{
	"id": "b54c30bb-d842-49dc-9d13-203b5d703668",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T01:31:54.838534Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:20:40.852677Z",
	"deleted_at": null,
	"sha1_hash": "9a23d9111e295549ac5a3e6864cf88dff949d993",
	"title": "ld.so(8) - Linux manual page",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_size": 126227,
	"plain_text": "ld.so(8) - Linux manual page\r\nArchived: 2026-04-06 00:35:15 UTC\r\nld.so(8) System Manager's Manual ld.so(8)\r\nNAME         top\r\n ld.so, ld-linux.so - dynamic linker/loader\r\nSYNOPSIS         top\r\n The dynamic linker can be run either indirectly by running some\r\n dynamically linked program or shared object (in which case no\r\n command-line options to the dynamic linker can be passed and, in\r\n the ELF case, the dynamic linker which is stored in the .interp\r\n section of the program is executed) or directly by running:\r\n /lib/ld-linux.so.* [OPTIONS] [PROGRAM [ARGUMENTS]]\r\nDESCRIPTION         top\r\n The programs ld.so and ld-linux.so* find and load the shared\r\n objects (shared libraries) needed by a program, prepare the\r\n program to run, and then run it.\r\n Linux binaries require dynamic linking (linking at run time)\r\n unless the -static option was given to ld(1) during compilation.\r\n The program ld.so handles a.out binaries, a binary format used\r\n long ago. The program ld-linux.so* (/lib/ld-linux.so.1 for libc5,\r\n /lib/ld-linux.so.2 for glibc2) handles binaries that are in the\r\n more modern ELF format. Both programs have the same behavior, and\r\n use the same support files and programs (ldd(1), ldconfig(8), and\r\n /etc/ld.so.conf).\r\n When resolving shared object dependencies, the dynamic linker\r\n first inspects each dependency string to see if it contains a\r\n slash (this can occur if a shared object pathname containing\r\n slashes was specified at link time). If a slash is found, then\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 1 of 15\n\nthe dependency string is interpreted as a (relative or absolute)\r\n pathname, and the shared object is loaded using that pathname.\r\n If a shared object dependency does not contain a slash, then it is\r\n searched for in the following order:\r\n (1) Using the directories specified in the DT_RPATH dynamic\r\n section attribute of the binary if present and DT_RUNPATH\r\n attribute does not exist.\r\n (2) Using the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH, unless the\r\n executable is being run in secure-execution mode (see below),\r\n in which case this variable is ignored.\r\n (3) Using the directories specified in the DT_RUNPATH dynamic\r\n section attribute of the binary if present. Such directories\r\n are searched only to find those objects required by DT_NEEDED\r\n (direct dependencies) entries and do not apply to those\r\n objects' children, which must themselves have their own\r\n DT_RUNPATH entries. This is unlike DT_RPATH, which is\r\n applied to searches for all children in the dependency tree.\r\n (4) From the cache file /etc/ld.so.cache, which contains a\r\n compiled list of candidate shared objects previously found in\r\n the augmented library path. If, however, the binary was\r\n linked with the -z nodefaultlib linker option, shared objects\r\n in the default paths are skipped. Shared objects installed\r\n in hardware capability directories (see below) are preferred\r\n to other shared objects.\r\n (5) In the default path /lib, and then /usr/lib. (On some 64-bit\r\n architectures, the default paths for 64-bit shared objects\r\n are /lib64, and then /usr/lib64.) If the binary was linked\r\n with the -z nodefaultlib linker option, this step is skipped.\r\n Dynamic string tokens\r\n In several places, the dynamic linker expands dynamic string\r\n tokens:\r\n • In the environment variables LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_PRELOAD, and\r\n LD_AUDIT,\r\n • inside the values of the dynamic section tags DT_NEEDED,\r\n DT_RPATH, DT_RUNPATH, DT_AUDIT, and DT_DEPAUDIT of ELF\r\n binaries,\r\n • in the arguments to the ld.so command line options --audit,\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 2 of 15\n\n--library-path, and --preload (see below), and\r\n • in the filename arguments to the dlopen(3) and dlmopen(3)\r\n functions.