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I often read that Android kernel modules have to be compiled with -fno-pic to work. Is this specific to the ARM architecture, or why don't/(when do) kernel modules for x86 need to be compiled with that flag?

jckuester
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  • This post will states clearly :-http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11614441/hello-world-kernel-module-for-android-unknown-relocation-27-when-insmod?rq=1 – Pradeep Goswami Dec 18 '15 at 05:56

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According to https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-6.1.0/gcc/Code-Gen-Options.html, -fno-pic is the negative form of the -fpic parameter. From the same link:

-fpic Generate position-independent code (PIC) suitable for use in a shared library, if supported for the target machine. Such code accesses all constant addresses through a global offset table (GOT). The dynamic loader resolves the GOT entries when the program starts (the dynamic loader is not part of GCC; it is part of the operating system). If the GOT size for the linked executable exceeds a machine-specific maximum size, you get an error message from the linker indicating that -fpic does not work; in that case, recompile with -fPIC instead. (These maximums are 8k on the SPARC, 28k on AArch64 and 32k on the m68k and RS/6000. The x86 has no such limit.) Position-independent code requires special support, and therefore works only on certain machines. For the x86, GCC supports PIC for System V but not for the Sun 386i. Code generated for the IBM RS/6000 is always position-independent.

When this flag is set, the macros __pic__ and __PIC__ are defined to 1.

So -fno-pic means something like "Do not use position-independent code (PIC)."

But why?

Well, by looking at https://developer.arm.com/products/software-development-tools/hpc/documentation/note-about-building-position-independent-code-pic-on-aarch64, we find that:

Using the -fpic compiler flag with GCC compilers on AArch64 causes the compiler to generate one less instruction per address computation in the code, and can provide code size and performance benefits. However, it also sets a limit of 32k for the Global Offset Table (GOT), and the build can fail at the executable linking stage because the GOT overflows.

So, in the end, it seems like -fno-pic is more of a precaution than a real need. This, of course, is a guess and there might be more things involved.

Alexandre Schmidt
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