Is there any specification defines what is the format of the .dynstr section of dynamic linked ELF file? I found different format with different compilers for example,



In case of armlink -- all *.so files are listed together like..

test.so
test1.so
symbol1_test
symbol2_test
symbol1_test1
symbol2_test1

But, in case of gnuld, the associated symbols and *.so file
names are clubbed together.

test.so
symbol1_test
symbol2_test
test1.so
symbol1_test1
symbol2_test2

///G

dysnstr is just "vocabulary" of 0-terminated strings. Those strings referenced from another places. So what you see is not "different format" - it's just different strings sequence

As long as I know ELF specification doesn't impose any specific order on the strings in the dynstr section.

Why the order of strings in dynstr section is important for you, what you aure trying to achieve ?

When I wrote a dll manager, I found a way to get the name of the dynamic shared object (*.so) from .dynstr section traversing back on the string table looking for .so extension (It was working, in case of GNU LD, where the *.so and associated symbols are together).
The idea something like direct library binding and quick on resolving the symbol address. Instead of parsing all DSO files from DT_NEEDED every time to resolve a symbol address.

But this didn't work with armlink generated elf file, where it failed because all the *.so files where together.