PatchELF is a simple utility for modifying existing ELF executables and libraries. In particular, it can do the following:
- Change the dynamic loader (“ELF interpreter”) of executables:
$ patchelf --set-interpreter /lib/my-ld-linux.so.2 my-program
- Change the
RPATH
of executables and libraries:$ patchelf --set-rpath /opt/my-libs/lib:/other-libs my-program
- Shrink the
RPATH
of executables and libraries:$ patchelf --shrink-rpath my-program
This removes from the
RPATH
all directories that do not contain a library referenced byDT_NEEDED
fields of the executable or library. For instance, if an executable references one librarylibfoo.so
, has an RPATH/lib:/usr/lib:/foo/lib
, andlibfoo.so
can only be found in/foo/lib
, then the newRPATH
will be/foo/lib
.In addition, the
--allowed-rpath-prefixes
option can be used for further rpath tuning. For instance, if an executable has anRPATH
/tmp/build-foo/.libs:/foo/lib
, it is probably desirable to keep the/foo/lib
reference instead of the/tmp
entry. To accomplish that, use:$ patchelf --shrink-rpath --allowed-rpath-prefixes /usr/lib:/foo/lib my-program
- Remove declared dependencies on dynamic libraries (
DT_NEEDED
entries):$ patchelf --remove-needed libfoo.so.1 my-program
This option can be given multiple times.
- Add a declared dependency on a dynamic library (
DT_NEEDED
):$ patchelf --add-needed libfoo.so.1 my-program
This option can be give multiple times.
- Replace a declared dependency on a dynamic library with another one (
DT_NEEDED
):$ patchelf --replace-needed liboriginal.so.1 libreplacement.so.1 my-program
This option can be give multiple times.
- Change
SONAME
of a dynamic library$ patchelf –set-soname libnewname.so.3.4.5 path/to/libmylibrary.so.1.2.3
See the GitHub repo here.