a while back, gcc switched from using the old _init/_fini fragments
method for calling ctors and dtors on arm to the __init_array and
__fini_array method. unfortunately, on glibc this depends on ugly
hacks involving making libc.so a linker script and pulling parts of
libc into the main program binary. so I cheat a little bit, and just
write asm to iterate over the init/fini arrays from the _init/_fini
asm. the same approach could be used on any arch it's needed on, but
for now arm is the only one.
lr must be saved because init/fini-section code from the compiler
clobbers it. this was not a problem when i tested without gcc's
crtbegin/crtend files present, but with them, musl on arm fails to
work (infinite loop in _init).
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.
this port assumes eabi calling conventions, eabi linux syscall
convention, and presence of the kernel helpers at 0xffff0f?0 needed
for threads support. otherwise it makes very few assumptions, and the
code should work even on armv4 without thumb support, as well as on
systems with thumb interworking. the bits headers declare this a
little endian system, but as far as i can tell the code should work
equally well on big endian.
some small details are probably broken; so far, testing has been
limited to qemu/aboriginal linux.
Rich Felker