\r\n The substituted tokens are as follows:\r\n $ORIGIN (or equivalently ${ORIGIN})\r\n This expands to the directory containing the program or\r\n shared object. Thus, an application located in somedir/app\r\n could be compiled with\r\n gcc -Wl,-rpath,'$ORIGIN/../lib'\r\n so that it finds an associated shared object in somedir/lib\r\n no matter where somedir is located in the directory\r\n hierarchy. This facilitates the creation of \"turn-key\"\r\n applications that do not need to be installed into special\r\n directories, but can instead be unpacked into any directory\r\n and still find their own shared objects.\r\n $LIB (or equivalently ${LIB})\r\n This expands to lib or lib64 depending on the architecture\r\n (e.g., on x86-64, it expands to lib64 and on x86-32, it\r\n expands to lib).\r\n $PLATFORM (or equivalently ${PLATFORM})\r\n This expands to a string corresponding to the processor\r\n type of the host system (e.g., \"x86_64\"). On some\r\n architectures, the Linux kernel doesn't provide a platform\r\n string to the dynamic linker. The value of this string is\r\n taken from the AT_PLATFORM value in the auxiliary vector\r\n (see getauxval(3)).\r\n Note that the dynamic string tokens have to be quoted properly\r\n when set from a shell, to prevent their expansion as shell or\r\n environment variables.\r\nOPTIONS         top\r\n --argv0 string (since glibc 2.33)\r\n Set argv[0] to the value string before running the program.\r\n --audit list\r\n Use objects named in list as auditors. The objects in list\r\n are delimited by colons.\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 3 of 15\n\n--glibc-hwcaps-mask list\r\n only search built-in subdirectories if in list.\r\n --glibc-hwcaps-prepend list\r\n Search glibc-hwcaps subdirectories in list.\r\n --inhibit-cache\r\n Do not use /etc/ld.so.cache.\r\n --library-path path\r\n Use path instead of LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable\r\n setting (see below). The names ORIGIN, LIB, and PLATFORM\r\n are interpreted as for the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment\r\n variable.\r\n --inhibit-rpath list\r\n Ignore RPATH and RUNPATH information in object names in\r\n list. This option is ignored when running in secure-\r\n execution mode (see below). The objects in list are\r\n delimited by colons or spaces.\r\n --list List all dependencies and how they are resolved.\r\n --list-diagnostics (since glibc 2.33)\r\n Print system diagnostic information in a machine-readable\r\n format, such as some internal loader variables, the\r\n auxiliary vector (see getauxval(3)), and the environment\r\n variables. On some architectures, the command might print\r\n additional information (like the cpu features used in GNU\r\n indirect function selection on x86). --list-tunables\r\n (since glibc 2.33) Print the names and values of all\r\n tunables, along with the minimum and maximum allowed\r\n values.\r\n --preload list (since glibc 2.30)\r\n Preload the objects specified in list. The objects in list\r\n are delimited by colons or spaces. The objects are\r\n preloaded as explained in the description of the LD_PRELOAD\r\n environment variable below.\r\n By contrast with LD_PRELOAD, the --preload option provides\r\n a way to perform preloading for a single executable without\r\n affecting preloading performed in any child process that\r\n executes a new program.\r\n --verify\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 4 of 15\n\nVerify that program is dynamically linked and this dynamic\r\n linker can handle it.\r\nENVIRONMENT         top\r\n Various environment variables influence the operation of the\r\n dynamic linker.