1DLOPEN(3)                  Linux Programmer's Manual                 DLOPEN(3)
2
3
4

NAME

6       dlclose, dlopen, dlmopen - open and close a shared object
7

SYNOPSIS

9       #include <dlfcn.h>
10
11       void *dlopen(const char *filename, int flags);
12       int dlclose(void *handle);
13
14       #define _GNU_SOURCE
15       #include <dlfcn.h>
16
17       void *dlmopen(Lmid_t lmid, const char *filename, int flags);
18
19       Link with -ldl.
20

DESCRIPTION

22   dlopen()
23       The  function dlopen() loads the dynamic shared object (shared library)
24       file named by the null-terminated string filename and returns an opaque
25       "handle"  for  the  loaded  object.  This handle is employed with other
26       functions in the dlopen API, such as  dlsym(3),  dladdr(3),  dlinfo(3),
27       and dlclose().
28
29       If  filename is NULL, then the returned handle is for the main program.
30       If filename contains a slash ("/"), then it is interpreted as a  (rela‐
31       tive or absolute) pathname.  Otherwise, the dynamic linker searches for
32       the object as follows (see ld.so(8) for further details):
33
34       o   (ELF only) If the calling object (i.e., the shared library or  exe‐
35           cutable from which dlopen() is called) contains a DT_RPATH tag, and
36           does not contain a DT_RUNPATH tag, then the directories  listed  in
37           the DT_RPATH tag are searched.
38
39       o   If, at the time that the program was started, the environment vari‐
40           able LD_LIBRARY_PATH was defined to contain a colon-separated  list
41           of  directories,  then these are searched.  (As a security measure,
42           this variable is ignored  for  set-user-ID  and  set-group-ID  pro‐
43           grams.)
44
45       o   (ELF  only)  If  the calling object contains a DT_RUNPATH tag, then
46           the directories listed in that tag are searched.
47
48       o   The cache file  /etc/ld.so.cache  (maintained  by  ldconfig(8))  is
49           checked to see whether it contains an entry for filename.
50
51       o   The directories /lib and /usr/lib are searched (in that order).
52
53       If  the  object  specified by filename has dependencies on other shared
54       objects, then these are also automatically loaded by the dynamic linker
55       using  the  same  rules.  (This process may occur recursively, if those
56       objects in turn have dependencies, and so on.)
57
58       One of the following two values must be included in flags:
59
60       RTLD_LAZY
61              Perform lazy binding.  Resolve symbols only  as  the  code  that
62              references them is executed.  If the symbol is never referenced,
63              then it is never resolved.  (Lazy binding is performed only  for
64              function  references; references to variables are always immedi‐
65              ately bound when the shared  object  is  loaded.)   Since  glibc
66              2.1.1,  this flag is overridden by the effect of the LD_BIND_NOW
67              environment variable.
68
69       RTLD_NOW
70              If  this  value  is  specified,  or  the  environment   variable
71              LD_BIND_NOW  is  set to a nonempty string, all undefined symbols
72              in the shared object are resolved before dlopen()  returns.   If
73              this cannot be done, an error is returned.
74
75       Zero or more of the following values may also be ORed in flags:
76
77       RTLD_GLOBAL
78              The symbols defined by this shared object will be made available
79              for symbol resolution of subsequently loaded shared objects.
80
81       RTLD_LOCAL
82              This is the converse of RTLD_GLOBAL, and the default if  neither
83              flag  is  specified.   Symbols defined in this shared object are
84              not made available to resolve references in subsequently  loaded
85              shared objects.
86
87       RTLD_NODELETE (since glibc 2.2)
88              Do not unload the shared object during dlclose().  Consequently,
89              the object's static and global variables are  not  reinitialized
90              if the object is reloaded with dlopen() at a later time.
91
92       RTLD_NOLOAD (since glibc 2.2)
93              Don't  load  the shared object.  This can be used to test if the
94              object is already resident (dlopen() returns NULL if it is  not,
95              or  the  object's handle if it is resident).  This flag can also
96              be used to promote the flags on a shared object that is  already
97              loaded.  For example, a shared object that was previously loaded
98              with RTLD_LOCAL can be reopened with RTLD_NOLOAD | RTLD_GLOBAL.
99
100       RTLD_DEEPBIND (since glibc 2.3.4)
101              Place the lookup scope of the  symbols  in  this  shared  object
102              ahead of the global scope.  This means that a self-contained ob‐
103              ject will use its own symbols in preference  to  global  symbols
104              with  the  same name contained in objects that have already been
105              loaded.
106
