Concept
Relocation (computing)
Related concepts (16)
Dynamic-link library
Dynamic-link library (DLL) is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems. These libraries usually have the DLL, OCX (for libraries containing ActiveX controls), or DRV (for legacy system drivers). The file formats for DLLs are the same as for Windows EXE files – that is, Portable Executable (PE) for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, and New Executable (NE) for 16-bit Windows. As with EXEs, DLLs can contain code, data, and resources, in any combination.
Binary File Descriptor library
The Binary File Descriptor library (BFD) is the GNU Project's main mechanism for the portable manipulation of s in a variety of s. , it supports approximately 50 file formats for some 25 instruction set architectures. When David Henkel-Wallace of Cygnus Support proposed developing the library as a way to open up new business opportunities for the company, Richard Stallman said that it would be difficult; David's response was that it wasn't such a "Big Fucking Deal". Abbreviated to "BFD", this became the library name.
Position-independent code
In computing, position-independent code (PIC) or position-independent executable (PIE) is a body of machine code that, being placed somewhere in the primary memory, executes properly regardless of its absolute address. PIC is commonly used for shared libraries, so that the same library code can be loaded at a location in each program's address space where it does not overlap with other memory in use by, for example, other shared libraries.
Loader (computing)
In computer systems a loader is the part of an operating system that is responsible for loading programs and libraries. It is one of the essential stages in the process of starting a program, as it places programs into memory and prepares them for execution. Loading a program involves either or copying the contents of the executable file containing the program instructions into memory, and then carrying out other required preparatory tasks to prepare the executable for running.
Object file
An object file is a computer file containing object code, that is, machine code output of an assembler or compiler. The object code is usually relocatable, and not usually directly executable. There are various formats for object files, and the same machine code can be packaged in different object file formats. An object file may also work like a shared library.
Code segment
In computing, a code segment, also known as a text segment or simply as text, is a portion of an or the corresponding section of the program's virtual address space that contains executable instructions. The term "segment" comes from the memory segment, which is a historical approach to memory management that has been succeeded by paging. When a program is stored in an object file, the code segment is a part of this file; when the loader places a program into memory so that it may be executed, various memory regions are allocated (in particular, as pages), corresponding to both the segments in the object files and to segments only needed at run time.
Linker (computing)
In computing, a linker or link editor is a computer system program that takes one or more s (generated by a compiler or an assembler) and combines them into a single executable file, library file, or another "object" file. A simpler version that writes its output directly to memory is called the loader, though loading is typically considered a separate process. Computer programs typically are composed of several parts or modules; these parts/modules do not need to be contained within a single , and in such cases refer to each other by means of symbols as addresses into other modules, which are mapped into memory addresses when linked for execution.
Static library
In computer science, a static library or statically-linked library is a set of routines, external functions and variables which are resolved in a caller at compile-time and copied into a target application by a compiler, linker, or binder, producing an and a stand-alone executable. This executable and the process of compiling it are both known as a static build of the program. Historically, libraries could only be static.
.bss
In computer programming, the block starting symbol (abbreviated to .bss or bss) is the portion of an , executable, or assembly language code that contains statically allocated variables that are declared but have not been assigned a value yet. It is often referred to as the "bss section" or "bss segment". Typically only the length of the bss section, but no data, is stored in the . The program loader allocates memory for the bss section when it loads the program. By placing variables with no value in the .
Portable Executable
The Portable Executable (PE) format is a for executables, , DLLs and others used in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems. The PE format is a data structure that encapsulates the information necessary for the Windows OS loader to manage the wrapped executable code. This includes dynamic library references for linking, API export and import tables, resource management data and thread-local storage (TLS) data. On NT operating systems, the PE format is used for EXE, DLL, SYS (device driver), MUI and other file types.