https://github.com/kubkon/zld

Zig's ld drop-in replacement
https://github.com/kubkon/zld

linker zig zig-package

Last synced: 2 months ago
JSON representation

Zig's ld drop-in replacement

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/kubkon/zld
• Owner: kubkon
• License: mit
• Created: 2021-01-23T06:25:16.000Z (over 3 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2024-04-15T18:21:13.000Z (2 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-04-16T08:43:20.795Z (2 months ago)
• Topics: linker, zig, zig-package
• Language: Zig
• Homepage:
• Size: 4.04 MB
• Stars: 212
• Watchers: 12
• Forks: 14
• Open Issues: 2
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
  • License: LICENSE

Lists

• awesome-zig - zld🗒️Zig's lld drop-in replacement
• awesome-stars - kubkon/zld - Zig's ld drop-in replacement (Zig)
• awesome-stars - zld - in replacement | kubkon | 223 | (Zig)

README

        
# zld

Zig's ld drop-in replacement, called ZigLD or `zld` for short

## Quick start guide

### Building

You will need latest Zig in your path. You can get nightly binaries from [here](https://ziglang.org/download/).

```

$ zig build

```

This will create the `ld.zld` (Elf), `ld64.zld` (MachO), `link-zld` (Coff) and `wasm-zld` (Wasm) binaries in `zig-out/bin/`.

You can then use it like you'd use a standard linker.

```

$ cat < hello.c

#include 

int main() {

    fprintf(stderr, "Hello, World!\n");

    return 0;

}

EOF

# Create .o using system clang

$ clang -c hello.c

# Or, create .o using zig cc

$ zig cc -c hello.c

# On macOS

$ ./zig-out/bin/ld64.zld hello.o -o hello

# On Linux

$ ./zig-out/bin/ld.zld hello.o -o hello

# Run!

$ ./hello

```

### Testing

If you'd like to run unit and end-to-end tests, run the tests like you'd normally do for any other Zig project.

```

$ zig build test

```

## Why did you decide to unarchive this repo?

Excellent question! If you recall, back in March 2021, I've moved the development of the linker directly

to upstream (Zig master), and since then, `zld` (or `zig ld` in fact) has been able to link a variety

of projects targeting Mach-O file format. Now I am in the process of implementing a traditional ELF linker,

so I've decided to repeat the process which in my humble opinion worked out pretty well for Mach-O. The idea

is to start small by adding basic linking in a standalone repo (separate from Zig master), and when the linker 

matures enough, upstream it into Zig. I think this approach makes sense and allows me to focus on the target

file format only rather than try and tackle both a new file format and challenges of incremental linking.

Having said that, I've also decided to downstream all latest developments to the traditional Mach-O linker

back into this repo, thus making `zld` a capable standalone linker when it comes to linking Mach-O. I'll strive

to make it a direct replacement for any system linker, however, note that my priority will always be advancing

of `zig ld` (which is not to say that I won't backport fixes from one to another). At the end of the day, the idea

will be to swap in `zig ld` in place of any other linker.

## Supported backends

- [x] Mach-O (x86_64)

- [x] Mach-O (aarch64)

- [x] ELF (x86_64)

- [x] ELF (aarch64)

- [ ] ELF (riscv64)

- [ ] COFF (x86_64)

- [ ] COFF (aarch64)

- [x] Wasm (static)

## Contributing

You are welcome to contribute to this repo, but ask you to see if you could also contribute the same fix

to Zig too. This will make my life easier and you will have made many Zig developers happy!