prelink(8) prelink(8)
NAME
prelink - prelink ELF shared libraries and binaries to speed up startup
time
SYNOPSIS
prelink [OPTION...] [FILES]
DESCRIPTION
prelink is a program which modifies ELF shared libraries and ELF dynam-
ically linked binaries, so that the time which dynamic linker needs for
their relocation at startup significantly decreases and also due to
fewer relocations the run-time memory consumption decreases too (espe-
cially number of unshareable pages). Such prelinking information is
only used if all its dependant libraries have not changed since pre-
linking, otherwise programs are relocated normally.
prelink first collects ELF binaries which should be prelinked and all
the ELF shared libraries they depend on. Then it assigns a unique vir-
tual address space slot for each library and relinks the shared library
to that base address. When the dynamic linker attempts to load such a
library, unless that virtual address space slot is already occupied, it
will map it into the given slot. After this is done, prelink with the
help of dynamic linker resolves all relocations in the binary or
library against its dependant libraries and stores the relocations into
the ELF object. It also stores a list of all dependant libraries
together with their checksums into the binary or library. For bina-
ries, it also computes a list of conflicts (relocations which resolve
differently in the binary’s symbol search scope than in the smaller
search scope in which the dependant library was resolved) and stores it
into a special ELF section.
At runtime, the dynamic linker first checks whether all dependant
libraries were successfully mapped into their designated address space
slots and whether they have not changed since the prelinking was done.
If all checks are successful, the dynamic linker just replays the list
of conflicts (which is usually significantly shorter than total number
of relocations) instead of relocating each library.
OPTIONS
-v --verbose
Verbose mode. Print the virtual address slot assignment to
libraries and print what binary or library is currently being
prelinked.
-n --dry-run
Don’t actually prelink anything, just collect the bina-
ries/libraries, assign them addresses and with -v print what
would be prelinked.
-a --all
Prelink all binaries and dependant libraries found in directory
hierarchies specified in /etc/prelink.conf. Normally only bina-
ries specified from command line and their dependant libraries
are prelinked.
-m --conserve-memory
When assigning addresses to libraries, allow overlap of address
space slots provided that the two libraries are not present
together in any of the binaries or libraries. This results in
smaller virtual address space range used for libraries, on the
other side if during incremental prelinking prelink sees a
binary which puts together two libraries which were not present
together in any other binary and were given the same virtual
address space slots, then the binary cannot be prelinked. Nor-
mally each library is assigned a unique virtual address space
slot.
-R --random
When assigning addresses to libraries, start with random address
within architecture dependant virtual address space range. This
can make some buffer overflow attacks slightly harder to
exploit, because libraries are not present on the same addresses
accross different machines. Normally, assigning virtual
addresses starts at the bottom of architecture dependant range.
-r --reloc-only=ADDRESS
Instead of prelinking, just relink given shared libraries to the
specified base address.
-N --no-update-cache
Don’t save cache file after prelinking. Normally, list of
libraries (and with -m binaries also) is stored into /etc/pre-
link.cache file together with their given address space slots
and dependencies, so it can be used during incremental prelink-
ing (prelinking without -a option).
-c --config-file=CONFIG
Specify alternate config file instead of default /etc/pre-
link.conf.
-C --cache-file=CACHE
Specify alternate cache file instead of default /etc/pre-
link.cache.
-f --force
Force re-prelinking even for already prelinked objects for which
no dependencies changed. This option causes new virtual address
space slots to be assigned to all libraries. Normally, only
binaries or libraries which are either not prelinked yet, or
some of their dependencies changed, are prelinked.
-q --quick
Run prelink in quick mode. This mode checks just mtime and
ctime timestamps of libraries and binaries stored in the cache
file. If they are unchanged from the last prelink run, it is
assumed that the library in question did not change and no pars-
ing of its ELF headers and verifying it is done.
-p --print-cache
Print the content of the cache file (normally /etc/pre-
link.cache) and exit.
--dynamic-linker=LDSO
Specify alternate dynamic linker instead of the default.
--ld-library-path=PATH
Specify special LD_LIBRARY_PATH to be used when prelink queries
dynamic linker about symbol resolution details.
--libs-only
Only prelink ELF shared libraries, don’t prelink any binaries.
-h --dereference
When processing command line directory arguments, follow sym-
bolic links when walking directory hierarchies.
-l --one-file-system
When processing command line directory arguments, limit direc-
tory tree walk to a single filesystem.
