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Learn Linux, 101: Manage shared libraries
Find and load the libraries a program needs
Ian Shields
Linux Author
Freelance
18 August 2015
(First published 10 March 2010)
Learn how to determine which shared libraries your Linux® executable programs depend on
and how to load them. You can use the material in this tutorial to study for the LPI 101 exam for
Linux system administrator certification, or just to learn for fun.
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Overview
In this tutorial, learn to find and load the shared libraries that your Linux programs need. Learn to:
• Determine which libraries a program needs
• Know how the system finds shared libraries
• Load shared libraries
Shared libraries
When you write a program, you rely on many pieces of code that someone else has already
written to perform routine or specialized functions for you. These pieces of code are stored in
shared libraries. To use them, you link them with your code, either when you build the program or
when you run the program.
About this series
This series of tutorials helps you learn Linux system administration tasks. You can also use
the material in these tutorials to prepare for the Linux Professional Institute's LPIC-1: Linux
Server Professional Certification exams.
See "Learn Linux, 101: A roadmap for LPIC-1" for a description of and link to each tutorial in
this series. The roadmap is in progress and reflects the version 4.0 objectives of the LPIC-1
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2010, 2015
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exams as updated April 15th, 2015. As tutorials are completed, they will be added to the
roadmap.
This tutorial helps you prepare for Objective 102.3 in Topic 102 of the Linux Server Professional
(LPIC-1) exam 101. The objective has a weight of 1.
Prerequisites
To get the most from the tutorials in this series, you should have a basic knowledge of Linux
and a working Linux system on which you can practice the commands covered in this tutorial.
Sometimes different versions of a program format output differently, so your results might not
always look exactly like the listings and figures shown here. In particular, many of the examples
in this tutorial come from 64-bit systems. I have included some examples from 32-bit systems to
illustrate significant differences.
Static and dynamic linking
Linux systems have two types of executable programs:
• Statically linked executables: Contain all the library functions that they need to execute;
all library functions are linked into the executable. They are complete programs that do not
depend on external libraries to run. One advantage of statically linked programs is that they
work without your needing to install prerequisites.
• Dynamically linked executables: Much smaller programs; they are incomplete in the sense
that they require functions from external shared libraries to run. Besides being smaller,
dynamic linking permits a package to specify prerequisite libraries without needing to include
the libraries in the package. By using dynamic linking, many running programs can share one
copy of a library rather than occupying memory with many copies of the same code. For these
reasons, most programs today use dynamic linking.
An interesting example on many Linux systems is the ln command (/bin/ln), which creates links
between files, either hard links or soft (or symbolic) links. This command uses shared libraries.
Shared libraries often involve symbolic links between a generic name for the library and a specific
level of the library, so if the links are not present or broken for some reason, then the ln command
itself might be inoperative, creating a circular problem. To protect against this possibility, some
Linux systems include a statically linked version of the ln program as the sln program (/sbin/sln).
Listing 1 illustrates the great difference in size between the dynamically linked ln and the statically
linked sln. The example is from a Fedora 22 64-bit system.
Listing 1. Sizes of sln and ln
[ian@atticf20
[ian@atticf20
-rwxr-xr-x. 1
-rwxr-xr-x. 1
~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
~]$ ls -l /sbin/sln /bin/ln
root root 58656 May 14 04:56 /bin/ln
root root 762872 Feb 23 10:36 /sbin/sln
Which libraries are needed?
Though not part of the current LPI exam requirements for this topic, you should know that many
Linux systems today run on hardware that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit executables. Many
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libraries are thus compiled in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 64-bit versions are usually stored
under the /lib64 tree in the filesystem, while the 32-bit versions live in the traditional /lib tree. You
will probably find both /lib/libc-2.11.1.so and /lib64/libc-2.11.1.so on a typical 64-bit Linux system.
These two libraries allow both 32-bit and 64-bit C programs to run on a 64-bit Linux system.
The ldd command
Apart from knowing that a statically linked program is likely to be large, how can you tell whether
a program is statically linked? And if it is dynamically linked, how do you know what libraries it
needs? The ldd command can answer both questions. If you are running a system such as Debian
or Ubuntu, you probably don't have the sln executable, so you might also want to check the /sbin/
ldconfig executable. Listing 2 shows the output of the ldd command for the ln and sln executables
and also the ldconfig executable. The example is from a Fedora 22 64-bit system (atticf20). For
comparison, the output from Ubuntu 14 32-bit system (attic-u14) is shown for /bin/ln.