\r\n Secure-execution mode\r\n For security reasons, if the dynamic linker determines that a\r\n binary should be run in secure-execution mode, the effects of some\r\n environment variables are voided or modified, and furthermore\r\n those environment variables are stripped from the environment, so\r\n that the program does not even see the definitions. Some of these\r\n environment variables affect the operation of the dynamic linker\r\n itself, and are described below. Other environment variables\r\n treated in this way include: GCONV_PATH, GETCONF_DIR, HOSTALIASES,\r\n LOCALDOMAIN, LD_AUDIT, LD_DEBUG, LD_DEBUG_OUTPUT, LD_DYNAMIC_WEAK,\r\n LD_HWCAP_MASK, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_ORIGIN_PATH, LD_PRELOAD,\r\n LD_PROFILE, LD_SHOW_AUXV, LOCALDOMAIN, LOCPATH, MALLOC_TRACE,\r\n NIS_PATH, NLSPATH, RESOLV_HOST_CONF, RES_OPTIONS, TMPDIR, and\r\n TZDIR.\r\n A binary is executed in secure-execution mode if the AT_SECURE\r\n entry in the auxiliary vector (see getauxval(3)) has a nonzero\r\n value. This entry may have a nonzero value for various reasons,\r\n including:\r\n • The process's real and effective user IDs differ, or the real\r\n and effective group IDs differ. This typically occurs as a\r\n result of executing a set-user-ID or set-group-ID program.\r\n • A process with a non-root user ID executed a binary that\r\n conferred capabilities to the process.\r\n • A nonzero value may have been set by a Linux Security Module.\r\n Environment variables\r\n Among the more important environment variables are the following:\r\n LD_ASSUME_KERNEL (from glibc 2.2.3 to glibc 2.36)\r\n Each shared object can inform the dynamic linker of the\r\n minimum kernel ABI version that it requires. (This\r\n requirement is encoded in an ELF note section that is\r\n viewable via readelf -n as a section labeled\r\n NT_GNU_ABI_TAG.) At run time, the dynamic linker\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 5 of 15\n\ndetermines the ABI version of the running kernel and will\r\n reject loading shared objects that specify minimum ABI\r\n versions that exceed that ABI version.\r\n LD_ASSUME_KERNEL can be used to cause the dynamic linker to\r\n assume that it is running on a system with a different\r\n kernel ABI version. For example, the following command\r\n line causes the dynamic linker to assume it is running on\r\n Linux 2.2.5 when loading the shared objects required by\r\n myprog:\r\n $ LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 ./myprog\r\n On systems that provide multiple versions of a shared\r\n object (in different directories in the search path) that\r\n have different minimum kernel ABI version requirements,\r\n LD_ASSUME_KERNEL can be used to select the version of the\r\n object that is used (dependent on the directory search\r\n order).\r\n Historically, the most common use of the LD_ASSUME_KERNEL\r\n feature was to manually select the older LinuxThreads POSIX\r\n threads implementation on systems that provided both\r\n LinuxThreads and NPTL (which latter was typically the\r\n default on such systems); see pthreads(7).\r\n LD_BIND_NOW (since glibc 2.1.1)\r\n If set to a nonempty string, causes the dynamic linker to\r\n resolve all symbols at program startup instead of deferring\r\n function call resolution to the point when they are first\r\n referenced. This is useful when using a debugger.\r\n LD_LIBRARY_PATH\r\n A list of directories in which to search for ELF libraries\r\n at execution time. The items in the list are separated by\r\n either colons or semicolons, and there is no support for\r\n escaping either separator. A zero-length directory name\r\n indicates the current working directory.\r\n This variable is ignored in secure-execution mode.\r\n Within the pathnames specified in LD_LIBRARY_PATH, the\r\n dynamic linker expands the tokens $ORIGIN, $LIB, and\r\n $PLATFORM (or the versions using curly braces around the\r\n names) as described above in Dynamic string tokens. Thus,\r\n for example, the following would cause a library to be\r\n searched for in either the lib or lib64 subdirectory below\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 6 of 15\n\nthe directory containing the program to be executed:\r\n $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH='$ORIGIN/$LIB' prog\r\n (Note the use of single quotes, which prevent expansion of\r\n $ORIGIN and $LIB as shell variables!)