As I've already mentioned in https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1623218#c13 I think it is complete waste to generate 4 PT_LOAD segments for -z separate-code, IMNSHO 3 PT_LOADs should be enough, which should be achievable by moving for -z separate-code in the linker script all sections that need read-only non-executable before all read-only/executable sections. That way we'd have one PF_R PT_LOAD, then one PF_R|PF_X and one PF_R|PF_W, the last one as before would start with relro sections if -z relro, rather than the current PF_R PT_LOAD, followed by PF_R|PF_X, followed by another PF_R one and finally PF_R|PF_W.
I agree that moving read-only (and relro) sections is a good idea, but it may not work for targets that have limited addressing and use offsets from a register to access .got, .got.plt, .plt and .sdata. Any target that uses the same register to access sections on both sides of DATA_SEGMENT_RELRO_END will likely not be able to tolerate moving read-only sections.
The master branch has been updated by H.J. Lu <hjl@sourceware.org>: https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=99600a4787910d4b1994b243473a7386dbee641d commit 99600a4787910d4b1994b243473a7386dbee641d Author: H.J. Lu <hjl.tools@gmail.com> Date: Wed Mar 18 12:13:26 2026 -0700 elf/x86: Place code after read-only data for --rosegment commit e8e10743f7b207b21a1efb0cc9e42487080db013 Author: Nick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com> Date: Thu Jun 13 15:10:15 2024 +0100 Add --rosegment option to BFD linker to stop the '-z separate-code' from gen erating two read-only segments. added --rosegment option to generate one read-only segment with -z separate-code. But it puts the read-only data, which contains ELF headers and .note.gnu.build-id section, in the executable segment: Program Headers: Type Offset VirtAddr PhysAddr FileSiz MemSiz Flg Align LOAD 0x000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00185 0x00185 R E 0x1000 LOAD 0x001000 0x00001000 0x00001000 0x000d0 0x000d0 R 0x1000 LOAD 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x0008c 0x0008c RW 0x1000 DYNAMIC 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x00070 0x00070 RW 0x4 NOTE 0x000154 0x00000154 0x00000154 0x00024 0x00024 R 0x4 NOTE 0x00109c 0x0000109c 0x0000109c 0x00034 0x00034 R 0x4 GNU_PROPERTY 0x00109c 0x0000109c 0x0000109c 0x00034 0x00034 R 0x4 GNU_STACK 0x000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000 0x00000 RW 0x10 GNU_RELRO 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x00088 0x00088 R 0x1 Section to Segment mapping: Segment Sections... 00 .note.gnu.build-id .text 01 .gnu.hash .dynsym .dynstr .rela.dyn .rodata .eh_frame .note.gnu.property 02 .dynamic .got.plt .data 03 .dynamic 04 .note.gnu.build-id 05 .note.gnu.property 06 .note.gnu.property 07 08 .dynamic .got.plt which defeats the purpose of -z separate-code. Update --rosegment to place code after read-only data: Program Headers: Type Offset VirtAddr PhysAddr FileSiz MemSiz Flg Align LOAD 0x000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00248 0x00248 R 0x1000 LOAD 0x001000 0x00001000 0x00001000 0x00005 0x00005 R E 0x1000 LOAD 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x0008c 0x0008c RW 0x1000 DYNAMIC 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x00070 0x00070 RW 0x4 NOTE 0x000154 0x00000154 0x00000154 0x00024 0x00024 R 0x4 NOTE 0x000214 0x00000214 0x00000214 0x00034 0x00034 R 0x4 GNU_PROPERTY 0x000214 0x00000214 0x00000214 0x00034 0x00034 R 0x4 GNU_STACK 0x000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000 0x00000 RW 0x10 GNU_RELRO 0x001f78 0x00002f78 0x00002f78 0x00088 0x00088 R 0x1 Section to Segment mapping: Segment Sections... 00 .note.gnu.build-id .gnu.hash .dynsym .dynstr .rela.dyn .rodata .eh_frame .note.gnu.property 01 .text 02 .dynamic .got.plt .data 03 .dynamic 04 .note.gnu.build-id 05 .note.gnu.property 06 .note.gnu.property 07 08 .dynamic .got.plt PR ld/23704 PR ld/30907 PR ld/32191 PR ld/34003 * emulparams/elf32_x86_64.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): New. * emulparams/elf_i386.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): Likewise. * emulparams/elf_i386_be.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): Likewise. * emulparams/elf_i386_vxworks.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): Likewise. * emulparams/elf_iamcu.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): Likewise. * emulparams/elf_x86_64.sh (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): Likewise. * scripttempl/elf.sc (ALL_TEXT_AFTER_RO): New. If set, place code after read-only data for -z separate-code --rosegment. * testsuite/ld-elf/pr30907-2.d: Skip x86 targets. * testsuite/ld-elf/pr34003.d: New file. * testsuite/ld-i386/pr32191.d: Updated. * testsuite/ld-x86-64/pr32191-x32.d: Likewise. * testsuite/ld-x86-64/pr32191.d: Likewise. Signed-off-by: H.J. Lu <hjl.tools@gmail.com>