=pod =head1 NAME llvm-ld - LLVM linker =head1 SYNOPSIS B<llvm-ld> <options> <files> =head1 DESCRIPTION The B<llvm-ld> tool takes a set of LLVM bitcode files and links them together into a single LLVM bitcode file. The output bitcode file can be another bitcode file or an executable bitcode program. Using additional options, B<llvm-ld> is able to produce native code executables. The B<llvm-ld> tool is the main linker for LLVM. It is used to link together the output of LLVM front-end compilers and run "link time" optimizations (mostly the inter-procedural kind). The B<llvm-ld> tools attempts to mimic the interface provided by the default system linker so that it can act as a I<drop-in> replacement. =head2 Search Order When looking for objects specified on the command line, B<llvm-ld> will search for the object first in the current directory and then in the directory specified by the B<LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH> environment variable. If it cannot find the object, it fails. When looking for a library specified with the B<-l> option, B<llvm-ld> first attempts to load a file with that name from the current directory. If that fails, it looks for libI<library>.bc, libI<library>.a, or libI<library>.I<shared library extension>, in that order, in each directory added to the library search path with the B<-L> option. These directories are searched in the order they are specified. If the library cannot be located, then B<llvm-ld> looks in the directory specified by the B<LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH> environment variable. If it does not find a library there, it fails. The I<shared library extension> may be I<.so>, I<.dyld>, I<.dll>, or something different, depending upon the system. The B<-L> option is global. It does not matter where it is specified in the list of command line arguments; the directory is simply added to the search path and is applied to all libraries, preceding or succeeding, in the command line. =head2 Link order All object and bitcode files are linked first in the order they were specified on the command line. All library files are linked next. Some libraries may not be linked into the object program; see below. =head2 Library Linkage Object files and static bitcode objects are always linked into the output file. Library archives (.a files) load only the objects within the archive that define symbols needed by the output file. Hence, libraries should be listed after the object files and libraries which need them; otherwise, the library may not be linked in, and the dependent library will not have its undefined symbols defined. =head2 Native code generation The B<llvm-ld> program has limited support for native code generation, when using the B<-native> or B<-native-cbe> options. Native code generation is performed by converting the linked bitcode into native assembly (.s) or C code and running the system compiler (typically gcc) on the result. =head1 OPTIONS =head2 General Options =over =item B<-help> Print a summary of command line options. =item B<-v> Specifies verbose mode. In this mode the linker will print additional information about the actions it takes, programs it executes, etc. =item B<-stats> Print statistics. =item B<-time-passes> Record the amount of time needed for each pass and print it to standard error. =back =head2 Input/Output Options =over =item B<-o> F<filename> This overrides the default output file and specifies the name of the file that should be generated by the linker. By default, B<llvm-ld> generates a file named F<a.out> for compatibility with B<ld>. The output will be written to F<filename>. =item B<-l>F<name> This option specifies the F<name> of a library to search when resolving symbols for the program. Only the base name should be specified as F<name>, without a F<lib> prefix or any suffix. =item B<-L>F<Path> This option tells B<llvm-ld> to look in F<Path> to find any library subsequently specified with the B<-l> option. The paths will be searched in the order in which they are specified on the command line. If the library is still not found, a small set of system specific directories will also be searched. Note that libraries specified with the B<-l> option that occur I<before> any B<-L> options will not search the paths given by the B<-L> options following it. =item B<-link-as-library> Link the bitcode files together as a library, not an executable. In this mode, undefined symbols will be permitted. =item B<-r> An alias for -link-as-library. =item B<-march=>C<target> Specifies the kind of machine for which code or assembly should be generated. =item B<-native> Generate a native machine code executable. When generating native executables, B<llvm-ld> first checks for a bitcode version of the library and links it in, if necessary. If the library is missing, B<llvm-ld> skips it. Then, B<llvm-ld> links in the same libraries as native code. In this way, B<llvm-ld> should be able to link in optimized bitcode subsets of common libraries and then link in any part of the library that hasn't been converted to bitcode. =item B<-native-cbe> Generate a native machine code executable with the LLVM C backend. This option is identical to the B<-native> option, but uses the C backend to generate code for the program instead of an LLVM native code generator. =back =head2 Optimization Options =over =item B<-O0> An alias for the -O1 option. =item B<-O1> Optimize for linking speed, not execution speed. The optimizer will attempt to reduce the size of the linked program to reduce I/O but will not otherwise perform any link-time optimizations. =item B<-O2> Perform only the minimal or required set of scalar optimizations. =item B<-03> An alias for the -O2 option. =item B<-04> Perform the standard link time inter-procedural optimizations. This will attempt to optimize the program taking the entire program into consideration. =item B<-O5> Perform aggressive link time optimizations. This is the same as -O4 but works more aggressively to optimize the program. =item B<-disable-inlining> Do not run the inlining pass. Functions will not be inlined into other functions. =item B<-disable-opt> Completely disable optimization. The various B<-On> options will be ignored and no link time optimization passes will be run. =item B<-disable-internalize> Do not mark all symbols as internal. =item B<-verify-each> Run the verification pass after each of the passes to verify intermediate results. =item B<-strip-all> Strip all debug and symbol information from the executable to make it smaller. =item B<-strip-debug> Strip all debug information from the executable to make it smaller. =item B<-s> An alias for B<-strip-all>. =item B<-S> An alias for B<-strip-debug>. =item B<-export-dynamic> An alias for B<-disable-internalize> =item B<-load> F<module> Load an optimization module, F<module>, which is expected to be a dynamic library that provides the function name C<RunOptimizations>. This function will be passed the PassManager, and the optimization level (values 0-5 based on the B<-On> option). This function may add passes to the PassManager that should be run. This feature allows the optimization passes of B<llvm-ld> to be extended. =item B<-post-link-opt>F<Path> Run post-link optimization program. After linking is completed a bitcode file will be generated. It will be passed to the program specified by F<Path> as the first argument. The second argument to the program will be the name of a temporary file into which the program should place its optimized output. For example, the "no-op optimization" would be a simple shell script: #!/bin/bash cp $1 $2 =back =head1 EXIT STATUS If B<llvm-ld> succeeds, it will exit with 0 return code. If an error occurs, it will exit with a non-zero return code. =head1 ENVIRONMENT The C<LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH> environment variable is used to find bitcode libraries. Any paths specified in this variable will be searched after the C<-L> options. =head1 SEE ALSO L<llvm-link|llvm-link> =head1 AUTHORS Maintained by the LLVM Team (L<http://llvm.org>). =cut