Published – A new version of the compiler Mold 2.0 has been released. Mold can be used as a faster and transparent replacement for the GNU Linker with Linux systems. The project is developed by the author of the compiler LLVM LLD. One of the key features of Mold is its high binding rate of object files, which surpasses GNU Gold and LLVM LLD. The layout in Mold is performed at a speed only slightly slower than a simple copy utility. The code is written in C++ (C++ 20) and is available under the MIT license.
The significant change in the new version is the transition from using the AGPLV3 license to the MIT license, which does not require the opening of the work code. The developers believe that this move will make the project more attractive in the corporate environment and help attract new participants for development. Initially, the project planned to use the AGPL license for product monetization with the option of purchasing a commercial license for companies that do not comply with the AGPL requirements. However, this model was abandoned as it did not prove to be successful.
Other changes in the new version include:
- Removal of the restriction on generating object files with more than 65520 sections when using the “-relocatable” option.
- The “-undEfined” option is now processed as a synonym for “–undEfined” instead of “-NDEFined”. Similarly, the “-nopie” option is processed as a synonym for “-no-pie”.
- Added support for the types of movements of addresses r_ppc64_rel32, r_riscv_seet_uleb128, and r_riscv_sub_uleb128.