Checking if a Library Provides a Function

A linker, any linker, knits together object files (some of which may be in libraries) such that every function needed by the program has a definition. If the linker fails to locate a definition for even one function, it will fail and the program will not run.

Returning to bsqldb.o, we can use nm to see which functions are unresolved, and determine whether or not a particular library contains them. We'll ignore the symbols that start with an underscore, marking them per the C standard as being provided by the implementation[36], and focus on the last five in this abbreviated list.

Some unresolved functions in bsqldb.o

asprintf, basename

Normally provided by the standard C library, but if not by FreeTDS's replacements library:

$ nm /usr/lib/libc.a | grep -w T | grep -E 'asprintf|basename'

0000000000000000 T _basename
0000000000000000 T _asprintf

calloc

Provided by the standard C library:

$ nm /usr/lib/libc.a | grep -w T | grep calloc 
0000000000004240 T calloc

dbaltbind, dbaltcolid

Provided by DB-Library:

$ nm libsybdb.a | grep -Ew 'dbaltbind|dbaltcolid'
0000000000007140 T dbaltbind
0000000000003590 T dbaltcolid

Although these examples refer to static libraries, nm works just as well with dynamic libraries, too.

There are other tools besides nm. Windows®, for instance, has dumpbin, and the GNU bintools include objdump.



[36] Why and how leading underscores enter into this discussion is just one more example of arcane historical practices one needs to know to master the subject. For our purposes, though, it's enough to know that implementation-provided functions like these — functions provided by the C standard library — often have an underscored prepended.