The present system and method improves the way of forwarding a reference
from an importing module to an exporting module. The present system and
method allow forwarding of a reference(s) through a forwarder exporting
module for a specified export(s) when an explicit entrypoint(s) does/do
not exist for the specified export(s) in the forwarder exporting module
and still allow correlation from the importing module to the exporting
module when the loader is loading the importing module during a load time.
One or more implicit forwarder record(s) is stored in the exporting module
by a linker. Each implicit forwarder record designates a respective target
module. The loader determines whether an explicit entrypoint exists in the
exporting module for the reference of the specified export. The loader
resolves the reference by using the explicit entrypoint to determine a
location of the specified export if the explicit entrypoint exists. The
loader searches in a defined sequential order for the location of the
specified export in a target module designated by a respective implicit
forwarder record if the explicit entrypoint does not exist. The loader
resolves the reference by using the implicit forwarder record if the
specified export is found in a target module.