A simple, cross-platform program to display dynamic libraries used by an executable

Overview

I found it a pain when writing cross platform programs to figure out which dynamic libraries I was linking with. On macOS, there is otool and objdump, on linux, ldd, and on Windows, dumpbin.exe. Once I discovered the awesome goblin crate, I was surprised no one had created a simple program to just dump the dynamic libraries used by an executable, so I created one.

Additionally, I wanted a simple way in my CICD pipeline to ensure I didn't accidentally add any dynamic library requirements that I wasn't expecting, so I added the --only flag to allow validating that only the expected dynamic libraries are required.

NOTE: There aren't many surprises here, but if you aren't aware, ldd looks up transitive dependencies, but this utility does not. This means this utility lists only the direct dependencies of an executable, which is consistent with the other utilities listed above, and makes this program consistent across executable types and platforms.

Install

cargo install --locked dynlibs

Features

• Simple to use
• Platform independent (tested on Windows, Linux, macOS)
• CICD: Can validate only the expected libraries are present
• Can be used as a library crate as well, if needed

Display Examples

Linux:

$ dynlibs /bin/ls
Binary type: ELF

Dynamic libraries:
    libselinux.so.1
    libc.so.6

Windows:

PS dynlibs c:\windows\hh.exe
Binary type: PE

Dynamic libraries:
    ADVAPI32.dll
    KERNEL32.dll
    msvcrt.dll

Mac:

% dynlibs /bin/ls
Binary type: Mach-O (Fat)

Dynamic libraries:
    Index 0:
        /usr/lib/libutil.dylib
        /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib
        /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
    Index 1:
        /usr/lib/libutil.dylib
        /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib
        /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

CICD Validation

Exit code 1 (output to stderr):

% dynlibs -o libutil -o libSystem /bin/ls
Some dynamic libraries did not match the provided regexes:
    Index 0:
        /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib
    Index 1:
        /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib

Exit code 0 (no output):

% dynlibs -o libutil -o libSystem -o libncurses /bin/ls

Status

This is a very simple program, and besides some possible slight enhancements, it is more or less complete.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome as long they align with my vision for this crate.