Let’s start simply with a global static variable

static int val;

Although it looks like an uninitialized variable, the C language guarantees that global variables are zeroed by default. (And it’s cheap to implement, since the variables reside in well known memory, which is zeroed when allocated.)

Another step is

static int val = 1;

initialization with a constant. Piece of cake, the value will be stored written into the .data section.

Let’s get indirect

static int val = 1;
static int *ptr_val = &val;

We can’t store a constant into .data section because we don’t know what the address of val will be. That’s where relocations come handy. We only reserve sufficient space in .data under given offset and add a respective relocation entry into a relocation table. Basically, the entry says: “After sections are mapped into memory, take address of val and patch it onto offset ptr_val.”

Let’s say that for some reason we want to store additional data in lower bits of a pointer variable

#define mark_ptr(t, p, v) (t *)((unsigned long long)(p) | (v))

static int val = 1;
static int *ptr_val = mark_ptr(int, &val, 1);

Trying to compile this spits the error:

$ gcc -c static.c
static.c:1:27: error: initializer element is not constant
 #define mark_ptr(t, p, v) (t *)((unsigned long long)(p) | (v))
                           ^
static.c:4:23: note: in expansion of macro ‘mark_ptr’
 static int *ptr_val = mark_ptr(int, &val, 1);
                       ^~~~~~~~

No wonder, we modify the address and that operation does not fit into the relocations table, so compiler complains about non-constant expression.

What about the following code?

#define add_ptr(t, p, v) (t *)((unsigned long long)(p) + (v))

static int val = 1;
static int *ptr_val = add_ptr(int, &val, 1);

The compilation succeeds :-o If you are thinking of arrays right now, you are nailing it.

The relocation entries actually allow specifing an addend for each resolved address.

$ readelf -r static.o

Relocation section '.rela.data.rel.local' at offset 0x188 contains 1 entry:
  Offset          Info           Type           Sym. Value    Sym. Name + Addend
000000000000  000300000001 R_X86_64_64       0000000000000000 .data + 1

As a closing note, let’s try different compiler for the mark_ptr example

$ g++ -c static.c

Succeeded, but that is another language and another story…