Re: Linker question

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Alpar,

> I'm not sure if this info is already present on the mailing list.
> I'd like to know if it is possible to determine at the linking phase whether
> a function has been referred to through function pointer.

Yes and no.  As Ramana has mentioned it is possible to tell whether a 
function is referenced from somewhere else in the code by looking at the 
relocations in the object files.  It is not always possible to tell 
whether this is a function call or an assignment to a function pointer 
however.  (It depends upon the target as to whether this distinction can 
be made).

Also the linker cannot determine run-time control flow behaviour, so it 
is possible that the address of a function is taken in a piece of code 
that is never executed, making it appear that the function is referenced 
when in fact it never is.

Cheers
  Nick