RPATH support

This page documents support for RPATH across the board and support for expansion of the $ORIGIN token. The platforms are based on the one listed in CMake (those for which a PLATFORM_ID is defined).

General observations:

Information sources:

Contents:

What is RPATH?

When an executable or library dynamically loads another library, the runtime linker will search through a list of paths. One of the paths that are queried is the RPATH property. For ELF binaries, this is either the DT_RPATH or the newer DT_RUNPATH property. (Some linkers used to lack support for the latter.)

When the RPATH property contains $ORIGIN, the linker will substitute that token by the directory containing the referring executable or library. Example:

With the GNU libc dynamic linker, set the environment variable LD_DEBUG=libs in order to see the paths that are being queried. Consult the Linux ld.so(8) manual for further details.

Platforms

The names below are often based on the PLATFORM_ID identifiers from CMake.

Unless stated otherwise, if RPATHs and $ORIGIN expansion are supported, no additional linker option (like -z origin) is necessary.

Unless stated otherwise, the linker accepts multiple colon-separated paths (e.g. -Wl,-rpath,/libs:/libs2).

Linux

Supports $ORIGIN (GNU libc).

Android has a different userspace and its linker (Bionic linker) does not support RPATH.

musl-libc supports $ORIGIN expansion since v0.9.13 (2013-08-23, https://git.musl-libc.org/cgit/musl/commit/?id=a897a20a57b461d388447858b9404fc81f107bcd).

Darwin (Apple macOS)

Does not use ELF as binary format, but Mach-O. Does not support $ORIGIN, but has @loader_path which appears to be similar.

While the ELF format has a single DT_RPATH or DT_RUNPATH field with colon-separated paths, macOS is different. The -rpath linker option accepts a single path which is added as a “LC_RPATH load command” to a Mach-O binary.

Each path can start with a token that is substituted by dyld:

See also man dyld(1), section DYNAMIC LIBRARY LOADING and https://wincent.com/wiki/@executable_path,_@load_path_and_@rpath

SunOS (Solaris)

Supports $ORIGIN since Solaris 7.

Source for the $ORIGIN support claim: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/805-6331/6j5vgg69j/index.html

The original SunOS was discontinued in 1994, Solaris continues to be the new name. CMake internally refers to SunOS for both the original and the new platform.

NetBSD

Supports $ORIGIN.

2001-05-18: Support Solaris-like $ORIGIN etc. expansions in paths. https://github.com/NetBSD/src/commit/37c782c48280f61ef3be93ad04956648d6cda166

FreeBSD

Supports $ORIGIN, no longer requires -z origin since 10.2-RELEASE.

2015-04-27 (10.2-RELEASE): Change interpretation of the DF_ORIGIN and DF_1_ORIGIN flags. https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd/commit/786bb3891ba8d170598e34d1e54467e31cb5014d

2009-03-18: Implement the dynamic string token substitution in the rpath and soneeded pathes. https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd/commit/46713086a1c3b7565c0b42b823b0d6d209228ce6

OpenBSD

Supports $ORIGIN, but requires -z origin (even in its current version from 2018-10-01).

OpenBSD was forked from NetBSD in 1995. CMake inherits the NetBSD config which also declares $ORIGIN support.

2013-04-05: Add ORIGIN, OSNAME, OSREL and PLATFORM substitution support for rpaths. https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/337bd349eb33d0246bac63f39f4679daba26f895

DragonFly BSD

Supports $ORIGIN, but requires -z origin (even in its current version from 2018-10-01).

DragonFly BSD was forked from FreeBSD in 2003. CMake inherits the FreeBSD config which also declares $ORIGIN support, but has no dedicated PLATFORM_ID identifier and seems to rely on FreeBSD instead.

The current version still checks for -z origin support before substitution: https://github.com/DragonFlyBSD/DragonFlyBSD/blob/347aefc6a85af5bf5b7a1a6918f706878a8232ef/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c#L1275

Windows

Not using ELF, no RPATH support.

AIX

Might not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module), but the ld documentation suggests that the -R linker option can be used to define a colon-separated list of directories. This -R option is ignored unless the -bsvr4 option is given.

This information can be found for AIX 5.3 up to at least AIX 7.2: https://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/power/docs/aix/53/aixcmds3.pdf https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_72/com.ibm.aix.cmds3/ld.htm

HP-UX

Might not support $ORIGIN although RPATHs are supported (depending on the linker settings).

Uses -Wl,+b instead of -Wl,-rpath.

Supporting references for support in HP-UX 11i: Signs that RPATHs are supported, found in the dld.so manual page for HP-UX 11i: http://nixdoc.net/man-pages/HP-UX/man5/dld.so.5.html (Itanium) http://nixdoc.net/man-pages/HP-UX/man5/dld.sl.5.html (PA-RISC). https://administratosphere.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/shared-libraries-hp-ux/

QNX

Might not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module), but a news group post “rpath usage” from 2003 mentions GCC, GNU LD, DT_RPATH and -Wl,-rpath with multiple colon-separated paths: https://www.openqnx.com/newsgroups/viewtopic.php?t=16751

Haiku

Supports $ORIGIN.

2013-11-26: runtime loader: Add support for $ORIGIN in rpath https://github.com/haiku/haiku/commit/8d23c440f7b0433f0daccf7e4018f99b8d3c3459

2005-03-12: Refactored open_container(). We now also support DT_RPATH https://github.com/haiku/haiku/commit/2d890ffaa22db3e09cfe138b75218adcd1dfdf3a

RISC OS

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module).

Checking the source tarball for “RPATH” and “ld” does not suggest availability of RPATH support either. Checked src-bcm2835-dev.5.25.tar.bz2 (2018-10-05 01:36:55) from https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/risc-os-tarballs

Historic platforms

These platforms used to be supported by CMake, but are no longer supported.

IRIX

Might support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Retired since 2013-12 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRIX

OSF/1 (Digital Unix)

Supports RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Retired since 2012-12 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru64_UNIX

SINIX

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Discontinued based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SINIX

BeOS

Supports RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Discontinued based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS, reportedly succeeded by the opensource Haiku.

Xenix (SCO XENIX)

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Discontinued based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix

ULTRIX

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Discontinued based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrix

BSD/OS

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Discontinued based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD/OS

MP RAS

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). NCR UNIX SVR4 MP-RAS according to http://www.albion.com/security/intro-3.html Likely a dead platform.

UNIX SV

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). SCO UnixWare (pre release 7) according to CMake.

SCO SV

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). SCO OpenServer Release 5 Operating System, probably no longer supported. OpenServer 10 is based on FreeBSD which probably does not define SCO_SV.

Tru64

Probably does not support RPATHs (based on CMake’s platform module). Retired since 2012-12 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru64_UNIX