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

← All discussions

Project / Subsystem

binutils / binutils

Date

2026-09-15

Proposer

Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>

Source type

public_inbox

Consensus

Proposed

Sentiment

—/10

Technical tradeoffs

• Hiding linker-internal symbols vs. providing source-level control for initialization/termination functions.
• Potential impact on dynamic linking behavior and runtime initialization/cleanup compared to the complexity of linker-level hiding.

View thread →

All attributes

project: binutils
subsystem: binutils
patch_id: —
discussion_id: aqim7jougG6iio7x@squeak.grove.modra.org
source_type: public_inbox
title: Re: [PATCH] elf: Hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions
headline: Reverted patch to hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions
tldr: Patch to hide DT_INIT/DT_FINI functions in ELF reverted due to negative community feedback.
proposer: Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>
consensus: Proposed
outcome: needs_revision
sentiment_score: —
technical_tradeoffs: • Hiding linker-internal symbols vs. providing source-level control for initialization/termination functions.
• Potential impact on dynamic linking behavior and runtime initialization/cleanup compared to the complexity of linker-level hiding.
series_id: —
series_role: standalone
series_parts: []
tags: • binutils
• elf
• linker
• abi
• reverted
url: https://inbox.sourceware.org/binutils/aqim7jougG6iio7x@squeak.grove.modra.org
bugzilla_url: —
date: 2026-09-15T00:00:00.000Z

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

Alan Modra has reverted a patch that aimed to hide DT_INIT and DT_FINI functions in ELF objects. The decision was made because the majority opinion was that ld hiding these functions is surprising, they can be hidden at the source level, and the impact of them not being hidden is small. There might even be reasons to keep them exported. The patch also introduced regressions that required further fixes.