dladdr

, dladdr1

- translate address to symbolic information

Synopsis

#include <dlfcn.h>

int dladdr(void *address, Dl_info_t *dlip);

int dladdr1(void *address, Dl_info_t *dlip, void **info, int flags);

Description

The dladdr() and dladdr1() functions determine if the specified address is located within one of the mapped objects that make up the current applications address space. An address is deemed to fall within a mapped object when it is between the base address, and the _end address of that object. See NOTES. If a mapped object fits this criteria, the symbol table made available to the runtime linker is searched to locate the nearest symbol to the specified address. The nearest symbol is one that has a value less than or equal to the required address.

The Dl_info_t structure must be preallocated by the user. The structure members are filled in by dladdr(), based on the specified address. The Dl_info_t structure includes the following members:

    const char    *dli_fname;
    void          *dli_fbase;
    const char    *dli_sname;
    void          *dli_saddr;

The Dl_info_t members provide the following information.

dli_fname

Contains a pointer to the filename of the containing object.

dli_fbase

Contains the base address of the containing object.

dli_sname

Contains a pointer to the symbol name that is nearest to the specified address. This symbol either represents the exact address that was specified, or is the nearest symbol with a lower address.

dli_saddr

Contains the actual address of the symbol pointed to by dli_sname.

The dladdr1() function provides for addition information to be returned as specified by the flags argument:

RTLD_DL_SYMENT

Obtain the ELF symbol table entry for the matched symbol. The info argument points to a symbol pointer as defined in <sys/elf.h> (Elf32_Sym **info or Elf64_Sym **info). Most of the information found in an ELF symbol can only be properly interpreted by the runtime linker. However, there are two fields that contain information useful to the caller of dladdr1(): The st_size field contains the size of the referenced item. The st_info field provides symbol type and binding attributes. See the Linker and Libraries Guild for more information.

RTLD_DL_LINKMAP

Obtain the Link_map for the matched file. The info argument points to a Link_map pointer as defined in <sys/link.h> (Link_map **info).

Return Values

If the specified address cannot be matched to a mapped object, a 0 is returned. Otherwise, a non-zero return is made and the associated Dl_info_t elements are filled.

Usage

The dladdr() and dladdr1() functions are one of a family of functions that give the user direct access to the dynamic linking facilities. These facilities are available to dynamically-linked processes only. See Linker and Libraries Guide.

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

See Also

ld(1), dlclose(3C), dldump(3C), dlerror(3C), dlopen(3C), dlsym(3C), attributes(5)

Linker and Libraries Guide

Notes

The Dl_info_t pointer elements point to addresses within the mapped objects. These pointers can become invalid if objects are removed prior to these elements use. See dlclose(3C).

If no symbol is found to describe the specified address, both the dli_sname and dli_saddr members are set to 0.

If the address specified exists within a mapped object in the range between the base address and the address of the first global symbol in the object, the reserved local symbol _START_ is returned. This symbol acts as a label representing the start of the mapped object. As a label, this symbol has no size. The dli_saddr member is set to the base address of the associated object. The dli_sname member is set to the symbol name _START_. If the flag argument is set to RTLD_DL_SYMENT, symbol information for _START_ is returned.

If an object is acting as a filter, care should be taken when interpreting the address of any symbol obtained using a handle to this object. For example, using dlsym(3C) to obtain the symbol _end for this object, results in returning the address of the symbol _end within the filtee, not the filter. For more information on filters see the Linker and Libraries Guide.