uselib - load shared library
#include <unistd.h> int uselib(const char *library); Note: No declaration of this system call is provided in glibc headers; see NOTES.
The system call uselib() serves to load a shared library to be used by the calling process. It is given a pathname. The address where to load is found in the library itself. The library can have any recognized binary format.
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.
In addition to all of the error codes returned by open(2) and mmap(2), the following may also be returned: EACCES The library specified by library does not have read or execute permission, or the caller does not have search permission for one of the directories in the path prefix. (See also path_resolution(7).) ENFILE The system-wide limit on the total number of open files has been reached. ENOEXEC The file specified by library is not an executable of a known type; for example, it does not have the correct magic numbers.
uselib() is Linux-specific, and should not be used in programs intended to be portable.
This obsolete system call is not supported by glibc. No declaration is provided in glibc headers, but, through a quirk of history, glibc versions before 2.23 did export an ABI for this system call. Therefore, in order to employ this system call, it was sufficient to manually declare the interface in your code; alternatively, you could invoke the system call using syscall(2). In ancient libc versions, uselib() was used to load the shared libraries with names found in an array of names in the binary. Since libc 4.3.2, startup code tries to prefix these names with "/usr/lib", "/lib" and "" before giving up. In libc 4.3.4 and later these names are looked for in the directories found in LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and if not found there, prefixes "/usr/lib", "/lib" and "/" are tried. From libc 4.4.4 on only the library "/lib/ld.so" is loaded, so that this dynamic library can load the remaining libraries needed (again using this call). This is also the state of affairs in libc5. glibc2 does not use this call. Since Linux 3.15, this system call is available only when the kernel is configured with the CONFIG_USELIB option.
ar(1), gcc(1), ld(1), ldd(1), mmap(2), open(2), dlopen(3), capabilities(7), ld.so(8)
This page is part of release 4.09 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.
Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.
Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.
Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.
The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.
Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.
Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.
Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.