qualcomm/eld

ELD is an ELF linker designed to meet the needs of embedded software projects. It aims to be a drop-in replacement for the GNU linker, with a smaller memory footprint, faster link times and a customizable link behavior.

ELD addresses the performance and resource constraints of embedded systems by providing a linker optimized for these environments. The tool supports static linking, dynamic linking, partial linking, and link-time optimization. It implements the same command-line interface as GNU LD to ease adoption, while offering linker scripts with GNU LD-compatible syntax, highly detailed map-files for debugging complex image layouts, and linker plugins that allow programmatic customization of link behavior for advanced use cases. The reproduce functionality creates self-contained tarballs that enable linking to be reproduced without external dependencies.

Embedded projects targeting Hexagon, ARM, AArch64, or RISCV architectures should consider ELD as a direct replacement for GNU LD when memory footprint and link speed are concerns. The tool's plugin system makes it suitable for projects with complex image layout requirements. The architecture is designed to support additional backends, making it viable for teams planning to extend support to other embedded targets.

The project maintains active test infrastructure across Linux, Windows, and macOS as host platforms, with support for cross-compilation testing via emulators. The codebase is built on LLVM and includes both unit tests and execution tests that verify runtime behavior of linked binaries. Build documentation covers integration scenarios including embedded LLVM builds and external prebuilt LLVM installations, with guidance on memory-intensive linking scenarios and optimization options for constrained systems.