\r\n LD_PRELOAD\r\n A list of additional, user-specified, ELF shared objects to\r\n be loaded before all others. This feature can be used to\r\n selectively override functions in other shared objects.\r\n The items of the list can be separated by spaces or colons,\r\n and there is no support for escaping either separator. The\r\n objects are searched for using the rules given under\r\n DESCRIPTION. Objects are searched for and added to the\r\n link map in the left-to-right order specified in the list.\r\n In secure-execution mode, preload pathnames containing\r\n slashes are ignored. Furthermore, shared objects are\r\n preloaded only from the standard search directories and\r\n only if they have set-user-ID mode bit enabled (which is\r\n not typical).\r\n Within the names specified in the LD_PRELOAD list, the\r\n dynamic linker understands the tokens $ORIGIN, $LIB, and\r\n $PLATFORM (or the versions using curly braces around the\r\n names) as described above in Dynamic string tokens. (See\r\n also the discussion of quoting under the description of\r\n LD_LIBRARY_PATH.)\r\n There are various methods of specifying libraries to be\r\n preloaded, and these are handled in the following order:\r\n (1) The LD_PRELOAD environment variable.\r\n (2) The --preload command-line option when invoking the\r\n dynamic linker directly.\r\n (3) The /etc/ld.so.preload file (described below).\r\n LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS\r\n If set (to any value), causes the program to list its\r\n dynamic dependencies, as if run by ldd(1), instead of\r\n running normally.\r\n Then there are lots of more or less obscure variables, many\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 7 of 15\n\nobsolete or only for internal use.\r\n LD_AUDIT (since glibc 2.4)\r\n A list of user-specified, ELF shared objects to be loaded\r\n before all others in a separate linker namespace (i.e., one\r\n that does not intrude upon the normal symbol bindings that\r\n would occur in the process) These objects can be used to\r\n audit the operation of the dynamic linker. The items in\r\n the list are colon-separated, and there is no support for\r\n escaping the separator.\r\n LD_AUDIT is ignored in secure-execution mode.\r\n The dynamic linker will notify the audit shared objects at\r\n so-called auditing checkpoints—for example, loading a new\r\n shared object, resolving a symbol, or calling a symbol from\r\n another shared object—by calling an appropriate function\r\n within the audit shared object. For details, see\r\n rtld-audit(7). The auditing interface is largely\r\n compatible with that provided on Solaris, as described in\r\n its Linker and Libraries Guide, in the chapter Runtime\r\n Linker Auditing Interface.\r\n Within the names specified in the LD_AUDIT list, the\r\n dynamic linker understands the tokens $ORIGIN, $LIB, and\r\n $PLATFORM (or the versions using curly braces around the\r\n names) as described above in Dynamic string tokens. (See\r\n also the discussion of quoting under the description of\r\n LD_LIBRARY_PATH.)\r\n Since glibc 2.13, in secure-execution mode, names in the\r\n audit list that contain slashes are ignored, and only\r\n shared objects in the standard search directories that have\r\n the set-user-ID mode bit enabled are loaded.\r\n LD_BIND_NOT (since glibc 2.1.95)\r\n If this environment variable is set to a nonempty string,\r\n do not update the GOT (global offset table) and PLT\r\n (procedure linkage table) after resolving a function\r\n symbol. By combining the use of this variable with\r\n LD_DEBUG (with the categories bindings and symbols), one\r\n can observe all run-time function bindings.\r\n LD_DEBUG (since glibc 2.1)\r\n Output verbose debugging information about operation of the\r\n dynamic linker. The content of this variable is one or\r\n more of the following categories, separated by colons,\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 8 of 15\n\ncommas, or (if the value is quoted) spaces:\r\n help Specifying help in the value of this variable does\r\n not run the specified program, and displays a help\r\n message about which categories can be specified in\r\n this environment variable.