what's difference between "relocatable link" and "final link"?

[Ian Lance Taylor]

"Huang, Chunhao" <Chunhao.Huang@sony.com.cn> writes:

> When I study the BFD library, I meet "relocatable link" and
> "final link" several times, but I can NOT find out the difference
> between them. My rough comprehension is that "relocatable link"
> done by assembler, which is something like parsing the local
> symbols in sections. while "final link" done by linker.

A relocateable link is what the linker does when you use the -r
option.

A final link is what the linker does when you do not use the -r
option.

Ian