dlclose(3p) — Linux manual page

PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLES | APPLICATION USAGE | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

DLCLOSE(3P)             POSIX Programmer's Manual            DLCLOSE(3P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The
       Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
       or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       dlclose — close a symbol table handle

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <dlfcn.h>

       int dlclose(void *handle);

DESCRIPTION         top

       The dlclose() function shall inform the system that the symbol
       table handle specified by handle is no longer needed by the
       application.

       An application writer may use dlclose() to make a statement of
       intent on the part of the process, but this statement does not
       create any requirement upon the implementation. When the symbol
       table handle is closed, the implementation may unload the
       executable object files that were loaded by dlopen() when the
       symbol table handle was opened and those that were loaded by
       dlsym() when using the symbol table handle identified by handle.

       Once a symbol table handle has been closed, an application should
       assume that any symbols (function identifiers and data object
       identifiers) made visible using handle, are no longer available
       to the process.

       Although a dlclose() operation is not required to remove any
       functions or data objects from the address space, neither is an
       implementation prohibited from doing so. The only restriction on
       such a removal is that no function nor data object shall be
       removed to which references have been relocated, until or unless
       all such references are removed. For instance, an executable
       object file that had been loaded with a dlopen() operation
       specifying the RTLD_GLOBAL flag might provide a target for
       dynamic relocations performed in the processing of other
       relocatable objects—in such environments, an application may
       assume that no relocation, once made, shall be undone or remade
       unless the executable object file containing the relocated object
       has itself been removed.

RETURN VALUE         top

       If the referenced symbol table handle was successfully closed,
       dlclose() shall return 0. If handle does not refer to an open
       symbol table handle or if the symbol table handle could not be
       closed, dlclose() shall return a non-zero value. More detailed
       diagnostic information shall be available through dlerror().

ERRORS         top

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES         top

       The following example illustrates use of dlopen() and dlclose():

           #include <dlfcn.h>
           int eret;
           void *mylib;
           ...
           /* Open a dynamic library and then close it ... */
           mylib = dlopen("mylib.so", RTLD_LOCAL | RTLD_LAZY);
           ...
           eret = dlclose(mylib);
           ...

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       A conforming application should employ a symbol table handle
       returned from a dlopen() invocation only within a given scope
       bracketed by a dlopen() operation and the corresponding dlclose()
       operation. Implementations are free to use reference counting or
       other techniques such that multiple calls to dlopen() referencing
       the same executable object file may return a pointer to the same
       data object as the symbol table handle.

       Implementations are also free to re-use a handle. For these
       reasons, the value of a handle must be treated as an opaque data
       type by the application, used only in calls to dlsym() and
       dlclose().

RATIONALE         top

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       dlerror(3p), dlopen(3p), dlsym(3p)

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, dlfcn.h(0p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
       form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
       Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
       (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
       Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any
       discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
       are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
       the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group               2017                       DLCLOSE(3P)

Pages that refer to this page: dlfcn.h(0p)dlerror(3p)dlopen(3p)dlsym(3p)