Talk:GNU linker

"linker" not "Loader"
This page is incorrectly named. All of the GNU (FSF) literature refers to ld as the "GNU linker," e.g.


 * It seems you're right. Page moved. Gronky 11:41, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

library = is executable?
GNU ld runs the linker, which creates an executable file from object files created during compilation of a software project.

As far as I understand, ld also generates libraries. Are libraries considered executable files? --Abdull (talk) 09:42, 29 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I suppose libraries indeed aren't executable files. They are executable code, but the file on it's own isn't executable.  I've added "(or libraries)" to that sentence.  --Gronky (talk) 10:29, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Origin of name
Can someone find some reference for that loader thing? I know terms linker and loader are sometimes used interchangeably in UNIX world, but I'm used to hearing and using meaning "link editor" with all linkers which go under executable name ld, including GNU's implementation. Link editor is a name used by many different UNIXes and UNIX-likes, including HP-UX, Ultrix, several historic BSDs and SunOS/Solaris. However, Seventh edition's man page uses name loader, so if original developer of GNU ld worked/had worked on site which ran Seventh edition or some of it's descendants that used same man pages or terminology, it can be very possible that this ld comes from loader. I couldn't find any information about when development of GNU ld was started (didn't crawl through Bulletins) or any info about the name published by GNU, so could someone point some reference? 80.246.144.47 (talk) 16:53, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

--Abdull (talk) 19:50, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
 * "GNU ld runs the linker [...]"
 * If GNU ld/GNU linker is not the linker, then what is the linker?

Does it make sense that the name ld is a reversed acronym of Dynamic Linker, creating a kind of unpack/pack relationship, respectively..? I'm not sure if at the time ld was first available, dynamic linking already existed.

--mardog (talk) 14:59, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Merge
This article was tagged for notability and reliance on primary sources since 2011. It also contained relatively little information, and simply described a specific instance of linker, so I merger it into Linker (computing) as a section of its own. Peter Flass (talk) 22:52, 9 September 2019 (UTC)