\r\n all Print all debugging information (except statistics\r\n and unused; see below).\r\n bindings\r\n Display information about which definition each\r\n symbol is bound to.\r\n files Display progress for input file.\r\n libs Display library search paths.\r\n reloc Display relocation processing.\r\n scopes Display scope information.\r\n statistics\r\n Display relocation statistics.\r\n symbols\r\n Display search paths for each symbol look-up.\r\n unused Determine unused DSOs.\r\n versions\r\n Display version dependencies.\r\n Since glibc 2.3.4, LD_DEBUG is ignored in secure-execution\r\n mode, unless the file /etc/suid-debug exists (the content\r\n of the file is irrelevant).\r\n LD_DEBUG_OUTPUT (since glibc 2.1)\r\n By default, LD_DEBUG output is written to standard error.\r\n If LD_DEBUG_OUTPUT is defined, then output is written to\r\n the pathname specified by its value, with the suffix \".\"\r\n (dot) followed by the process ID appended to the pathname.\r\n LD_DEBUG_OUTPUT is ignored in secure-execution mode.\r\n LD_DYNAMIC_WEAK (since glibc 2.1.91)\r\n By default, when searching shared libraries to resolve a\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 9 of 15\n\nsymbol reference, the dynamic linker will resolve to the\r\n first definition it finds.\r\n Old glibc versions (before glibc 2.2), provided a different\r\n behavior: if the linker found a symbol that was weak, it\r\n would remember that symbol and keep searching in the\r\n remaining shared libraries. If it subsequently found a\r\n strong definition of the same symbol, then it would instead\r\n use that definition. (If no further symbol was found, then\r\n the dynamic linker would use the weak symbol that it\r\n initially found.)\r\n The old glibc behavior was nonstandard. (Standard practice\r\n is that the distinction between weak and strong symbols\r\n should have effect only at static link time.) In glibc\r\n 2.2, the dynamic linker was modified to provide the current\r\n behavior (which was the behavior that was provided by most\r\n other implementations at that time).\r\n Defining the LD_DYNAMIC_WEAK environment variable (with any\r\n value) provides the old (nonstandard) glibc behavior,\r\n whereby a weak symbol in one shared library may be\r\n overridden by a strong symbol subsequently discovered in\r\n another shared library. (Note that even when this variable\r\n is set, a strong symbol in a shared library will not\r\n override a weak definition of the same symbol in the main\r\n program.)\r\n Since glibc 2.3.4, LD_DYNAMIC_WEAK is ignored in secure-\r\n execution mode.\r\n LD_HWCAP_MASK (from glibc 2.1 to glibc 2.38)\r\n Mask for hardware capabilities. Since glibc 2.26, the\r\n option might be ignored if glibc does not support tunables.\r\n LD_ORIGIN_PATH (since glibc 2.1)\r\n Path where the binary is found.\r\n Since glibc 2.4, LD_ORIGIN_PATH is ignored in secure-\r\n execution mode.\r\n LD_POINTER_GUARD (from glibc 2.4 to glibc 2.22)\r\n Set to 0 to disable pointer guarding. Any other value\r\n enables pointer guarding, which is also the default.\r\n Pointer guarding is a security mechanism whereby some\r\n pointers to code stored in writable program memory (return\r\n addresses saved by setjmp(3) or function pointers used by\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 10 of 15\n\nvarious glibc internals) are mangled semi-randomly to make\r\n it more difficult for an attacker to hijack the pointers\r\n for use in the event of a buffer overrun or stack-smashing\r\n attack. Since glibc 2.23, LD_POINTER_GUARD can no longer\r\n be used to disable pointer guarding, which is now always\r\n enabled.\r\n LD_PROFILE (since glibc 2.1)\r\n The name of a (single) shared object to be profiled,\r\n specified either as a pathname or a soname. Profiling\r\n output is appended to the file whose name is:\r\n $LD_PROFILE_OUTPUT/$LD_PROFILE.profile.\r\n Since glibc 2.2.5, LD_PROFILE uses a different default path\r\n in secure-execution mode.\r\n LD_PROFILE_OUTPUT (since glibc 2.1)\r\n Directory where LD_PROFILE output should be written. If\r\n this variable is not defined, or is defined as an empty\r\n string, then the default is /var/tmp.