You copied the Doc URL to your clipboard.

Controlling how the linker searches for the ARM standard libraries

By default, the linker searches for the ARM standard libraries in ../lib, relative to the location of the armlink executable. You can also control how the linker searches for the ARM standard libraries with either the --libpath command-line option or the ARMLIB or ARMCCnLIB environment variables.

Some libraries are stored in subdirectories. If the compiler requires a library from a particular subdirectory, it adds an import of a special symbol to identify the subdirectory to the linker. The names of subdirectories are placed in each compiled object by using a symbol of the form Lib$$Request$$sub_dir_name.

Using the --libpath command-line option

Use the --libpath command-line option with a comma-separated list of parent directories. This list must end with the parent directory of the ARM library directories armlib and cpplib.

The linker searches subdirectories given by the symbol Lib$$Request$$sub_dir_name, if you include the path separator character on the end of the library path:

  • \ on Windows

  • / on Red Hat Linux.

For example, for --libpath=mylibs\ and the symbol Lib$$Request$$armlib the linker searches the directories:

mylibs
mylibs\armlib

Note

When the linker command-line option --libpath is used, any paths specified by the ARMCCnLIB variable are not searched.

The sequential nature of the search ensures that the linker chooses the library that appears earlier in the list if two or more libraries define the same symbol.

Using the ARMCCnLIB or ARMLIB environment variable

You can use either of the ARMLIB or ARMCCnLIB environment variables to specify a library path.

The linker searches subdirectories given by the symbol Lib$$Request$$sub_dir_name, if you include the path separator character on the end of the path specified in ARMCCnLIB:

  • \ on Windows

  • / on Red Hat Linux.

For example, if ARMCC5LIB is set to install_directory\lib\, the linker searches the directories:

lib
lib\armlib
lib\cpplib

Library search order

The linker searches for libraries in the following order:

  1. Relative to the current path.

  2. At the location specified with the command-line option --libpath.

  3. At the location specified in ARMCCnLIB.

  4. At the location specified in ARMLIB.

  5. At the location specified in ../lib.

How the linker selects ARM library variants

The ARM Compiler toolchain includes a number of variants of each of the libraries, that are built using different build options. For example, architecture versions, endianness, and instruction set. The variant of the ARM library is coded into the library name. The linker must select the best-suited variant from each of the directories identified during the library search.

The linker accumulates the attributes of each input object and then selects the library variant best suited to those attributes. If more than one of the selected libraries are equally suited, the linker retains the first library selected and rejects all others.

See also

Concepts
Reference

Linker Reference:

Using ARM® C and C++ Libraries and Floating-Point Support:

ARM® C and C++ Libraries and Floating-Point Support Reference:

Introducing the ARM Compiler toolchain:

Previous Next