107       If filename is NULL, then the returned handle is for the main  program.
108       When given to dlsym(3), this handle causes a search for a symbol in the
109       main program, followed by all shared objects loaded at program startup,
110       and   then  all  shared  objects  loaded  by  dlopen()  with  the  flag
111       RTLD_GLOBAL.
112
113       Symbol references in the shared object are resolved using  (in  order):
114       symbols  in the link map of objects loaded for the main program and its
115       dependencies; symbols in shared objects (and their  dependencies)  that
116       were  previously  opened  with dlopen() using the RTLD_GLOBAL flag; and
117       definitions in the shared object itself (and any dependencies that were
118       loaded for that object).
119
120       Any  global symbols in the executable that were placed into its dynamic
121       symbol table by ld(1) can also be used to resolve references in  a  dy‐
122       namically  loaded  shared object.  Symbols may be placed in the dynamic
123       symbol table either because the executable was  linked  with  the  flag
124       "-rdynamic" (or, synonymously, "--export-dynamic"), which causes all of
125       the executable's global symbols to be placed in the dynamic symbol  ta‐
126       ble,  or because ld(1) noted a dependency on a symbol in another object
127       during static linking.
128
129       If the same shared object is opened again with dlopen(), the  same  ob‐
130       ject handle is returned.  The dynamic linker maintains reference counts
131       for object handles, so a dynamically loaded shared object  is  not  de‐
132       allocated  until  dlclose()  has  been  called  on  it as many times as
133       dlopen() has succeeded on it.  Constructors (see below) are called only
134       when  the  object is actually loaded into memory (i.e., when the refer‐
135       ence count increases to 1).
136
137       A subsequent dlopen() call that  loads  the  same  shared  object  with
138       RTLD_NOW may force symbol resolution for a shared object earlier loaded
139       with RTLD_LAZY.  Similarly, an object that was previously  opened  with
140       RTLD_LOCAL can be promoted to RTLD_GLOBAL in a subsequent dlopen().
141
142       If dlopen() fails for any reason, it returns NULL.
143
144   dlmopen()
145       This function performs the same task as dlopen()—the filename and flags
146       arguments, as well as the return value, are the same,  except  for  the
147       differences noted below.
148
149       The  dlmopen()  function differs from dlopen() primarily in that it ac‐
150       cepts an additional argument, lmid, that specifies  the  link-map  list
151       (also  referred to as a namespace) in which the shared object should be
152       loaded.  (By comparison, dlopen() adds the  dynamically  loaded  shared
153       object  to  the  same  namespace  as  the  shared object from which the
154       dlopen() call is made.)  The Lmid_t  type  is  an  opaque  handle  that
155       refers to a namespace.
156
157       The  lmid argument is either the ID of an existing namespace (which can
158       be obtained using the dlinfo(3) RTLD_DI_LMID request)  or  one  of  the
159       following special values:
160
161       LM_ID_BASE
162              Load  the  shared object in the initial namespace (i.e., the ap‐
163              plication's namespace).
164
165       LM_ID_NEWLM
166              Create a new namespace and load the shared object in that  name‐
167              space.   The object must have been correctly linked to reference
168              all of the other shared objects that it requires, since the  new
169              namespace is initially empty.
170
171       If  filename  is  NULL,  then  the  only  permitted  value  for lmid is
172       LM_ID_BASE.
173
174   dlclose()
175       The function dlclose() decrements the reference count  on  the  dynami‐
176       cally loaded shared object referred to by handle.
177
178       If  the  object's  reference count drops to zero and no symbols in this
179       object are required by other objects, then the object is unloaded after
180       first calling any destructors defined for the object.  (Symbols in this
181       object might be required in another  object  because  this  object  was
182       opened with the RTLD_GLOBAL flag and one of its symbols satisfied a re‐
183       location in another object.)
184
185       All shared objects that were automatically loaded when dlopen() was in‐
186       voked on the object referred to by handle are recursively closed in the
187       same manner.
188
189       A successful return from dlclose() does not guarantee that the  symbols
190       associated with handle are removed from the caller's address space.  In
191       addition to references resulting from explicit dlopen() calls, a shared
192       object  may have been implicitly loaded (and reference counted) because
193       of dependencies in other shared objects.  Only when all references have
194       been released can the shared object be removed from the address space.
195

