and “pax-utils” for scanelf.
+## Changes to library search order
+
+We have made various fixes to library search order when resolving symbols.
+
+With API 22, load order switched from depth-first to breadth-first to
+fix dlsym(3).
+
+Before API 23, the default search order was to try the main executable,
+LD_PRELOAD libraries, the library itself, and its DT_NEEDED libraries
+in that order. For API 23 and later, for any given library, the dynamic
+linker divides other libraries into the global group and the local
+group. The global group is shared by all libraries and contains the main
+executable, LD_PRELOAD libraries, and any library with the DF_1_GLOBAL
+flag set (by passing “-z global” to ld(1)). The local group is
+the breadth-first transitive closure of the library and its DT_NEEDED
+libraries. The M dynamic linker searches the global group followed by
+the local group. This allows ASAN, for example, to ensure that it can
+intercept any symbol.
+
+
+## RTLD_LOCAL (Available in API level >= 23)
+
+The dlopen(3) RTLD_LOCAL flag used to be ignored but is implemented
+correctly in API 23 and later. Note that RTLD_LOCAL is the default,
+so even calls to dlopen(3) that didn’t explicitly use RTLD_LOCAL will
+be affected (unless they explicitly used RTLD_GLOBAL). With RTLD_LOCAL,
+symbols will not be made available to libraries loaded by later calls
+to dlopen(3) (as opposed to being referenced by DT_NEEDED entries).
+
+
+## GNU hashes (Availible in API level >= 23)
+
+The GNU hash style available with --hash-style=gnu allows faster
+symbol lookup and is now supported by the dynamic linker in API 23 and
+above. (Use --hash-style=both if you want to build code that uses this
+feature >= Android M but still works on older releases.)
+
+
+## Correct soname/path handling (Available in API level >= 23)
+
+The dynamic linker now understands the difference
+between a library’s soname and its path (public bug
+https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6670). API level 23
+is the first release where search by soname is implemented. Earlier
+releases would assume that the basename of the library was the soname,
+and used that to search for already-loaded libraries. For example,
+`dlopen("/this/directory/does/not/exist/libc.so", RTLD_NOW)` would
+find `/system/lib/libc.so` because it’s already loaded. This also meant
+that it was impossible to have two libraries `"dir1/libx.so"` and
+`"dir2/libx.so"` --- the dynamic linker couldn’t tell the difference
+and would always use whichever was loaded first, even if you explicitly
+tried to load both. This also applied to DT_NEEDED entries.
+
+Some apps have bad DT_NEEDED entries (usually absolute paths on the build
+machine’s file system) that used to work because we ignored everything
+but the basename. These apps will fail to load on API level 23 and above.
+
+
+## Symbol versioning (Available in API level >= 23)
+
+Symbol versioning allows libraries to provide better backwards
+compatibility. For example, if a library author knowingly changes
+the behavior of a function, they can provide two versions in the same
+library so that old code gets the old version and new code gets the new
+version. This is supported in API level 23 and above.
+
+
+## Opening shared libraries directly from an APK
+
+In API level 23 and above, it’s possible to open a .so file directly from
+your APK. Just use `System.loadLibrary("foo")` exactly as normal but set
+`android:extractNativeLibs="false"` in your `AndroidManifest.xml`. In
+older releases, the .so files were extracted from the APK file
+at install time. This meant that they took up space in your APK and
+again in your installation directory (and this was counted against you
+and reported to the user as space taken up by your app). Any .so file
+that you want to load directly from your APK must be page aligned
+(on a 4096-byte boundary) in the zip file and stored uncompressed.
+Current versions of the zipalign tool take care of alignment.
+
+Note that in API level 23 and above dlopen(3) will open a library from
+any zip file, not just your APK. Just give dlopen(3) a path of the form
+"my_zip_file.zip!/libs/libstuff.so". As with APKs, the library must be
+page-aligned and stored uncompressed for this to work.
+
+
## Private API (Enforced for API level >= 24)
Native libraries must use only public API, and must not link against
the -soname linker option).
-## Writable and Executable Segments (AOSP master)
+## Writable and Executable Segments (Enforced for API level >= 26)
Each segment in an ELF file has associated flags that tell the
dynamic linker what permissions to give the corresponding page in
into your app. The middleware vendor is aware of the problem and has a fix
available.
-## Invalid ELF header/section headers (AOSP master)
+## Invalid ELF header/section headers (Enforced for API level >= 26)
-Android loader now checks for invalid values in ELF header and section headers and fails
-if they are invalid.
+In API level 26 and above the dynamic linker checks more values in
+the ELF header and section headers and fails if they are invalid.
*Example error*
+```
dlopen failed: "/data/data/com.example.bad/lib.so" has unsupported e_shentsize: 0x0 (expected 0x28)
+```
-*Resolution*
-Do not use tools that produce invalid/malformed elf-files. Note that using them puts application
-under high risk of being incompatible with future versions of Android.
-
+*Resolution*: don't use tools that produce invalid/malformed
+ELF files. Note that using them puts application under high risk of
+being incompatible with future versions of Android.