Re: BFD assertion fail in ld 2.12

[Alan Modra]

On Sun, Jun 09, 2002 at 10:37:46AM +0200, address@hidden wrote:
> When /usr/lib/libc.so is missing on my system, ld 2.12 writes this
> during links time
> /usr/local/bin/ld: BFD 2.12 assertion fail elf-strtab.c:262
> and generates a binary that always crashes on floating point exception just
> after startup
> 
> a) ld should not generate any assertion fail under any circumstances

Yes.

> b) If, it should end with $?=1

No, assertions are there to indicate assumptions made by the author of
the code, and serve to indicate when such assumptions fail.  Often,
the application can produce useful output even when BFD_ASSERT
triggers.  If the error really is fatal, then "abort" should be used,
which does exit with $? non-zero.

> c) It should not definitely generate a binary in such case, especially not
>    a corrupted binary

Hmm, complete lack of a libc ought to give undefined symbol errors.
ld is probably picking up some other libc.

-- 
Alan Modra
IBM OzLabs - Linux Technology Centre