Glossary 317
Glossary
dynamic loading library An
SVR4 term for a shared library.
dynamic search path The
process that allows the location of
shared libraries to be specified at
runtime.
entry point The location at
which a program starts running
after HP-UX loads it into memory.
The entry point is defined by the
symbol $START$ in crt0.o.
explicit loading The process of
using the shl_load(3X) function to
load a shared library into a
running program.
export stub A short code
segment generated by the linker
for a global definition in a shared
library. External calls to shared
library procedures go through the
export stub. See also import stub.
export symbol A symbol
definition that may be referenced
outside the library.
exporting a symbol Making a
symbol visible to code outside the
module in which the symbol was
defined. This is usually done with
the +e or -E option.
external reference A reference
to a symbol defined outside an
object file.
feedback-directed positioning
An optimization technique
wherein procedures are relocated
in a program, based on profiling
data obtained from running the
program. Feedback-directed
positioning is one of the
optimizations performed during
profile-based optimization.
file descriptor A file descriptor is
returned by the open(2), creat(2),
and dup(2) system calls. The file
descriptor is used by other system
calls (for example, read(2),
write(2), and close(2)) to refer to a
the file.
filters Programs that accept input
data and modify it in some way
before passing it on. For example,
the pr command is a filter.
flush The process of emptying a
buffer's contents and resetting its
internal data structures.
global definition A definition of a
procedure, function, or data item
that can be accessed by code in
another object file.