[PATCH] ld: Don't define section symbols for excluded sections

[H.J. Lu]

On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 6:34 PM Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 03:17:45PM +0800, H.J. Lu wrote:
> > When the SEC_EXCLUDE bit is set on a section, the contents of the section
> > are excluded by the linker for non-relocatable output.  Define  __start,
> > __stop, .startof. and .sizeof. symbols for relocatable link or if the
> > SEC_EXCLUDE bit on the section is cleared.
>
> Looks good to me.  You might like to mention the ELF SHF_EXCLUDE flag
> in the description too, since it was that flag being set that
> triggered the segfault in bug_4.o from the pr.  bug_4.o didn't even
> need --gc-sections to fail.

I am checking it in with the updated commit message:

When the SEC_EXCLUDE bit is set on a section, for example, sections with
the SHF_EXCLUDE flag bit set in ELF input, the contents of the section
are excluded by the linker for non-relocatable output.  Define  __start,
__stop, .startof. and .sizeof. symbols for relocatable link or if the
SEC_EXCLUDE bit on the section is cleared.

> >       PR ld/34448
> >       * ldlang.c (lang_init_start_stop): Call lang_define_start_stop
> >       for relocatable link or if the SEC_EXCLUDE bit on the section
> >       is cleared.
> >
>


-- 
H.J.