Re: linker-script.m4?

[Bruno Haible]

Simon Josefsson wrote:
> The version script file is documented in the LD manual, but a short
> example would be:
> 
> SHISHI_0.0 {
>   global:
>     shishi*;
> 
>   local:
>     *;
> };

Could you please explain what the entire thing is about? Is it about
hiding some symbols from "nm libshishi.so", for which gcc offers a solution
at source code level (see [1] and gnulib's m4/visibility.m4)? Or is it about
allowing multiple versions of the same symbol to exist in the same shared
library, something which is supported only by glibc and Solaris [2]?

I'm asking because linker scripts only work with GNU ld (I guess).

Bruno

[1] http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility
[2] 
http://www.linuxshowcase.org/2000/2000papers/papers/browndavid/browndavid_html/