.TH MLD 9.1
.SH NAME
mld \- MC68000 link editor (loader)
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mld
[ option ] ... file ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Mld
combines several Motorola 68000
object programs into one, resolves external
references, and searches libraries.
In the simplest case several object
.I files
are given, and
.I mld
combines them, producing
an object module which can be either executed or
become the input for a further
.I mld
run.
(In the latter case, the
.B \-r
option must be given
to preserve the relocation bits.)
The output of
.I mld
is left on
.BR a.out .
This file is made executable
only if no errors occurred during the load.
.PP
The argument routines are concatenated in the order
specified.
The entry point of the output is the
beginning of the first routine.
.PP
A library is a collection of object modules gathered into
a file by
.I ar (1).
If any argument is a library, it is searched exactly once
at the point it is encountered in the argument list.
Only those routines defining an unresolved external
reference are loaded.
If a routine from a library
references another routine in the library,
the referenced routine must appear after the
referencing routine in the library.
Thus the order of programs within libraries
may be important.
.PP
The symbols `etext', `edata' and `end'
are reserved, and if referred to,
are set to the first location above the program,
the first location above initialized data,
and the first location above all data respectively.
It is erroneous to define these symbols.
.PP
.I Mld
understands several options.
Except for
.BR \-l ,
they should appear before the file names.
.TP
.BI \-b
relocate the program so its
first instruction is at the absolute position indicated by the
decimal
.I address
after the
.B \-b
option.
.TP
.B \-B
Similar to
.BR \-b ,
but only set the base address for the BSS segment.
This option is usually used in conjunction with
.B \-b
when loading programs to run from ROM.
.TP
.B  \-d
Force definition of common storage
even if the
.B \-r
flag is present.
.TP 
.BI \-l x
This
option is an abbreviation for the library name
.RI `/usr/lib/lib x .a',
where
.I x
is a string.
If that does not exist,
.I mld
tries
.RI `/usr/jerq/lib/lib x .a'
A library is searched when its name is encountered,
so the placement of a
.B  \-l
is significant.
.TP 
.B  \-o
The
.I name
argument after
.B \-o
is used as the name of the
.I mld
output file, instead of
.BR a.out .
.TP 
.B  \-r
Generate relocation bits in the output file
so that it can be the subject of another
.I mld
run.
This flag also prevents final definitions from being
given to common symbols,
and suppresses the `undefined symbol' diagnostics.
.TP
.B \-s
Remove the symbol table and relocation symbols to
save space in the resulting binary.
.TP
.B \-R
Similar to
.BR \-r ,
but flag an error if there are undefined symbols.
.TP
.B \-M
Set the resulting a.out's magic number to 0406,
to signify a binary runnable under
.IR mpx (1).
.TP
.B \-v
Generate copious debugging information on standard output.
.SH FILES
.ta \w'/usr/jerq/lib/lib*.a\ \ 'u
/usr/jerq/lib/lib*.a	libraries
.br
/usr/lib/lib*.a	more libraries
.br
a.out	output file
.SH "SEE ALSO"
ld(1), mcc(1), ar(1)