Using the -B symbolic Option

The link-editor's -B symbolic option enables you to bind symbol references to their global definitions within a shared object. This option is historic, in that it was designed for use in creating the runtime linker itself.

Defining an object's interface and reducing non-public symbols to local is preferable to using the -B symbolic option. See Reducing Symbol Scope. Using -B symbolic can often result in some non-intuitive side effects.

If a symbolically bound symbol is interposed upon, then references to the symbol from outside of the symbolically bound object bind to the interposer. The object itself is already bound internally. Essentially, two symbols with the same name are now being referenced from within the process. A symbolically bound data symbol that results in a copy relocation creates the same interposition situation. See Copy Relocations.