dlopen.3: Note that symbol use might keep a dlclose'd object in memory

My earlier commit was in error:

    commit 4a1af09bd1aae1fdfc783dd017cb5bc392dccc1b
    Author: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
    Date:   Sat Mar 14 21:40:35 2015 +0100

        dlopen.3: Amend error in description of dlclose() behavior

    -If the reference count drops to zero and no other loaded libraries use
    -symbols in it, then the dynamic library is unloaded.
    +If the reference count drops to zero,
    +then the dynamic library is unloaded.

I doubted the removed text, because it provide little clue about
the scenario. The POSIX dlclose(3) specification actually details
the scenario sufficiently:

       Although  a dlclose() operation is not required to remove
       any functions or data objects  from  the  address  space,
       neither  is  an  implementation prohibited from doing so.
       The only restriction on such a removal is that  no  func‐
       tion nor data object shall be removed to which references
       have been relocated, until or unless all such  references
       are removed. For instance, an executable object file that
       had been loaded with a dlopen() operation specifying  the
       RTLD_GLOBAL flag might provide a target for dynamic relo‐
       cations performed in the processing of other  relocatable
       objects—in  such  environments, an application may assume
       that no relocation, once made, shall be undone or  remade
       unless  the  executable  object file containing the relo‐
       cated object has itself been removed.

Verified by experiment:

$ cat openlibs.c       # Test program

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    void *libHandle[MAX_LIBS];
    int lcnt;

    if (argc < 2) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s lib-path...\n", argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    lcnt = 0;

    for (int j = 1; j < argc; j++) {
        if (argv[j][0] != '-') {
            if (lcnt >= MAX_LIBS) {
                fprintf(stderr, "Too many libraries (limit: %d)\n", MAX_LIBS);
                exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
            }

            printf("[%d] Opening %s\n", lcnt, argv[j]);
            libHandle[lcnt] = dlopen(argv[j], RTLD_NOW | RTLD_GLOBAL);
            if (libHandle[lcnt] == NULL) {
                fprintf(stderr, "dlopen: %s\n", dlerror());
                exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
            }
            lcnt++;

        } else {    /* "-N" closes the Nth handle */

            int i = atoi(&argv[j][1]);
            printf("Closing handle %d\n", i);
            dlclose(libHandle[i]);
        }

        sleep(1);
        printf("\n");
    }

    printf("Program about to exit\n");

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

$ cat lib_x1.c

void x1_func(void) { printf("Hello world\n"); }

__attribute__((constructor)) void x1_cstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

__attribute__((destructor)) void x1_dstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

$ cat lib_y1.c

void y1_func(void) { printf("Hello world\n"); }

__attribute__((constructor)) void y1_cstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

__attribute__((destructor)) void y1_dstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

static void testref(void) {
    /* The following reference, to a symbol in lib_x1.so shows that
       RTLD_GLOBAL may pin a library when it might otherwise have been
       released with dlclose() */
    extern void x1_func(void);
    x1_func();
}

$ cc -shared -fPIC -o lib_x1.so lib_x1.c
$ cc -shared -fPIC -o lib_y1.so lib_y1.c
$ cc -o openlibs openlibs.c -ldl

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./openlibs lib_x1.so lib_y1.so -0 -1
[0] Opening lib_x1.so
Called x1_cstor

[1] Opening lib_y1.so
Called y1_cstor

Closing handle 0

Closing handle 1
Called y1_dstor
Called x1_dstor

Program about to exit
<end program output>

Note that x1_dstor was called only when handle 1 (lib_y1.so) was closed.
But, if we edit lib_y1 to remove the reference to x1_func(), things are
different:

$ cat lib_y1.c      # After editing

void y1_func(void) { printf("Hello world\n"); }

__attribute__((constructor)) void y1_cstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

__attribute__((destructor)) void y1_dstor(void)
{ printf("Called %s\n", __FUNCTION__); }

static void testref(void) {
    // extern void x1_func(void);
    // x1_func();
}

$ cc -shared -fPIC -o lib_y1.so lib_y1.c
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./openlibs lib_x1.so lib_y1.so -0 -1
[0] Opening lib_x1.so
Called x1_cstor

[1] Opening lib_y1.so
Called y1_cstor

Closing handle 0
Called x1_dstor

Closing handle 1
Called y1_dstor

Program about to exit
<end program output>

This time, x1_dstor was called when handle 0 (lib_x1.so) was closed.

Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>

diff --git a/man3/dlopen.3 b/man3/dlopen.3
index 2a32690f7192a1d88fc861a2545b9de323a88cf2..232883164145a8cb3fcc75a970c7aa0deb19e562 100644 (file)
--- a/man3/dlopen.3
+++ b/man3/dlopen.3
@@ -294,9 +294,16 @@ The function
 decrements the reference count on the
 dynamically loaded shared object referred to by
 .IR handle .
-If the reference count drops to zero,
+.PP
+If the object's reference count drops to zero
+and no symbols in this object are required by other objects,
 then the object is unloaded
 after first calling any destructors defined for the object.
+(Symbols in this object might be required in another object
+because this object was opened with the
+.BR RTLD_GLOBAL
+flag and one of its symbols satisfied a relocation in another object.)
+.PP
 All shared objects that were automatically loaded when
 .BR dlopen ()
 was invoked on the object referred to by