\r\n LD_PROFILE_OUTPUT is ignored in secure-execution mode;\r\n instead /var/profile is always used.\r\n LD_SHOW_AUXV (since glibc 2.1)\r\n If this environment variable is defined (with any value),\r\n show the auxiliary array passed up from the kernel (see\r\n also getauxval(3)).\r\n Since glibc 2.3.4, LD_SHOW_AUXV is ignored in secure-\r\n execution mode.\r\n LD_TRACE_PRELINKING (from glibc 2.4 to glibc 2.35)\r\n If this environment variable is defined, trace prelinking\r\n of the object whose name is assigned to this environment\r\n variable. (Use ldd(1) to get a list of the objects that\r\n might be traced.) If the object name is not recognized,\r\n then all prelinking activity is traced.\r\n LD_USE_LOAD_BIAS (from glibc 2.3.3 to glibc 2.35)\r\n By default (i.e., if this variable is not defined),\r\n executables and prelinked shared objects will honor base\r\n addresses of their dependent shared objects and\r\n (nonprelinked) position-independent executables (PIEs) and\r\n other shared objects will not honor them. If\r\n LD_USE_LOAD_BIAS is defined with the value 1, both\r\n executables and PIEs will honor the base addresses. If\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 11 of 15\n\nLD_USE_LOAD_BIAS is defined with the value 0, neither\r\n executables nor PIEs will honor the base addresses.\r\n Since glibc 2.3.3, this variable is ignored in secure-\r\n execution mode.\r\n LD_VERBOSE (since glibc 2.1)\r\n If set to a nonempty string, output symbol versioning\r\n information about the program if the\r\n LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS environment variable has been set.\r\n LD_WARN (since glibc 2.1.3)\r\n If set to a nonempty string, warn about unresolved symbols.\r\n LD_PREFER_MAP_32BIT_EXEC (x86-64 only; since glibc 2.23)\r\n According to the Intel Silvermont software optimization\r\n guide, for 64-bit applications, branch prediction\r\n performance can be negatively impacted when the target of a\r\n branch is more than 4 GB away from the branch. If this\r\n environment variable is set (to any value), the dynamic\r\n linker will first try to map executable pages using the\r\n mmap(2) MAP_32BIT flag, and fall back to mapping without\r\n that flag if that attempt fails. NB: MAP_32BIT will map to\r\n the low 2 GB (not 4 GB) of the address space.\r\n Because MAP_32BIT reduces the address range available for\r\n address space layout randomization (ASLR),\r\n LD_PREFER_MAP_32BIT_EXEC is always disabled in secure-\r\n execution mode.\r\nFILES         top\r\n /lib/ld.so\r\n a.out dynamic linker/loader\r\n /lib/ld-linux.so.{1,2}\r\n ELF dynamic linker/loader\r\n /etc/ld.so.cache\r\n File containing a compiled list of directories in which to\r\n search for shared objects and an ordered list of candidate\r\n shared objects. See ldconfig(8).\r\n /etc/ld.so.preload\r\n File containing a whitespace-separated list of ELF shared\r\n objects to be loaded before the program. See the\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 12 of 15\n\ndiscussion of LD_PRELOAD above. If both LD_PRELOAD and\r\n /etc/ld.so.preload are employed, the libraries specified by\r\n LD_PRELOAD are preloaded first. /etc/ld.so.preload has a\r\n system-wide effect, causing the specified libraries to be\r\n preloaded for all programs that are executed on the system.\r\n (This is usually undesirable, and is typically employed\r\n only as an emergency remedy, for example, as a temporary\r\n workaround to a library misconfiguration issue.)\r\n lib*.so*\r\n shared objects\r\nNOTES         top\r\n Legacy Hardware capabilities (from glibc 2.5 to glibc 2.37)\r\n Some shared objects are compiled using hardware-specific\r\n instructions which do not exist on every CPU. Such objects should\r\n be installed in directories whose names define the required\r\n hardware capabilities, such as /usr/lib/sse2/. The dynamic linker\r\n checks these directories against the hardware of the machine and\r\n selects the most suitable version of a given shared object.