[PATCH] ld: Check bfd_gc_sections return

[H.J. Lu]

On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 4:59 PM Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com> wrote:
>
> On 05.08.2026 10:50, H.J. Lu wrote:
> > bfd_gc_sections may return false on invalid input:
> >
> > ld: pr34448-bug_18.o: bad reloc symbol index (0xf2000005 >= 0x13) for
> > offset 0x4 in section `.text.get_tls[get_tls]'
> >
> > and set the BFD error to bfd_error_bad_value.  Check bfd_gc_sections
> > return and report the fatal error if the BFD error is bfd_error_bad_value.
>
> And what guarantees that bfd_error_bad_value isn't also set for other kinds
> of errors, from about anywhere in the library? Does bfd_gc_sections()
> returning false even reliably set the error indicator? That's far from

If it isn't the case, it is a bug.

> obvious when looking at e.g. bfd_elf_gc_sections(), so I can't exclude the
> possibility of bfd_error_bad_value having been on record before the call,
> and it simply not getting changed.

Isn't it a bug?

> As said on the earlier thread - issuing a fatal error upon encountering
> broken input is fine. But a fatal error may only be raised in that case,
> not any other one.
>
> Jan



-- 
H.J.