RETURN VALUE

197       On  success,  dlopen()  and  dlmopen() return a non-NULL handle for the
198       loaded object.  On error (file could not be found,  was  not  readable,
199       had the wrong format, or caused errors during loading), these functions
200       return NULL.
201
202       On success, dlclose() returns 0; on error, it returns a nonzero value.
203
204       Errors from these functions can be diagnosed using dlerror(3).
205

VERSIONS

207       dlopen() and dlclose() are present in glibc 2.0 and  later.   dlmopen()
208       first appeared in glibc 2.3.4.
209

ATTRIBUTES

211       For  an  explanation  of  the  terms  used  in  this  section,  see at‐
212       tributes(7).
213
214       ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
215Interface                                   Attribute     Value   
216       ├────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
217dlopen(), dlmopen(), dlclose()              │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
218       └────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
219

CONFORMING TO

221       POSIX.1-2001 describes dlclose() and dlopen().  The dlmopen()  function
222       is a GNU extension.
223
224       The  RTLD_NOLOAD, RTLD_NODELETE, and RTLD_DEEPBIND flags are GNU exten‐
225       sions; the first two of these flags are also present on Solaris.
226

NOTES

228   dlmopen() and namespaces
229       A link-map list defines an isolated namespace  for  the  resolution  of
230       symbols  by  the  dynamic linker.  Within a namespace, dependent shared
231       objects are implicitly loaded according to the usual rules, and  symbol
232       references are likewise resolved according to the usual rules, but such
233       resolution is confined to the definitions provided by the objects  that
234       have been (explicitly and implicitly) loaded into the namespace.
235
236       The  dlmopen()  function  permits  object-load isolation—the ability to
237       load a shared object in a new namespace without exposing  the  rest  of
238       the  application to the symbols made available by the new object.  Note
239       that the use of the RTLD_LOCAL flag is not sufficient for this purpose,
240       since it prevents a shared object's symbols from being available to any
241       other shared object.  In some cases, we may want to  make  the  symbols
242       provided  by  a dynamically loaded shared object available to (a subset
243       of) other shared objects without exposing those symbols to  the  entire
244       application.   This  can  be achieved by using a separate namespace and
245       the RTLD_GLOBAL flag.
246
247       The dlmopen() function also can be used  to  provide  better  isolation
248       than  the  RTLD_LOCAL  flag.  In particular, shared objects loaded with
249       RTLD_LOCAL may be promoted to RTLD_GLOBAL if they are  dependencies  of
250       another shared object loaded with RTLD_GLOBAL.  Thus, RTLD_LOCAL is in‐
251       sufficient to isolate a loaded shared object except in  the  (uncommon)
252       case  where  one  has explicit control over all shared object dependen‐
253       cies.
254
255       Possible uses of dlmopen() are plugins where the author of the  plugin-
256       loading  framework can't trust the plugin authors and does not wish any
257       undefined symbols from the plugin framework to be  resolved  to  plugin
258       symbols.  Another use is to load the same object more than once.  With‐
259       out the use of dlmopen(), this would require the creation  of  distinct
260       copies  of  the  shared  object  file.   Using  dlmopen(),  this can be
261       achieved by loading the same shared object file  into  different  name‐
262       spaces.
263
264       The glibc implementation supports a maximum of 16 namespaces.
265
266   Initialization and finalization functions
267       Shared  objects may export functions using the __attribute__((construc‐
268       tor)) and __attribute__((destructor)) function attributes.  Constructor
269       functions  are  executed  before dlopen() returns, and destructor func‐
270       tions are executed before dlclose() returns.  A shared object  may  ex‐
271       port multiple constructors and destructors, and priorities can be asso‐
272       ciated with each function to determine the order in which they are exe‐
273       cuted.   See  the gcc info pages (under "Function attributes") for fur‐
274       ther information.
275
276       An older method of (partially) achieving the same result is via the use
277       of two special symbols recognized by the linker: _init and _fini.  If a
278       dynamically loaded shared object exports a routine named _init(),  then
279       that  code  is  executed after loading a shared object, before dlopen()
280       returns.  If the shared object exports a routine  named  _fini(),  then
281       that  routine  is  called  just before the object is unloaded.  In this
282       case, one must avoid linking against the system  startup  files,  which
283       contain  default versions of these files; this can be done by using the
284       gcc(1) -nostartfiles command-line option.
285
286       Use of _init and _fini is now deprecated in favor of the aforementioned
287       constructors and destructors, which among other advantages, permit mul‐
288       tiple initialization and finalization functions to be defined.
289
290       Since glibc 2.2.3, atexit(3) can be used to register  an  exit  handler
291       that is automatically called when a shared object is unloaded.
292
293   History
294       These functions are part of the dlopen API, derived from SunOS.
295

