New versions of LD cannot take ELF files as input to link

I have been working on a 32-bit operating system project written in C using GNU LD version 2.34 as the linker.

As part of the build process, I use the following command:

ld -m elf_i386 -nostdlib -T ld/loader.ld build/bootloader/loader.o build/bootloader/loader.elf -o loader_full.elf

When using GNU LD version 2.34, this command succeeds. However, when I use a version higher than this, I get the following error:

ld: cannot use executable file 'build/bootloader/loader.elf' as input to a link

If necessary, here is the full Makefile script:

CC_FLAGS = -g -m32 -ffreestanding -nostartfiles -nostdlib -fno-stack-protector
LD_FLAGS = -m elf_i386 -nostdlib

CC := gcc ${CC_FLAGS}
LD := ld ${LD_FLAGS} 

BOOTLOADER_DRIVERS = kernel/drivers/disk/ata.c kernel/drivers/io/screen.c kernel/drivers/utils/mem.c kernel/drivers/utils/ports.c

raw: prep os-image.bin

convert_vmdk: os-image.vmdk 

all: prep os-image.bin

ESFS_raw_write: ESFS_raw_write.c
    gcc $^ -o $@

# run OS in QEMU
run: 
    qemu-system-i386 -drive format=raw,file=os-image.bin

# assemble boot sector
build/bootloader/boot_sect.bin: boot/boot_sect.asm
    nasm $^ -f bin -o $@

# compile second stage bootloader
build/bootloader/loader_2.o build/drivers/*.o: boot/*.c ${BOOTLOADER_DRIVERS}
    ${CC} -c $^
    mv loader.o build/bootloader/loader_2.o
    mv *.o build/drivers/

# link object files into kernel loader
build/bootloader/loader.elf: build/bootloader/loader_2.o build/drivers/*.o
    ${LD} -T ld/loader.ld $^ -o $@
    rm build/bootloader/loader_2.o

# assemble first stage bootloader
build/bootloader/loader.o: boot/loader.asm
    nasm $^ -f elf -o $@

# link first and second stage bootloaders
build/bootloader/loader_full.elf: build/bootloader/loader.o build/bootloader/loader.elf
    ${LD} -T ld/loader.ld $^ -o $@

# make bootloader binary file
build/bootloader/loader.bin: build/bootloader/loader_full.elf
    objcopy $^ -O binary $@
    ./scripts/pad_loader.sh
    # clean up unnecessary files
    # rm build/bootloader/*.o build/bootloader/*.elf build/drivers/*.o

build/kernel/interrupt.o: kernel/cpu/interrupt.asm
    nasm $^ -f elf -o $@

# compile kernel & write to 10MB raw drive image
build/kernel/hdd.bin: kernel/drivers/*/*.c kernel/cpu/*.c kernel/libc/*.c build/kernel/interrupt.o kernel/*.c
    ${CC} $^ -o build/kernel/kernel.o -T ld/kernel.ld
    ./scripts/write_kernel_to_drive.sh

# concat 3 boot stages into os-image file
os-image.bin: build/bootloader/boot_sect.bin build/bootloader/loader.bin build/kernel/hdd.bin
    cat $^ > $@

os-image.vmdk: 
    VBoxManage convertfromraw os-image.bin os-image.vmdk --format VMDK
    VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid /home/tim/Dev/OSDev/os-image.vmdk 6372c00a-a62e-4241-9a21-90fa4c22f019

# prepare directory structure for build process
prep:
    mkdir -p build/bootloader
    mkdir -p build/drivers
    mkdir -p build/kernel

# clean up build files and os-image binary
clean:
    -rm -rf build/
    -rm *.bin *.vmdk
    -rm ESFS_raw_write

The project is also on GitHub, so you can build it for yourself: http://github.com/TimCve/OSDev.git

Solution

I have just come up with a similar problem.

It seems ld version GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.36.1 links the file into an executable format.

To fix it, add -r in your ld command to output a relocatable format file.

From the ld manual:

-r
--relocateable
Generate relocatable output--i.e., generate an output file that can in turn serve as input to ld. This is often called partial linking. As a side effect, in environments that support standard Unix magic numbers, this option also sets the output file's magic number to OMAGIC. If this option is not specified, an absolute file is produced. When linking C++ programs, this option will not resolve references to constructors; to do that, use -Ur. This option does the same thing as -i.