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Linking an assembler program: error "undefined reference to `printf'"

I'm trying to compile this x86 assembly code on x64 Debian :

BITS 32

%include    'training.s' 

global main
extern  exit    

; ===============================================
section .text

main:
    ; The program begins here:

    call    read_hex    
    mov     edx,eax
    call    read_hex    
    add     eax,edx
    add     eax,eax
    inc     eax         

    call    print_eax   

    ; Exit the process:
    push    0
    call    exit

I'm getting these errors:

~$nasm -f elf -g 0_strange_calc.asm && ld -o 0_strange_calc 0_strange_calc.o
    ld: i386 architecture of input file `0_strange_calc.o' is incompatible with i386:x86-64 output
    ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol _start; defaulting to 00000000004000b0
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:25: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:35: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:45: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:56: undefined reference to `read'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:77: undefined reference to `scanf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:97: undefined reference to `scanf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:108: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:129: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:training.s:137: undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o:0_strange_calc.asm:50: undefined reference to `exit'




 ~$ yasm -f elf64 0_strange_calc.asm
    ~$ gcc -m32 -nostdlib -nostdinc 0_strange_calc.o -o 0_strange_calc
    /usr/bin/ld: i386:x86-64 architecture of input file `0_strange_calc.o' is incompatible with i386 output
    /usr/bin/ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol _start; defaulting to 00000000080480c0
    0_strange_calc.o: In function `no symbol':
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x8): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x19): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x2a): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x39): undefined reference to `read'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x5b): undefined reference to `scanf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x7a): undefined reference to `scanf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x89): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0xa8): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0xb9): undefined reference to `printf'
    0_strange_calc.o: In function `main':
    0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0xdb): undefined reference to `exit'
    collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

This is my dump of 0_strange_calc.o:

~$ objdump -M intel -d 0_strange_calc.o

0_strange_calc.o:     file format elf64-x86-64


Disassembly of section .text:

0000000000000000 <main-0xc2>:
   0:   60                      (bad)  
   1:   50                      push   rax
   2:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
   7:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   c <main-0xb6>
   c:   83 c4 08                add    esp,0x8
   f:   61                      (bad)  
  10:   c3                      ret    
  11:   60                      (bad)  
  12:   50                      push   rax
  13:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
  18:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   1d <main-0xa5>
  1d:   83 c4 08                add    esp,0x8
  20:   61                      (bad)  
  21:   c3                      ret    
  22:   60                      (bad)  
  23:   b8 00 00 00 00          mov    eax,0x0
  28:   50                      push   rax
  29:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   2e <main-0x94>
  2e:   83 c4 04                add    esp,0x4
  31:   61                      (bad)  
  32:   c3                      ret    
  33:   60                      (bad)  
  34:   51                      push   rcx
  35:   57                      push   rdi
  36:   6a 00                   push   0x0
  38:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   3d <main-0x85>
  3d:   83 c4 0c                add    esp,0xc
  40:   31 d2                   xor    edx,edx
  42:   c6 04 07 00             mov    BYTE PTR [rdi+rax*1],0x0
  46:   61                      (bad)  
  47:   c3                      ret    
  48:   55                      push   rbp
  49:   89 e5                   mov    ebp,esp
  4b:   83 ec 04                sub    esp,0x4
  4e:   53                      push   rbx
  4f:   51                      push   rcx
  50:   52                      push   rdx
  51:   8d 5d fc                lea    ebx,[rbp-0x4]
  54:   53                      push   rbx
  55:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
  5a:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   5f <main-0x63>
  5f:   83 c4 08                add    esp,0x8
  62:   8b 03                   mov    eax,DWORD PTR [rbx]
  64:   5a                      pop    rdx
  65:   59                      pop    rcx
  66:   5b                      pop    rbx
  67:   c9                      leave  
  68:   c3                      ret    
  69:   55                      push   rbp
  6a:   89 e5                   mov    ebp,esp
  6c:   83 ec 04                sub    esp,0x4
  6f:   8d 5d fc                lea    ebx,[rbp-0x4]
  72:   60                      (bad)  
  73:   53                      push   rbx
  74:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
  79:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   7e <main-0x44>
  7e:   83 c4 08                add    esp,0x8
  81:   61                      (bad)  
  82:   8b 03                   mov    eax,DWORD PTR [rbx]
  84:   c9                      leave  
  85:   c3                      ret    
  86:   60                      (bad)  
  87:   56                      push   rsi
  88:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   8d <main-0x35>
  8d:   83 c4 04                add    esp,0x4
  90:   61                      (bad)  
  91:   c3                      ret    
  92:   60                      (bad)  
  93:   b9 20 00 00 00          mov    ecx,0x20
  98:   d1 c0                   rol    eax,1
  9a:   89 c2                   mov    edx,eax
  9c:   83 e2 01                and    edx,0x1
  9f:   51                      push   rcx
  a0:   50                      push   rax
  a1:   52                      push   rdx
  a2:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
  a7:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   ac <main-0x16>
  ac:   83 c4 08                add    esp,0x8
  af:   58                      pop    rax
  b0:   59                      pop    rcx
  b1:   e2 e5                   loop   98 <main-0x2a>
  b3:   68 00 00 00 00          push   0x0
  b8:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   bd <main-0x5>
  bd:   83 c4 04                add    esp,0x4
  c0:   61                      (bad)  
  c1:   c3                      ret    

