At least in linux kernel, assuming that a.out is an elf that is linked
against relibc's own ld.so. When a user attempts `./a.out`, Linux kernel
will map `./a.out`, then map `ld.so` and jump into ld.so entry point.
In relibc ld.so will simply ignore the kernel mapped a.out and create
its own mapping. This patch forces relic ld.so to use the already mapped
`a.out` when ever possible. This would normally have slight performance
improvement (especially that currently relibc doesn't map a.out but
instead copy the data into empty mmaped memory).
The real motivation behind this patch is while impelemnting Runtime
linker debugging protocol for relibc. part of the protocol is ld.so
inseting address of some ld.so managed data structure into .dynamic
seciton of a.out then the debugger would check it there. The thing is
that debuggers have information about the kernel loaded ./a.out and they
check that one specifically which is in our case totally ignored by
relibc.
This patch does basically two things:
- First make `global` variable not public, And make it accessable via a
function `get_sym`.
- Isolate the procedure that collect global symbols into single function
that does that and call it `collect_syms`.
The motivation of this patch is the second one where this procedure is
extended, thus it needs a seamless way to access those symbols
Introduction:
The original implementation of `relibc_ld_so_start` assumes that
ld.so will always be invoked manually as in "/lib/ld64.so ./a.out"
The problem is regarding this snippet.
if sp.argc < 2 {
eprintln!("ld.so [executable] [arguments...]");
unistd::_exit(1);
loop {}
}
As such, In linux when user types "./a.out" he will recieve the message
ld.so [executable] [arguments...]
This patch makes use of AUXV, specifically AT_ENTRY. When invoking ld.so
manually, AT_ENTRY happens to be the entry point of ld.so. But when
running `./a.out` directly, AT_ENTRY becomes the entry point of `a.out`
this patch compares AT_ENTRY to the entry point of ld.so, if they are
equal only then it will assume that argv[1] is the real program and
adjust the stack, otherwise it will proceed with the stack unadjusted.
The sigaction handler called map on an option, creating a pointer to a
move value. This in turned caused UB for signal handlers. Avoid using
pointers directly, and instead prefer references.
oddcoder