Listing 2. Output of ldd for sln and ln
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ ldd /sbin/sln /sbin/ldconfig /bin/ln
/sbin/sln:
not a dynamic executable
/sbin/ldconfig:
not a dynamic executable
/bin/ln:
linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffedd31e000)
libc.so.6 => /lib64/libc.so.6 (0x00007f2d3bd5d000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f2d3c11d000)
ian@attic-u14:~/data/lpic-1$ # Ubuntu 14 32-bit
ian@attic-u14:~/data/lpic-1$ ldd /bin/ln
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb779d000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0xb75d7000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb77a0000)
Because ldd is actually concerned with dynamic linking, it tells us that both sln and ldconfig are
statically linked by telling us that they are "not a dynamic executable," while it tells us the names
of three shared libraries (linux-vdso.so.1, libc.so.6, and /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2) that the ln
command needs. Note that .so indicates that these are shared objects or dynamic libraries. This
output also illustrates three different types of information you are likely to see.
linux-vdso.so.1
is the Linux Virtual Dynamic Shared Object, which I discuss in a moment. You can also see
linux-gate.so.1 as in the Ubuntu 14 example.
libc.so.6
has a pointer to /lib64/libc.so.6 or /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6. You can also see this pointing
to /lib/libc.so.6 on older 32-bit systems.
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
is the absolute path to another library.
In Listing 3, I use the ls -l command to show that the last two libraries are, in turn, symbolic links
to specific versions of the libraries. The example is from a Fedora 22 64-bit system. This allows
library updates to be installed without the need to relink all the executables that use the library.
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Listing 3. Library symbolic links
[ian@atticf20
[ian@atticf20
lrwxrwxrwx. 1
lrwxrwxrwx. 1
~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
~]$ ls -l /lib64/libc.so.6 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
root root 10 Feb 23 10:33 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 -> ld-2.21.so
root root 12 Feb 23 10:33 /lib64/libc.so.6 -> libc-2.21.so
Linux Virtual Dynamic Shared Objects
In the early days of x86 processors, communication from user programs to supervisor services
occurred through a software interrupt. As processor speeds increased, this became a serious
bottleneck. Starting with Pentium® II processors, Intel® introduced a Fast System Call facility to
speed up system calls using the SYSENTER and SYSEXIT instructions instead of interrupts.
The library that you see as linux-vdso.so.1 is a virtual library, or Virtual Dynamic Shared Object,
that is located only in each program's address space. Some systems call this linux-gate.so.1. This
virtual library provides the necessary logic to allow user programs to access system functions
through the fastest means available on the particular processor, either interrupt, or with most
newer processors, fast system call.
Dynamic loading
From the preceding, you might be surprised to learn that /lib/ld-linux.so.2 and its 64-bit cousin, /
lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, which both look like shared libraries, are actually executables in their
own right. They are the code that is responsible for dynamic loading. They read the header
information from the executable, which is in the Executable and Linking Format (ELF) format. From
this information, they determine what libraries are required and which ones need to be loaded.
They then perform dynamic linking to fix up all the address pointers in your executable and the
loaded libraries so that the program will run.
The man page for ld-linux.so also describes ld.so, which performed similar functions for the earlier
a.out binary format. Listing 4 illustrates using the --list option of the ld-linux.so cousins to show
the same information for the ln command that Listing 2 showed with the ldd command.
Listing 4. Using ld-linux.so to display library requirements
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --list /bin/ln
linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffe725f6000)
libc.so.6 => /lib64/libc.so.6 (0x00007f2179b5d000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f2179f1d000)
ian@attic-u14:~$ # Ubuntu 14 32-bit
ian@attic-u14:~$ /lib/ld-linux.so.2 --list /bin/ln
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb77bc000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0xb75f6000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb77bf000)
Note that the hex addresses might be different between the two listings. They are also likely to be
different if you run ldd twice.
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Dynamic library configuration
So how does the dynamic loader know where to look for executables? As with many things on
Linux, there is a configuration file in /etc. In fact, there are two configuration files: /etc/ld.so.conf
and /etc/ld.so.cache. Listing 5 shows the contents of /etc/ld.so.conf on a 64-bit Fedora 22 system.
Note that /etc/ld.so.conf specifies that all the .conf files from the subdirectory ld.so.conf.d should
be included. Older systems might have all entries in /etc/ld.so.conf and not include entries from
the /etc/ld.so.conf.d directory. The actual contents of /etc/ld.so.conf or the /etc/ld.so.conf.d
directory might be different on your system.