\r\n Hardware capability directories can be cascaded to combine CPU\r\n features. The list of supported hardware capability names depends\r\n on the CPU. The following names are currently recognized:\r\n Alpha ev4, ev5, ev56, ev6, ev67\r\n MIPS loongson2e, loongson2f, octeon, octeon2\r\n PowerPC\r\n 4xxmac, altivec, arch_2_05, arch_2_06, booke, cellbe, dfp,\r\n efpdouble, efpsingle, fpu, ic_snoop, mmu, notb, pa6t,\r\n power4, power5, power5+, power6x, ppc32, ppc601, ppc64,\r\n smt, spe, ucache, vsx\r\n SPARC flush, muldiv, stbar, swap, ultra3, v9, v9v, v9v2\r\n s390 dfp, eimm, esan3, etf3enh, g5, highgprs, hpage, ldisp, msa,\r\n stfle, z900, z990, z9-109, z10, zarch\r\n x86 (32-bit only)\r\n acpi, apic, clflush, cmov, cx8, dts, fxsr, ht, i386, i486,\r\n i586, i686, mca, mmx, mtrr, pat, pbe, pge, pn, pse36, sep,\r\n ss, sse, sse2, tm\r\n The legacy hardware capabilities support has the drawback that\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 13 of 15\n\neach new feature added grows the search path exponentially,\r\n because it has to be added to every combination of the other\r\n existing features.\r\n For instance, on x86 32-bit, if the hardware supports i686 and\r\n sse2, the resulting search path will be i686/sse2:i686:sse2:.. A\r\n new capability newcap will set the search path to\r\n newcap/i686/sse2:newcap/i686:newcap/sse2:newcap:i686/sse2:i686:sse2:.\r\n glibc Hardware capabilities (from glibc 2.33)\r\n glibc 2.33 added a new hardware capability scheme,\r\n where under each CPU architecture, certain levels can be\r\n defined, grouping support for certain features or special\r\n instructions. Each architecture level has a fixed set of\r\n paths that it adds to the dynamic linker search list,\r\n depending on the hardware of the machine. Since each new\r\n architecture level is not combined with previously existing\r\n ones, the new scheme does not have the drawback of growing\r\n the dynamic linker search list uncontrollably.\r\n For instance, on x86 64-bit, if the hardware supports x86_64-v3\r\n (for instance Intel Haswell or AMD Excavator), the resulting\r\n search path will be glibc-hwcaps/x86-64-v3:glibc-\r\n hwcaps/x86-64-v2:. The following paths are currently supported,\r\n in priority order.\r\n PowerPC (64-bit little-endian only)\r\n power10, power9\r\n s390 (64-bit only)\r\n z16, z15, z14, z13\r\n x86 (64-bit only)\r\n x86-64-v4, x86-64-v3, x86-64-v2\r\n glibc 2.37 removed support for the legacy hardware capabilities.\r\nSEE ALSO         top\r\n ld(1), ldd(1), pldd(1), sprof(1), dlopen(3), getauxval(3), elf(5),\r\n capabilities(7), rtld-audit(7), ldconfig(8), sln(8)\r\nCOLOPHON         top\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 14 of 15\n\nThis page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library\r\n user-space interface documentation) project. Information about\r\n the project can be found at\r\n ⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/⟩. If you have a bug report\r\n for this manual page, see\r\n ⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING⟩.\r\n This page was obtained from the tarball man-pages-6.16.tar.gz\r\n fetched from\r\n ⟨https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/⟩ on\r\n 2026-01-16. If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML\r\n version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-\r\n to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or\r\n improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not\r\n part of the original manual page), send a mail to\r\n man-pages@man7.org\r\nLinux man-pages 6.16 2025-09-21 ld.so(8)\r\nPages that refer to this page: ldd(1),  memusage(1),  pldd(1),  sprof(1),  execve(2),  PR_SET_FP_MODE(2const), \r\nPR_SET_MM(2const),  uselib(2),  dladdr(3),  dlinfo(3),  dl_iterate_phdr(3),  dlopen(3),  dlsym(3),  getauxval(3), \r\nlttng-ust(3),  lttng-ust-cyg-profile(3),  elf(5),  capabilities(7),  environ(7),  rtld-audit(7),  ldconfig(8),  sln(8)\r\nCopyright and license for this manual page\r\nSource: https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nhttps://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html\r\nPage 15 of 15",
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