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Any object code produced by compilers is usually linked with other pieces of object code (produced by the same or another compiler) by a type of program called a linker. The linker needs a great deal of information on each program entity. For example, to correctly link a function it needs its name, the number of arguments and their types, and ...
[citation needed] The file is generated alongside the object file during source compilation. Each source compilation generates a separate object file and link-time helper file. When the object files are linked, the compiler is executed again and uses the helper files to optimize code across the separately compiled object files. Plugins
For example, OS/360 and successors call the first format a load module and the second an object module. In this case the files have entirely different formats. [2] DOS and Windows also have different file formats for executable files and object files, such as Portable Executable for executables and COFF for object files in 32-bit and 64-bit ...
A linker or link editor is a computer program that combines intermediate software build files such as object and library files into a single executable file such a program or library. A linker is often part of a toolchain that includes a compiler and/or assembler that generates intermediate files that the linker processes.
Examples of this are the x86 calling conventions. Adhering to an ABI (which may or may not be officially standardized) is usually the job of a compiler , operating system, or library author. However, an application programmer may have to deal with an ABI directly when writing a program in a mix of programming languages, or even compiling a ...
Weak symbols can be used as a mechanism to provide default implementations of functions that can be replaced by more specialized (e.g. optimized) ones at link-time. The default implementation is then declared as weak, and, on certain targets, object files with strongly declared symbols are added to the linker command line.
A program that is configured to use a library can use either static-linking or dynamic-linking.Historically, libraries could only be static. [4] For static-linking (), the library is effectively embedded into the programs executable file, while for dynamic-linking the library can be loaded at runtime from a shared location, such as system files.
A linker is used to combine (pre-made) library files with the object file(s) of the application to form a single executable file. The object files that are used to generate an executable file are thus often produced at different times, and sometimes even by different languages (capable of generating the same object format).