Listing 5. Content of /etc/ld.so.conf
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ cat /etc/ld.so.conf
include ld.so.conf.d/*.conf
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ ls /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/atlas-x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/bind99-x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/kernel-4.0.4-301.fc22.x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/kernel-4.0.4-303.fc22.x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/kernel-4.0.6-300.fc22.x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/libiscsi-x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/llvm-x86_64.conf
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/mariadb-x86_64.conf
Program loading needs to be fast, so use the ldconfig command to process the ld.so.conf file
and all the included files from ld.so.conf.d and libraries from the trusted directories, /lib and /usr/
lib, and any others supplied on the command line. The ldconfig command creates the necessary
links and cache to recently used shared libraries in /etc/ld.so.cache. The dynamic loader uses the
cached information from ld.so.cache to locate files that are to be dynamically loaded and linked.
If you change ld.so.conf (or add new included files to ld.so.conf.d), you must run the ldconfig
command (as root) to rebuild your ld.so.cache file.
Normally, you use the ldconfig command without parameters to rebuild ld.so.cache. There are
several other parameters you can specify to override this default behavior. As usual, try man
ldconfig for more information. Listing 6 illustrates the use of the -p parameter to display the
contents of ld.so.cache.
Listing 6. Using ldconfig to display ld.so.cache
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ # Fedora 22 64-bit
[ian@atticf20 ~]$ /sbin/ldconfig -p | less
1361 libs found in cache `/etc/ld.so.cache'
p11-kit-trust.so (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/p11-kit-trust.so
libzeitgeist-2.0.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libzeitgeist-2.0.so.0
libzapojit-0.0.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libzapojit-0.0.so.0
libz.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libz.so.1
libyelp.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libyelp.so.0
libyaml-0.so.2 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libyaml-0.so.2
libyajl.so.2 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libyajl.so.2
libxtables.so.10 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxtables.so.10
libxslt.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxslt.so.1
libxshmfence.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxshmfence.so.1
libxml2.so.2 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxml2.so.2
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libxmlrpc_util.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_util.so.3
libxmlrpc_server_cgi.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_server_cgi.so.3
libxmlrpc_server_abyss.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_server_abyss.so.3
libxmlrpc_server.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_server.so.3
libxmlrpc_client.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_client.so.3
libxmlrpc_abyss.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc_abyss.so.3
libxmlrpc.so.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxmlrpc.so.3
libxml-security-c.so.16 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxml-security-c.so.16
libxlutil.so.4.3 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxlutil.so.4.3
libxklavier.so.16 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxklavier.so.16
libxkbfile.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libxkbfile.so.1
:
Loading specific libraries
If you're running an older application that needs a specific older version of a shared library, or if
you're developing a new shared library or version of a shared library, you might want to override
the default search paths used by the loader. This might also be needed by scripts that use productspecific shared libraries that might be installed in the /opt tree.
Just as you can set the PATH variable to specify a search path for executables, you can set the
LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable to a colon-separated list of directories that should be searched for
shared libraries before the system ones specified in ld.so.cache. For example, you might use a
command like:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/oldstuff:/opt/IBM/AgentController/lib
See Resources for additional details and links to other tutorials in this series.
This concludes our brief introduction to managing shared libraries on Linux.
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Resources
• developerWorks Premium provides an all-access pass to powerful tools, curated technical
library from Safari Books Online, conference discounts and proceedings, SoftLayer and
Bluemix credits, and more.
• Use the developerWorks roadmap for LPIC-1 to find the developerWorks tutorials to help you
study for LPIC-1 certification based on the LPI Version 4.0 April 2015 objectives.
• At the Linux Professional Institute website, find detailed objectives, task lists, and sample
questions for the certifications. In particular, see:
• The LPIC-1: Linux Server Professional Certification program details
• LPIC-1 exam 101 objectives
• LPIC-1 exam 102 objectives
Always refer to the Linux Professional Institute website for the latest objectives.
• The Linux Documentation Project has a variety of useful documents, especially its HOWTOs.
• Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBM
products and IT industry topics.
• Get involved in the developerWorks community. Connect with other developerWorks users
while exploring the developer-driven blogs, forums, groups, and wikis.
• Follow developerWorks on Twitter.
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About the author
Ian Shields
Ian Shields is a freelance Linux writer. He retired from IBM at the Research Triangle
Park, NC. Ian joined IBM in Canberra, Australia, as a systems engineer in 1973,
and has worked in Montreal, Canada, and RTP, NC in both systems engineering
and software development. He has been using, developing on, and writing about
Linux since the late 1990s. His undergraduate degree is in pure mathematics and
philosophy from the Australian National University. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in
computer science from North Carolina State University. He enjoys orienteering and
likes to travel.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2010, 2015
(www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml)
Trademarks
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