Re: [PATCH] i386: vmlinux.lds.S Distinguish absolute symbols

[ebiederm@xmission.com (Eric W. Biederman)]

Sam Ravnborg <sam@ravnborg.org> writes:

> On Fri, Jul 29, 2005 at 01:35:04PM -0600, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
>> Currently in the linker script we have several labels
>> marking the beginning and ending of sections that
>> are outside of sections, making them absolute symbols.
>
> They are outside the sections for a very specific reason.
> If moved inside the section they sometimes got unexpected values due to
> the alignment that ld impose on the section itself.
>
> I recall that when Kai Germaschewski long time ago started the
> unification of the vmlinux.lds files some people had boot problems
> exactly because the label was defined inside the section and therefore
> ld caused it to have another value as if it was placed outside the
> section.

I remember seeing something like that.  I don't know if those problems
apply to a modern ld, but it is certainly worth looking into.

> I no longer recall the precise details of what happened.
> Google may help you...

Thanks.

Eric