since commit c5e34dabbb, crt1.c has
provided a "mostly-C" implementation of the crt1 start file that
avoids the need for arch-specific symbol referencing, PIC/PIE-specific
code variants, etc. but for archs that had existing hand-written
versions, the new code was initially unused, and later only used as
the dynamic linker entry point. this commit switches all archs to
using the new code.
the code being removed was a recurring source of subtle errors, and
was still broken at least on arm, where it failed to properly align
the stack pointer before calling into C code.
failure to do so was causing crashes on x86_64 when ctors used SSE,
which was first observed when ctors called variadic functions due to
the SSE prologue code inserted into every variadic function.
it does not work; after further consideration, a separate Scrt1.s for
pie really is essential. it would be nice if the unified approach
worked, but the linker fails to generate the correct PLT entries and
instead puts textrels in the main program, which don't work because
the kernel maps the text read-only.
new Scrt1.s will be committed soon in place of this.
this is mainly in hopes of supporting c++ (not yet possible for other
reasons) but will also help applications/libraries which use (and more
often, abuse) the gcc __attribute__((__constructor__)) feature in "C"
code.
x86_64 and arm versions of the new startup asm are untested and may
have minor problems.
Rich Felker