[PATCH] readelf: Warn zero-sized relocation sections

[Jan Beulich]

On 17.04.2020 17:46, Nick Clifton wrote:
>   I am of a mind to allow this patch, given that one of readelf's
>   main functions is to diagnose problems with ELF files.  If these
>   warnings really are a problem for users however then we could
>   provide an option to filter them out.

While I can see the "diagnose problems" aspect, zero-sized relocation
sections aren't something the ELF standard disallows. So there's no
problem with the ELF files in this case, just a _possible_ problem
with consumers thereof.

>   That said, the patch as it currently exists causes lots of new
>   failures in the linker testsuite for various targets.  Especially
>   powerpc64-linux.  There may well be others, eg alpha-linux-gnu, 
>   but my regression tester is still running.  The failures are from
>   messages like this:
> 
>     readelf: Warning: Section '.rela.plt': zero-sized relocation section
> 
>   and
> 
>     readelf: Warning: Section '.rela.dyn': zero-sized relocation section

Aren't these a good enough indication that zero-sized relocation
sections aren't this unusual, and hence a default-on warning is
going too far?

Jan