A linker combines object files (.o, .obj) generated by an assembler into an executable or library. Below are common linkers used in Assembly development.

1. ld (GNU Linker)

• Default linker for GCC and GNU toolchains.

• Supports ELF (Linux), PE (Windows), and other formats.

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2. lld (LLVM linker)

• High-performance linker from the LLVM project.

• Faster than GNU ld and supports multiple platforms.

• Wikipedia

3. gold (GNU’s faster ld alternative) - outdated

• Optimized for speed (used in Linux distributions).

• Supports ELF only.

• Wikipedia

Linux/Unix: ld, lld, gold.

Windows: lld.

Cross-platform: lld.