BUGS

297       As  at  glibc  2.24,  specifying  the RTLD_GLOBAL flag when calling dl‐
298       mopen() generates an error.  Furthermore, specifying  RTLD_GLOBAL  when
299       calling  dlopen()  results  in a program crash (SIGSEGV) if the call is
300       made from any object loaded in a namespace other than the initial name‐
301       space.
302

EXAMPLES

304       The  program below loads the (glibc) math library, looks up the address
305       of the cos(3) function, and prints the cosine of 2.0.  The following is
306       an example of building and running the program:
307
308           $ cc dlopen_demo.c -ldl
309           $ ./a.out
310           -0.416147
311
312   Program source
313
314       #include <stdio.h>
315       #include <stdlib.h>
316       #include <dlfcn.h>
317       #include <gnu/lib-names.h>  /* Defines LIBM_SO (which will be a
318                                      string such as "libm.so.6") */
319       int
320       main(void)
321       {
322           void *handle;
323           double (*cosine)(double);
324           char *error;
325
326           handle = dlopen(LIBM_SO, RTLD_LAZY);
327           if (!handle) {
328               fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", dlerror());
329               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
330           }
331
332           dlerror();    /* Clear any existing error */
333
334           cosine = (double (*)(double)) dlsym(handle, "cos");
335
336           /* According to the ISO C standard, casting between function
337              pointers and 'void *', as done above, produces undefined results.
338              POSIX.1-2001 and POSIX.1-2008 accepted this state of affairs and
339              proposed the following workaround:
340
341                  *(void **) (&cosine) = dlsym(handle, "cos");
342
343              This (clumsy) cast conforms with the ISO C standard and will
344              avoid any compiler warnings.
345
346              The 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 to POSIX.1-2008 improved matters
347              by requiring that conforming implementations support casting
348              'void *' to a function pointer.  Nevertheless, some compilers
349              (e.g., gcc with the '-pedantic' option) may complain about the
350              cast used in this program. */
351
352           error = dlerror();
353           if (error != NULL) {
354               fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", error);
355               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
356           }
357
358           printf("%f\n", (*cosine)(2.0));
359           dlclose(handle);
360           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
361       }
362

SEE ALSO

364       ld(1),  ldd(1),  pldd(1),  dl_iterate_phdr(3),  dladdr(3),  dlerror(3),
365       dlinfo(3), dlsym(3), rtld-audit(7), ld.so(8), ldconfig(8)
366
367       gcc info pages, ld info pages
368

COLOPHON

370       This page is part of release 5.13 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
371       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
372       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
373       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
374
375
376
377Linux                             2021-03-22                         DLOPEN(3)
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