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What library does ld option -lrt refer to (Bionic libc)?


What does this option to ld mean?

-lrt

I know to some degree it means that ld is looking for the library with real-time extensions, but after searching extensively, I couldn't find an exact definition (or which library) this is referring to.

With Bionic (android) libc, the android NDK docs detail that this (along with pthreads) has been integrated.

I ask because it seems to be implicit (ie when I invoke the compiler, a custom-compiled gdc, directly, I get a message saying that ld cannot find -lrt)

EDIT

From the Bionic Overview

Bionic's C library comes with its own pthread implementation bundled in. This is different from other historical C libraries which:

- place it in an external library (-lpthread)
- play linker tricks with weak symbols at dynamic link time

The support for real-time features (a.k.a. -lrt) is also bundled in the C library.

The problem is that collect2 is passing the option -lrt (and also -lpthreads) to ld.

dan@devbox:~/projects/gdc_test/jni/src$ $DC gdc_test.d -v -mthumb
Using built-in specs.
Target: arm-linux-androideabi
Configured with: /arm/ndk-git/src/build/../gcc/gcc-4.4.3/configure --prefix=/arm/ndk-git/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86 --target=arm-linux-androideabi --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --enable-languages=c,c++ --with-gmp=/arm/ndk-git/build_run/temp-install --with-mpfr=/arm/ndk-git/build_run/temp-install --disable-libssp --enable-threads --disable-nls --disable-libmudflap --disable-libgomp --disable-libstdc__-v3 --disable-sjlj-exceptions --disable-shared --disable-tls --enable-languages=c,d,c++ --enable-lto --with-float=soft --with-fpu=vfp --with-arch=armv5te --enable-target-optspace --enable-shared--prefix=/arm/ndk-git/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86 --enable-initfini-array --disable-nls --prefix=/arm/ndk-git/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86 --with-sysroot=/arm/ndk-git/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/sysroot --with-binutils-version=2.19 --with-mpfr-version=2.4.1 --with-gmp-version=4.2.4 --with-gcc-version=4.4.3 --with-gdb-version=6.6 --with-arch=armv5te --enable-libstdc__-v3 --disable-werrors --enable-languages=c,d,c++ --enable-shared --enable-multilib --disable-threads --program-transform-name='s,^,arm-linux-androideabi-,'
Thread model: single
gcc version 4.4.3 20100121 (gdc hg, using dmd 1.067) (GCC) 
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mthumb' '-shared-libgcc' '-pthread' '-march=armv5te' '-mfloat-abi=soft' '-mfpu=vfp'
 /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../libexec/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/cc1d gdc_test.d -mbionic -fpic -quiet -dumpbase gdc_test.d -mthumb -march=armv5te -mfloat-abi=soft -mfpu=vfp -auxbase gdc_test -version -imultilib thumb -iprefix /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/ -isysroot /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot -fmultilib-dir=thumb -o /tmp/cc2yu97y.s
GNU D (GCC) version 4.4.3 20100121 (gdc hg, using dmd 1.067) (arm-linux-androideabi)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.5.2, GMP version 4.2.4, MPFR version 2.4.1.
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
GNU D (GCC) version 4.4.3 20100121 (gdc hg, using dmd 1.067) (arm-linux-androideabi)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.5.2, GMP version 4.2.4, MPFR version 2.4.1.
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mthumb' '-shared-libgcc' '-pthread' '-march=armv5te' '-mfloat-abi=soft' '-mfpu=vfp'
 /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/as -v -march=armv5te -mfloat-abi=soft -mfpu=vfp -meabi=5 -o /tmp/ccuFGEfj.o /tmp/cc2yu97y.s
GNU assembler version 2.19 (arm-linux-androideabi) using BFD version (GNU Binutils) 2.19
COMPILER_PATH=/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../libexec/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../libexec/gcc/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/
LIBRARY_PATH=/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/thumb/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/lib/thumb/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/lib/:/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot/usr/lib/
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mthumb' '-shared-libgcc' '-pthread' '-march=armv5te' '-mfloat-abi=soft' '-mfpu=vfp'
 /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../libexec/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/collect2 --sysroot=/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot --eh-frame-hdr -dynamic-linker /system/bin/linker -X -m armelf_linux_eabi /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot/usr/lib/crtbegin_dynamic.o -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/thumb -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/lib/thumb -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3 -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/lib -L/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot/usr/lib /tmp/ccuFGEfj.o -lgphobos -lm -lrt -lgcc_s -lgcc -lpthread -lc -ldl -lgcc_s -lgcc /home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../sysroot/usr/lib/crtend_android.o
/home/dan/projects/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.4.3/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/ld: cannot find -lrt
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

Is there a way to override this behavior?


Solution

  • When you see a -lsomething, the library name is libsomething. Doing a man librt says the following:

    NAME
         librt, libposix4 - POSIX.1b Realtime Extensions library
    
    SYNOPSIS
         cc [ flag... ] file... -lrt [ library... ]
    
    DESCRIPTION
         Functions in this library provide  most  of  the  interfaces
         specified  by  the  POSIX.1b  Realtime Extension.  See stan-
         dards(5). Specifically, this includes the interfaces defined
         under   the   Asynchronous  I/O,  Message  Passing,  Process
         Scheduling, Realtime Signals Extension,  Semaphores,  Shared
         Memory  Objects,  Synchronized  I/O, and Timers options. The
         interfaces defined under the Memory  Mapped  Files,  Process
         Memory  Locking,  and  Range Memory Locking options are pro-
         vided in libc(3LIB)
    
         See the man pages for the individual interfaces  in  section
         3RT for information on required headers.
    
         The name libposix4 is maintained for backward  compatibility
         and  should be avoided. librt is the preferred name for this
         library.