Re: [Linux-ia64] Question about .opd section

[Jim Wilson <wilson@redhat.com>]

binutils@sources.redhat.com is a better place to ask questions like this.
This is where the binutils experts hang out.

I found a comment in the IA-64 bfd support that says .opd contains "official
procedure descriptors".  I don't know where the terminology came from though.

The function descriptors are required for executing IA-64 code, so this is
definitely a normal section when using the GNU tools.  The section is
required if present.  The section is created by the linker, if one of the
object files being linked uses a relocation type that requires that a
function descriptor be created, e.g. LTOFF_FPTR22.  The 2-word function
descriptor goes in the .opd section, the address of the descriptor goes in
the GOT, and the gcc generated code loads the address from the GOT.

I don't have easy access to any other IA-64 compiler, so I can't comment on
how other compilers handle this.

Jim