What is Entry point?

The address where a program begins execution, recorded in the ELF header. In C it is usually start-up code such as _start, which initializes and then calls main.

Field: Linkers, Loaders & Executables

Entry point in the explanations

Questions that mention Entry point (3)

  1. In a C program, which statement is correct about the address where the OS first starts execution (the entry point)?
  2. What is the role of the dynamic linker (such as ld.so) when a dynamically linked program starts on Linux?
  3. What happens when the ecall instruction at the end of the RISC-V code above executes?

Related terms

Linker Dynamic linker System call Interrupt Address space layout randomization (ASLR) BSS section Dynamic linking Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) Global offset table Heap memory

Back to the glossary