Fix the C library initialization to avoid calling static C++ constructors twice.
The problem was due to the fact that, in the case of dynamic executables,
the dynamic linker calls the DT_PREINIT_ARRAY, DT_INIT and DT_INIT_ARRAY
constructors when loading shared libraries and dynamic executables,
*before* calling the executable's entry point (i.e. arch-$ARCH/bionic/crtbegin_dynamic.c)
which in turns call __libc_init() in libc.so, as defined by bionic/libc_init_dynamic.c
The latter did call these constructors array again, mistakenly.
The patch also updates the documentation of many related functions.
Also adds a new section to linker/README.TXT explaining restrictions on
C library usage.
The patch has been tested on a Dream for stability issues with
proprietary blobs:
- H264 decoding works
- Camera + Video recording works
- GPS works
- Sensors work
The tests in system/extra/tests/bionic/libc/common/test_static_cpp_mutex.cpp has been
run and shows the static C++ constructor being called only once.
diff --git a/linker/README.TXT b/linker/README.TXT
index 4fff14e..0be9be4 100644
--- a/linker/README.TXT
+++ b/linker/README.TXT
@@ -112,3 +112,46 @@
sections named ".ctors" and ".dtors", and the DT_INIT / DT_FINI functions
are in charge of calling them explicitely.
+
+C Library Usage Restrictions:
+-----------------------------
+
+The dynamic linker executable (/system/bin/linker) is built using the
+static version of the C library (libc.a), in order to use various functions
+and system calls provided by it.
+
+However, it will normally, at runtime, map the shared library version
+of the C library (/system/lib/libc.so) as well in the process' address
+space. This means that:
+
+- any global variable defined by the C library will appear twice in
+ the process address space, at different addresses.
+
+- some functions will be duplicated too, though those that refer to
+ global variables will refer to distinct addresses.
+
+This can lead to subtle conflicts, typically for process-specific data that
+is managed through the kernel. A good example is the handling of the
+end of the data segment, which is normally done through the 'sbrk' or
+'brk' system call by the malloc implementation.
+
+If two similar, but distinct, malloc implementations run at the same time,
+and if each one thinks it exclusively manages some process settings, hideous
+corruption or crashes may occur.
+
+For this very reason, THE DYNAMIC LINKER CANNOT USE malloc()/free() !
+That's why it is linked to a special version of the C library that will
+abort when any of these functions (or calloc()/realloc()) is called.
+
+Moreover, it cannot use any C library feature that could use these
+indirectly. Experience as shown that this meant:
+
+- avoiding any FILE* - related stdio function (fopen, fread, fprintf, etc...)
+- avoiding snprintf() with any floating-point formatter ("%f", "%g")
+
+There are probably other cases that haven't been discovered yet, so the
+code needs to be very frugal in its use of the C library.
+
+This also explains why the linker's tracing macros are all disabled by
+default. Enabling them sometimes creates problems, depending on the process
+being loaded, so they should be considered an experimental feature for now.