Re: [PATCH] elf: Hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions

← All discussions

Project / Subsystem

binutils / elf

Date

2026-09-12

Proposer

Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>

Source type

public_inbox

Consensus

Proposed

Sentiment

—/10

Technical tradeoffs

• Automatically hiding `_init` and `_fini` from .dynsym simplifies symbol tables but deviates slightly from a strict interpretation of user-supplied symbols.
• This change aligns with common practice and improves the clarity of dynamic linking information.

View thread →

All attributes

project: binutils
subsystem: elf
patch_id: —
discussion_id: aqSgvUFtjNhIpqC-@squeak.grove.modra.org
source_type: public_inbox
title: Re: [PATCH] elf: Hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions
headline: elf: Hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions
tldr: Reviewer OK'd patch to hide DT_INIT/DT_FINI functions, agreeing they are special and should be hidden by GNU ld.
proposer: Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>
consensus: Proposed
outcome: ready
sentiment_score: —
technical_tradeoffs: • Automatically hiding `_init` and `_fini` from .dynsym simplifies symbol tables but deviates slightly from a strict interpretation of user-supplied symbols.
• This change aligns with common practice and improves the clarity of dynamic linking information.
series_id: —
series_role: standalone
series_parts: []
tags: • elf
• linker
• symbol
url: https://inbox.sourceware.org/binutils/aqSgvUFtjNhIpqC-@squeak.grove.modra.org
bugzilla_url: —
date: 2026-09-12T00:00:00.000Z

Re: [PATCH] elf: Hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions

This discussion concerns a patch to hide _init and _fini functions by default in GNU ld, which are associated with DT_INIT and DT_FINI dynamic section entries. While the ELF specification is silent on this exact behavior, the reviewer agrees that these functions are special and that GNU ld correctly handles them by hiding them from the dynamic symbol table (.dynsym).