OVERVIEW

revdep audits installed packages for missing shared library dependencies of ELF-based systems.

It is a command-line frontend built on top of librevdep, a reusable C++17 audit library extracted from the older coupled implementation.

This repository contains:

• revdep(1) - command-line interface
• Manual pages documenting CLI behavior and configuration.

The audit engine itself now lives in a separate repository:

https://github.com/zeppe-lin/librevdep

revdep models static shared-library dependency resolution using loader-like search rules (DT_NEEDED, RUNPATH, RPATH, and configured search directories) and reports unresolved dependencies per file and per package.

The CLI is responsible for:

• option parsing
• package database interpretation (FIXME: not yet)
• configuration loading
• output formatting and reporting policy (FIXME: semantics leaked into library)

The underlying engine is responsible for ELF parsing and dependency resolution.

This distribution originated as fork of CRUX revdep (part of prt-utils) at commit 41dfcb6 (Thu Oct 15 2020), and has since been substantially refactored.

Major differences from the historical CRUX version include:

• extracted reusable code into library (librevdep)
• clearer separation between CLI policy and audit engine
• optional parallel audit support through the library backend
• GNU-style CLI and consistent exit codes
• Extended ELF support (powerpc{,64}, loongarch{,64}, RISC-V)
• Manual pages in scdoc(5) format: revdep(1), revdep.d(5)

See the git history for detailed changes.

Original sources:

https://git.crux.nu/tools/prt-utils.git

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ARCHITECTURE

The system is split into frontend and engine:

CLI (revdep(1))
Parses options, reads configuration, interprets package database state (FIXME: not yet), invokes the audit engine, and renders output.

Engine (librevdep)
Resolves ELF dependencies and emits structured findings.

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NON-GOALS

revdep is not a dynamic loader.

Specifically:

• It does not use or parse /etc/ld.so.cache.
• It does not implement full glibc ld.so behavior.
• It does not execute binaries.
• It does not resolve dlopen(3) at runtime.
• It does not validate symbol-level resolution.
• It does not perform ABI compatibility analysis.

The tool focuses strictly on static DT_NEEDED dependency resolution using documented search rules.

See revdep_semantics(7) of librevdep project for the normative resolution contract.

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REQUIREMENTS

Build-time

• C++17 compiler
• Meson
• Ninja
• elfutils (libelf)
• librevdep
• scdoc(1) to generate manual pages (if manpage build is enabled)
• pkg-config(1) for dependency discovery

Runtime

• ELF-based system
• Package database in expected format
• librevdep shared library (when dynamically linked)

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INSTALLATION

Configure and build with Meson:

meson setup build \
    --buildtype=plain \
    --wrap-mode=nodownload \

ninja -C build

Install:

DESTDIR="$PKG" ninja -C build install

Common options:

meson setup build \
    --prefix=/usr \
    -D build_man=true \
    -D b_lto=false \

Use meson configure build to inspect available options.

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CONFIGURATION

revdep reads package-specific (FIXME: not yet) and local configuration from revdep.d(5) inputs.

The exact semantics of configuration and dependency search are documented in:

• revdep.d(5)
• revdep_semantics(7) (part of librevdep project)

Some compiled-in defaults may also be provided at build time for:

• package database location
• dynamic loader configuration location
• configuration directory location

These are defaults, not hard laws.

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DOCUMENTATION

Manual pages are provided in /man and installed under the system manual hierarchy.

Key entry points:

• revdep(1) - command-line usage
• revdep.d(5) - configuration directory

For the underlying engine and embedding API, see the separate librevdep project and its manual pages.

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LICENSE

revdep is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 or later.

See COPYING for license terms and COPYRIGHT for notices.