HP-UX Linker and Libraries June 2006 Release Notes

New Features in This Release

Chapter 1 5

New Features in This Release

This section describes new features introduced in this release of HP-UX Linker and Libraries.

This section discusses the following topics:

• “New Linker Features for Itanium-Based Systems and PA64 Systems” on page 5

• “New Linker Features for PA32 Systems” on page 6

New Linker Features for Itanium-Based Systems and PA64 Systems

Following are the new features:

• “Reduced Link Time” on page 5

• “Improved Application Performance” on page 5

• “Large Kernel Page Size Support” on page 5

• “Direct Access to the Linker Footprint” on page 6

• “New +FP Flag Values to Specify Rounding Mode” on page 6

• “New Flag to Allocate Storage for Uninitialized Data” on page 6

Reduced Link Time

This version of linker reduces the link time for large programs built with profile-based

optimization. The reduction in link time is even more when you invoke the linker with -P or

-PF to carry out procedure reordering and global variable layout.

This feature is available for both Intel Itanium-based systems and PA64 systems.

Improved Application Performance

This version of linker provides an improved layout of global variables for programs built with

profile-based optimization. The new layout controls variable alignment on cache boundaries.

This feature is available only for Intel Itanium-based systems.

Large Kernel Page Size Support

This version of linker enables you to run application on large kernel pages. The dld now

supports kernel page size up to 64KB. The linker aligns segments offset to 64KB boundary.

This feature is available for both Intel Itanium-based systems and PA64 systems.