Linux linker tables - past, present and future

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One Line Summary

Linux may soon have linker table support, where did this come from and what does this mean?

Abstract

Linker table support was a concept homegrown out of the iPXE project to mostly help avoid code bit rot issue, it however also made use of the linker to sort out run time initialization code. Supporting this in Linux has meant reviewing existing custom Linux section uses and providing a generic API for the two basic types implicitly found defined and used:

o Section ranges o Section tables

This presentation will review what iPXE’s original linker table work consisted of, and what this is shaping up to be inside Linux including section ranges and the modern Linux linker table. We’ll review built-in support, how to support this in modules, and most importantly future uses inside Linux.

Tags

linux, linker table, section ranges, dead code

Presentation Materials

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