Newbie question: kernel image a dynamically linked binary?

[Gary Jennejohn]

On Thu, 1 Apr 2010 15:53:50 +0530
Daniel Rodrick <daniel.rodrick at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello List,
> 
> I'm a newbie and coming from Linux background, and am trying to learn
> FreeBSD now. The first thing I find a little confusing is that the
> final FreeBSD kernel image is shown as a DYNAMICALLY LINKED binary:
> 
> $
> $ pwd
> /boot/kernel
> $
> $ file kernel
> kernel: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (FreeBSD),
> dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped
> $
> 
> How can the kernel image use shared libraries? And which ones does it
> use, if any?
> 
> Also, I cannot find out the libraries the image uses using the
> traditional ldd command:
> 
> $ ldd kernel
> kernel:
> kernel: signal 6
> $
> 
> Can some please throw some light?
> 

file is confused.  FreeBSD uses a monolithic kernel and no shared
libraries are involved.  However, it is possible to dynamically load
modules using kldload.  See the appropriate man page.

--
Gary Jennejohn