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Chapter 3: Using Dynamic Shared Objects

A dynamic shared object (DSO) is an object file that's meant to be used simultaneously--or shared--by multiple applications (a.out files) while they're executing.

As you read this chapter, you will learn how to build and use DSOs. This chapter covers the following topics:

"Benefits of Using DSOs" explains the benefits of DSOs.
"Using DSOs" tells you how to obtain the most benefit from using DSOs when creating your executable.
"Taking Advantage of QuickStart" discusses an optimization you can use to make sure that the DSOs you build load as quickly as possible.
"Building DSOs" describes how to build a DSO.
"Run-Time Linking" discusses the run-time linker, and how it locates DSOs at run time.
"Dynamic Loading Under Program Control" explains the use of dlopen() and dlsym() to control run-time linking.
"Versioning of DSOs" discusses a versioning mechanism for DSOs that allows binaries linked against different, incompatible versions of the same DSO to run correctly.

You can use DSOs in place of archive libraries (they replace static shared libraries provided with earlier releases of IRIX).

Benefits of Using DSOs
Using DSOs
Taking Advantage of QuickStart
Building DSOs
Run-Time Linking
Dynamic Loading Under Program Control
Versioning of DSOs

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