attempting to reload a previously loaded plugin with dlopen()

[aryan_]

Hi All,

What happens if I attempt to reload a previously loaded plugin with dlopen() without using dlclose() to close it first ?

In such a case, does it give me another plugin handle for the same plugin module ? (I would have two plugin handles in this case both of which should be closed using dlclose() ?)

Thanks.

[Rubberman]

From the dlopen man page:

If the same library is loaded again with dlopen(), the same file handle is
returned. The dl library maintains reference counts for library handles, so a
dynamic library is not deallocated until dlclose() has been called on it as
many times as dlopen() has succeeded on it. The _init routine, if present, is
only called once. But a subsequent call with RTLD_NOW may force symbol reso-
lution for a library earlier loaded with RTLD_LAZY.