HP-UX Reference (11i v1 05/09) - 3 Library Functions A-M (vol 6)

elf_end(3E) elf_end(3E)

NAME

elf_end - ﬁnish using an object ﬁle

SYNOPSIS

cc [ﬂag... ] ﬁle...

-lelf [library] ...

#include <libelf.h>

int elf_end(Elf *elf);

DESCRIPTION

A program uses elf_end to terminate an ELF descriptor, elf, and to deallocate data associated with the

descriptor. Until the program terminates a descriptor, the data remain allocated. elf should be a value

previously returned by

elf_begin; a null pointer is allowed as an argument, to simplify error handling.

If the program wishes to write data associated with the ELF descriptor to the ﬁle, it must use

elf_update before calling elf_end.

As elf_begin(3E) explains, a descriptor can have more than one activation. Calling

elf_end removes one

activation and returns the remaining activation count. The library does not terminate the descriptor until

the activation count reaches zero. Consequently, a zero return value indicates the ELF descriptor is no

longer valid.