00000000000000c2 <main>:
  c2:   e8 81 ff ff ff          call   48 <main-0x7a>
  c7:   89 c2                   mov    edx,eax
  c9:   e8 7a ff ff ff          call   48 <main-0x7a>
  ce:   01 d0                   add    eax,edx
  d0:   01 c0                   add    eax,eax
  d2:   40 e8 28 ff ff ff       rex call 0 <main-0xc2>
  d8:   6a 00                   push   0x0
  da:   e8 00 00 00 00          call   df <main+0x1d>

It seems to have been converted successfully in x64 asm, other simple code I had compiled and linked without problems. What am I doing wrong? And how can I fix it?

like image 489
Kaka Avatar asked Dec 09 '22 00:12

Kaka


1 Answers

You have a couple of options

  • Use LD to link to a final executable
  • Use GCC to link to a final executable

Using LD Method

Your command lines use LD, unfortunately that presents a number of problems. The first:

ld: i386 architecture of input file `0_strange_calc.o' is incompatible with i386:x86-6

You are on 64-bit Debian, trying to produce a 32-bit executable. -f elf on the NASM command line generates 32-bit ELF (-f elf64 generate 64 bit objects). Your LD command line is by default trying to generate a 64-bit executable thus the error above is given. You can force LD to generate a 32-bit executable by adding the -m elf_i386 option to LD's command line.

ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol _start; defaulting to 00000000004000b0

You should tell LD that your entry point is main . LD by default looks for an entry point of _start. You can add -e main to the LD command line to resolve that.

Errors like this suggest you need the C library (where printf exists):

0_strange_calc.asm:(.text+0x8): undefined reference to `printf'

Since your code doesn't use printf directly I can only assume that is required by the functions in training.s . In order to link in the C library you will need to add it after the .o files in your command line. You can do this with -lc on your LD command line. You'll also need to tell LD specifically what dynamic linker library you will need to use (In this case a 32-bit one). In a Debian environment that will usually look like: -dynamic-linker /lib/ld-linux.so.2

So your NASM and LD lines should look like this:

nasm -f elf -g 0_strange_calc.asm
ld -melf_i386 -e main -dynamic-linker /lib/ld-linux.so.2 -o 0_strange_calc  0_strange_calc.o -lc

Using GCC Method

You can simplify linking to the C library by using GCC to link you your object file to an executable. To build a 32-bit executable you could use:

nasm -f elf -g 0_strange_calc.asm
gcc -m32 0_strange_calc.o -o 0_strange_calc

The C library and runtime has a _start method that does C startup initialization and in turn calls a function called main which happens to be the function in your assembly file. -m32 tells GCC you are also linking to a 32-bit executable.


Special Considerations

You may also need to to install the Multlilib versions of gcc (and g++ if you want to) so that you can properly build and run 32-bit applications on 64-bit Debian using the appropriate C libraries. That can be done with this command line:

apt-get install gcc-multilib g++-multilib

On Ubuntu based systems you'd need to use:

sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib g++-multilib
like image 90
Michael Petch Avatar answered Apr 08 '23 12:04

Michael Petch