Prebinding

Prebinding is a technique used in computer programming, particularly in the context of dynamic linking and executable loading, to improve performance. The concept involves resolving and binding the addresses of external symbols (such as functions and variables) at compile time or link time, rather than at runtime. This pre-resolution allows the program to avoid the overhead of dynamic symbol resolution during execution, leading to faster startup times and improved runtime performance.

Prebinding is commonly used in operating systems and software development environments. For example, in Unix-like systems, the dynamic linker/loader (such as ld.so) can prebind symbols to their addresses in shared libraries. This technique is also employed in the creation of executables and shared libraries, where the linker can prebind symbols to their addresses within the executable or library.

The benefits of prebinding include reduced runtime overhead, faster startup times, and improved performance, especially for applications that rely heavily on dynamic linking. However, prebinding can also introduce challenges, such as the need to manage versioning and compatibility of shared libraries, as well as the potential for increased binary size due to the inclusion of prebound symbols.

In summary, prebinding is a performance optimization technique that resolves and binds external symbols at compile or link time, rather than at runtime. It is widely used in operating systems and software development to improve the performance of dynamically linked programs.