hints file is included.
130.It Fl s
131Do not scan the built-in system directory
132.Pq Dq /usr/lib
133for shared libraries.
134.It Fl v
135Switch on verbose mode.
136.El
137.Sh SECURITY
138Special care must be taken when loading shared libraries into the address
139space of
140.Ev set-user-Id
141programs.
142Whenever such a program is run by any user except the owner of the program,
143the dynamic linker
144will only load shared libraries from the hints
145file.
146In particular, the
147.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
148is not used to search for libraries.
149Thus, the role of ldconfig is dual.
150In
151addition to building a set of hints for quick lookup, it also serves to
152specify the trusted collection of directories from which shared objects can
153be safely loaded.
154.Sh ENVIRONMENT
155.Bl -tag -width OBJFORMATxxx -compact
156.It Ev OBJFORMAT
157Overrides
158.Pa /etc/objformat
159(see below) to determine whether
160.Fl aout
161or
162.Fl elf
163is the default.  If set, its value should be either
164.Ql aout
165or
166.Ql elf .
167.El
168.Sh FILES
169.Bl -tag -width /var/run/ld-elf.so.hintsxxx -compact
170.It Pa /var/run/ld.so.hints
171Standard hints file for the a.out dynamic linker.
172.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
173Standard hints file for the ELF dynamic linker.
174.It Pa /etc/ld.so.conf
175Conventional configuration file containing directory names for
176invocations with
177.Fl aout .
178.It Pa /etc/ld-elf.so.conf
179Conventional configuration file containing directory names for
180invocations with
181.Fl elf .
182.It Pa /etc/objformat
183Determines whether
184.Fl aout
185or
186.Fl elf
187is the default.  If present, it must consist of a single line
188containing either
189.Ql OBJFORMAT=aout
190or
191.Ql OBJFORMAT=elf .
192.El
193.Sh SEE ALSO
194.Xr ld 1 ,
195.Xr link 5
196.Sh HISTORY
197A
198.Nm
199utility first appeared in SunOS 4.0, it appeared in its current form
200in
201.Fx 1.1 .
202.Sh BUGS
203Some security checks (for example, verifying root ownership of
204added directories) are not performed when
205.Fl aout
206is specified.
207