HP-UX Linker and Libraries Release Notes (September, 2008)

# _HP_STRICT_ELF=1 elfdump ....

This check is available for ELF files on Integrity systems and PA64 systems.

Making Prime as Default -nbucket Linker Option

The dynamic loader (dld) spends most of the startup time in applying immediate binding. A

prime number of buckets as hash table size can significantly improve the distribution in the hash

table and results in improving dld startup time. Hence, the -nbucket prime option is now set

as the default option. However, if you still want the linker behavior that sets the number of hash

buckets to half the number of dynamic symbols in the library, then use the -nbucket n/2

option. You can also use the existing -nbucket pow2 option.

This feature is available on Integrity systems and PA64 systems.

New feature to Print Stack Trace Information of a Particular Thread

The HP-UX Linker now enables you to print stack traces of a particular thread alone with the

pstack -t option. When the pstack -t option is used along with a thread id (tid), only the

execution of the target thread is suspended while other threads continue executing. This new

feature is available on HP-UX 11i v3 Integrity systems only.

Improved Mechanism for Decreasing Program Startup Time

This version of fastbind and dld stores fastbind data at the end of the text segment in the

executable file instead of storing it on a separate segment. With this improved mechanism, the

additional channel to map fastbind information into the memory is not needed anymore. Through

this improved version you can save one mmap and one munmap system call during program

startup to decrease the program startup time.

New Feature to Trace Inter-Module Procedure Calls

The new ltrace tool enables you to trace inter-module procedure calls in an application. In an

application such as a.out, tracing is enabled by using the following command:

#/usr/ccs/bin/ltrace a.out

For more information on using this feature, see HP-UX Linker and Libraries User's Guide.

This feature is supported in 32–bit mode on Integrity systems.

Documentation Overview

This section addresses the following topics:

• “Before You Begin” (page 6)

• “Accessing HP-UX Linker Online Help” (page 7)

• “Related Information” (page 7)

Before You Begin

Before you begin to use the HP-UX Linker Online Help, complete the following steps:

1. To open an HTML browser, set the DISPLAY environment variable to graphic mode.

2. Set the BROWSER environment variable to point to the location of your HTML browser. If

you do not set the environment variable, the linker automatically runs the browser located

at:

/opt/mozilla/mozilla

/opt/ns-navgold/bin/netscape