Linking object code with ld gives multiple errors about missing shared libraries or symbols

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
  • gcc
  • binutils (ld)

Issue

  • A simple program is built to get object code using the following command:

g++ -c sample.cc -o sample.o

  • Linking the object code sample.o with ld gives multiple errors about missing shared libraries or symbols:

$ ld sample.o -o sample
ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol _start; defaulting to 0000000008048094
sample.o: In function _\_static\_initialization\_and\_destruction_0(int, int)':
sample.cc:(.text+0x23): undefined reference tostd::ios_base::Init::Init()'
sample.cc:(.text+0x2b): undefined reference to _\_dso\_handle'
sample.cc:(.text+0x3f): undefined reference to__cxa_atexit'
sample.o: In function _\_tcf\_0':
sample.cc:(.text+0x6c): undefined reference tostd::ios_base::Init::~Init()'
sample.o: In function main':
sample.cc:(.text+0x8e): undefined reference tostd::cout'
sample.cc:(.text+0x93): undefined reference to std::basic\_ostream&lt;char, std::char\_traits&lt;char&gt; >&amp; std::operator&lt;< &lt;std::char\_traits&lt;char&gt; >(std::basic\_ostream&lt;char, std::char_traits&lt;char&gt; >&amp;, char const\*)'
sample.cc:(.text+0x9b): undefined reference tostd::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >& std::endl<char, std::char_traits<char> >(std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)'
sample.cc:(.text+0xa3): undefined reference to std::ostream::operator&lt;&lt;(std::ostream&amp; (\*)(std::ostream&amp;))'
sample.o:(.eh\_frame+0x11): undefined reference to__gxx_personality_v0'

Resolution

  • This is expected behaviour. To link the object code into an executable, use g++ itself:

g++ -o sample sample.o

  • Alternatively, to use ld, the following command will work on i386:

ld --eh-frame-hdr -m elf_i386 --hash-style=gnu -dynamic-linker   /lib/ld-linux.so.2 -o sample \
      /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/../../../../lib/crt1.o   /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/../../../../lib/crti.o  \
     /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/crtbegin.o   -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2  -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2 \
     -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/../../../../lib  -L/lib/../lib -L/usr/lib/../lib sample.o  -lstdc++ -lm -lgcc_s -lgcc -lc \
     -lgcc_s -lgcc /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/crtend.o  /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/4.1.2/../../../../lib/crtn.o

  • Avoid using ld in the manner above unless absolutely necessary since the parameters in the above command work only on i386

Root Cause

  • gcc automatically adds all of the above linker parameters and passes them to ld. Invoking ld directly requires the user to manually provide all these arguments separately for each architecture.

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