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.TH CIL Linker "monolinker"
.SH NAME
Mono CIL Linker
.B monolinker [-o output_directory][-l i18n_assemblies][-c skip | copy | link] -x descriptor | -a assembly | -i info_file ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fImonolinker\fP is a CIL Linker.
-
+.PP.
The linker is a tool one can use to only ship the minimal possible set of
functions that a set of programs might require to run as opposed to the full
libraries.
.PP
-The linker analyses the intermediate code (CIL) produced by every compiler
-targeting the Mono platform like mcs, gmcs, vbnc, booc or others. It will walk
-through all the code that it is given to it, and basically, perform a mark and
-sweep operations on all the code that it is referenced, to only keep what is
-necessary for the source program to run.
+The linker analyses the intermediate code (CIL) produced by every
+compiler targeting the Mono platform like mcs, gmcs, vbnc, booc or
+others. It will walk through all the code that it is given to it, and
+remove all the unused methods and classes. This is done using a mark
+and sweep operation on all the code that it is referenced.
+.PP
+The generated output from the monolinker can be later processed by the
+.I mkbundle
+tool to generate small native self-contained executables.
+.PP
+Do not confuse this with the Assembly Linker (al) which creates
+assemblies from manifests, modules and resource files.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.I "-d search_directory"
-.PP
Specify a directory to the linker where to look for assemblies.
.TP
.I "-o output_directory"
Specify the output directory, default is 'output'.
-.PP
+.Sp
If you specify the directory `.', please ensure that you won't write over
important assemblies of yours.
.TP
.I "-l i18n_assemblies"
Specify what to do with the region specific assemblies
-.PP
+.Sp
Mono have a few assemblies which contains everything region specific:
.nf
-I18N.CJK.dll
-I18N.MidEast.dll
-I18N.Other.dll
-I18N.Rare.dll
-I18N.West.dll
+ I18N.CJK.dll
+ I18N.MidEast.dll
+ I18N.Other.dll
+ I18N.Rare.dll
+ I18N.West.dll
.fi
-.PP
+.Sp
By default, they will all be copied to the output directory, but you can
specify which one you want using this command. The choice can
either be: none, all, cjk, mideast, other, rare or west. You can
.TP
.I "-c action"
Specify the action to apply to the core assemblies.
-.PP
+.Sp
Core assemblies are the assemblies that belongs to the base class library,
like mscorlib.dll, System.dll or System.Windows.Forms.dll.
-.PP
-The linker can do 3 things about them:
-.PP
-.nf
- skip them, and do nothing with them,
- copy them to the output directory,
- link them, to reduce their size.
-.fi
-.PP
-You can specify what action to do on the core assemblies with the option:
+.Sp
+The linker supports three operations on these assemblies, you can
+specify one of the following actions:
+.RS
+.ne 8
+.TP
+.I skip
+This instructs the linker to skip them and do nothing with them.
+.TP
+.I copy
+This instructs the linker to copy them to the output directory,
+.TP
+.I link
+This instructs the linker to apply the linking process and reduce
+their size.
+.ne
+.RE
+.Sp
.TP
.I "-x descriptor"
Use an XML descriptor as a source for the linker.
-.PP
+.Sp
Here is an example that shows all the possibilities of this format:
-.PP
+.Sp
.nf
<linker>
<assembly fullname="Library">
</assembly>
</linker>
.fi
-.PP
+.Sp
In this example, the linker will link the types Foo, Bar, Baz and Gazonk.
-.PP
+.Sp
The preserve attribute ensures that all the fields of the type Baz will be
always be linked, not matter if they are used or not, but that neither the
fields or the methods of Bar will be linked if they are not used. Not
specifying a preserve attribute implies that we are preserving everything in
the specified type.
-.PP
+.Sp
The required attribute specifies that if the type is not marked, during the
mark operation, it will not be linked.
-.PP
+.Sp
The type Gazonk will be linked, as well as its constructor taking a string as a
parameter, and it's _blah field.
-.PP
+.Sp
You can have multiple assembly nodes.
.TP
.I "-a assemblies"
use an assembly as a source for the linker.
-.PP
+.Sp
The linker will walk through all the methods of the assembly to generate only what
is necessary for this assembly to run.
.TP
.I "-i info_file"
use a .info xml file as a source for the linker.
-.PP
+.Sp
An info file is a file produced by the tool mono-api-info. The linker will use it to
generate an assembly that contains only what the public API defined in he info file
needs. It will also adjust the visibility of the types that have to be present in the
assembly, but that are not visibile from the public API.
.TP
.I "-s [StepBefore:]StepFullName,StepAssembly[:StepAfter]"
-.PP
+.Sp
You can ask the linker to execute custom steps by using the -s command. This command
takes the standard TypeFullName,Assembly format to locate the step. You can customize
its position in the pipeline by either adding it before a step, or after.
-.PP
+.Sp
Example:
-.PP
+.Sp
.nf
using System;
}
}
.fi
-.PP
+.Sp
If you compile this custom against monolinker to a Foo.dll assembly, you
-can use the -s switch as follow, to add the FooStep at the end of the pipeline:
-.PP
+can use the
+.I -s
+switch as follows. To add the FooStep at the end of the pipeline:
+.Sp
.nf
-monolinker -s Foo.FooStep,Foo -a program.exe
+ monolinker -s Foo.FooStep,Foo -a program.exe
.fi
-.PP
+.Sp
This commanand will add the FooStep after the MarkStep:
-.PP
+.Sp
.nf
-monolinker -s MarkStep:Foo.FooStep,Foo -a program.exe
+ monolinker -s MarkStep:Foo.FooStep,Foo -a program.exe
.fi
-.PP
-This commanand will add the FooStep before the MarkStep:
-.PP
+.Sp
+This command will add the FooStep before the MarkStep:
+.Sp
.nf
-monolinker -s Foo.FooStep,Foo:MarkStep -a program.exe
+ monolinker -s Foo.FooStep,Foo:MarkStep -a program.exe
.fi
+.Sp
This command will add the FooStep before the MarkStep
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2007 Novell, Inc (http://www.novell.com)
The linker is licensed under the MIT/X11 license. Please read the accompayning
MIT.X11 file for details.
.SH SEE ALSO
-.BR mono(1)
+.BR al(1),mkbundle(1),mono(1),mcs(1).
projects / mono.git / commitdiff