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gerrit-public.fairphone.software / toolchain / llvm-project / df06d203e5e60b2a468ce04703e905a8623699d1 / . / lld / docs / index.rst
blob: 88c6f217531a3ccc262460b12f3b3037506a7880 [file] [log] [blame]
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]1.. _index:
2
3lld - The LLVM Linker
4=====================
5
Rui Ueyamadf06d202015-11-20 22:47:42 +0000[diff] [blame^]6lld contains two linkers whose architectures are different from each other.
7One is a linker that implements native features directly.
8They are in `COFF` or `ELF` directories. Other directories contains the other
9implementation that is designed to be a set of modular code for creating
10linker tools. This document covers mainly the latter.
11For the former, please read README.md in `COFF` directory.
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]12
13* End-User Features:
14
15 * Compatible with existing linker options
16 * Reads standard Object Files (e.g. ELF, Mach-O, PE/COFF)
17 * Writes standard Executable Files (e.g. ELF, Mach-O, PE)
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]18 * Remove clang's reliance on "the system linker"
19 * Uses the LLVM `"UIUC" BSD-Style license`__.
20
21* Applications:
22
23 * Modular design
24 * Support cross linking
25 * Easy to add new CPU support
26 * Can be built as static tool or library
27
28* Design and Implementation:
29
30 * Extensive unit tests
31 * Internal linker model can be dumped/read to textual format
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]32 * Additional linking features can be plugged in as "passes"
33 * OS specific and CPU specific code factored out
34
35Why a new linker?
36-----------------
37
38The fact that clang relies on whatever linker tool you happen to have installed
39means that clang has been very conservative adopting features which require a
40recent linker.
41
42In the same way that the MC layer of LLVM has removed clang's reliance on the
43system assembler tool, the lld project will remove clang's reliance on the
44system linker tool.
45
46
47Current Status
48--------------
49
Ed Masteaaa317a2014-12-17 19:14:57 +0000[diff] [blame]50lld can self host on x86-64 FreeBSD and Linux and x86 Windows.
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]51
Michael J. Spencer1dd27662014-03-07 01:42:19 +0000[diff] [blame]52All SingleSource tests in test-suite pass on x86-64 Linux.
Michael J. Spencer31dffbb2013-01-15 02:00:48 +0000[diff] [blame]53
Simon Atanasyane747a442014-09-08 14:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]54All SingleSource and MultiSource tests in the LLVM test-suite
55pass on MIPS 32-bit little-endian Linux.
56
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]57Source
58------
59
60lld is available in the LLVM SVN repository::
61
Nico Weber9b839f82014-12-23 18:52:41 +0000[diff] [blame]62 svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lld/trunk lld
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]63
64lld is also available via the read-only git mirror::
65
66 git clone http://llvm.org/git/lld.git
67
Nico Weber9b839f82014-12-23 18:52:41 +0000[diff] [blame]68Put it in llvm's tools/ directory, rerun cmake, then build target lld.
69
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]70Contents
71--------
72
73.. toctree::
74 :maxdepth: 2
75
76 design
Michael J. Spencer365f1ec2012-04-25 19:34:24 +0000[diff] [blame]77 getting_started
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]78 development
Rui Ueyama3e373262014-03-05 22:35:32 +0000[diff] [blame]79 windows_support
Michael J. Spencerd01c8fe2012-04-08 02:06:04 +0000[diff] [blame]80 open_projects
81 sphinx_intro
82
83Indices and tables
84------------------
85
86* :ref:`genindex`
87* :ref:`search`
88
89__ http://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html#license