Alignment constraints for ELF files sometimes require the presence of ``holes.'' For example, if the data for one section are required to begin on an eight-byte boundary, but the preceding section is too ``short,'' the library must fill the intervening bytes. These bytes are set to the fill character. The library uses zero bytes unless the application supplies a value. See elf_getdata(3ELF) for more information about these holes.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

elf(3ELF), elf_flagdata(3ELF), elf_getdata(3ELF), elf_update(3ELF), libelf(3LIB), attributes(5)

An application can assume control of the object file organization by setting the ELF_F_LAYOUT bit (see elf_flagdata(3ELF)). When this is done, the library does not fill holes.