-u --undo
Revert binaries and libraries to their original content before
they were prelinked. Without -a option this causes only the
binaries and libraries specified on the command line to be
reverted to their original state (and e.g. not their dependen-
cies). If used together with -a option all binaries and
libraries from command line, all their dependencies, all bina-
ries found in directories specified on command line and in con-
fig file and all their dependencies will be undone.
-y --verify
Verifies a prelinked binary or library. This option can be used
only on a single binary or library. It first applies an --undo
operation on the file, then prelinks just that file again and
compares this with the original file. If both are identical, it
prints the file after --undo operation on standard output and
exit with zero status. Otherwise it exits with error status.
Thus if --verify operation returns zero exit status and its
standard output is equal to the content of the binary or library
before prelinking, you can be sure that nobody modified the
binaries or libraries after prelinking. Similarly with message
digests and checksums (unless you trigger the unprobable case of
modified file and original file having the same digest or check-
sum).
--md5 This is similar to --verify option, except instead of outputing
the content of the binary or library before prelinking to stan-
dard output MD5 digest is printed. See md5sum(1).
--sha This is similar to --verify option, except instead of outputing
the content of the binary or library before prelinking to stan-
dard output SHA1 digest is printed. See sha1sum(1).
--exec-shield --no-exec-shield
On IA-32, if kernel supports Exec-Shield, prelink attempts to
lay libraries out similarly to how kernel places them (i.e. if
possible below the binary, most widely used into the ASCII armor
zone). These switches allow to override prelink detection of
whether Exec-Shield is supported or not.
-b --black-list=PATH
This option allows to blacklist certain paths, libraries or
binaries. Prelink will not touch them during prelinking.
-o --undo-output=FILE
When doing --undo operation, don’t overwrite the prelinked
binary or library with its original content (before it was pre-
linked), but save that into the specified file.
-V --version
Print version and exit.
-? --help
Print short help and exit.
ARGUMENTS
Command line arguments should be either directory hierarchies (in which
case -l and -h options apply), or particular ELF binaries or shared
libraries. Unlike when walking directory hierarchies, specifying a
shared library explicitely on the command line causes it to be pre-
linked even if no binary is linked against it. Normally, only binaries
are collected together with all libraries they depend on.
EXAMPLES
# /usr/sbin/prelink -avmR
will prelink all binaries found in directories specified in
/etc/prelink.conf and all their dependant libraries, assigning
libraries unique virtual address space slots only if they ever appear
together and will start assigning at random address.
# /usr/sbin/prelink -vm ~/bin/progx
will prelink ~/bin/progx program and all its dependant libraries
(unless they were prelinked already e.g. during prelink -a invocation).
# /usr/sbin/prelink -au
will revert all binaries and libraries to their original content.
# /usr/sbin/prelink -y /bin/prelinked_prog > /tmp/original_prog;
echo $? will verify whether /bin/prelinked_prog hasn’t been
changed.
FILES
/etc/prelink.cache Binary file containing list of prelinked libraries
and/or binaries together with their assigned vir-
tual address space slots and dependencies. You can
run /usr/sbin/prelink -p to see what is stored in
there.
/etc/prelink.conf Configuration file containing a list of directory
hierarchies which can contain ELF shared libraries
or binaries which should be prelinked. This con-
figuration file is used in -a mode to find binaries
which should be prelinked and also no matter
whether -a is given or not to limit which dependant
shared libraries should be prelinked. If prelink
finds a dependant library of some binary or other
library which is not present in any of the directo-
ries specified in /etc/prelink.conf and neither in
any of the directories specified on the command
line, then it cannot be prelinked. Each line of
the config file should be either comment starting
with #, or a directory name, or a blacklist speci-
fication. Directory names can be prefixed by -l
switch, meaning tree walk of the given directory
will be only limited to one filesystem, or -h
switch, meaning tree walk of the given directory
will follow symbolic links. Blacklist specifica-
tion should be prefixed by -b and optionally also
-l or -h if needed. It should be either absolute
directory name (in that case all files in that
directory hierarchy will be blacklisted), absolute
filename (in that case that particular library or
binary will not be touched by prelink) or a glob
pattern without / character in it (then all files
matching that glob in any directory will be black-
listed).
SEE ALSO
ldd(1), ld.so(8).
BUGS
prelink Some architectures, including IA-64, HPPA and MIPS, are not yet
supported.
AUTHORS
Jakub Jelinek <jakub@redhat.com>.
23 November 2004 prelink(8)
