# michaeleisel/zld

A faster version of Apple's linker

Repository: https://github.com/michaeleisel/zld
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/zld
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: ios, linker, macos
Archived: true
Last push: 2023-02-15T06:02:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2408, "days_push": 1295, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1192, forks 49 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:56.358416+00:00)

## What it is
zld is a fork of Apple's open-source linker (ld) optimized to make the linking phase of large projects substantially faster, intended as a drop-in replacement for debug builds. It is now archived, with the author recommending lld instead.

## Use cases
- speed up incremental build link times in large Xcode projects
- replace Apple's ld with a faster linker for debug builds
- reduce iOS app build times caused by slow linking
- cut link time in half for projects where linking takes over a second

## When to choose
- you have a large macOS or iOS project where linking dominates incremental debug build times
- you want a drop-in replacement for Apple's ld via Xcode linker flags
- you're stuck on an older Xcode toolchain where zld still works

## When to avoid
- starting a new project today - the repo is archived and lld is recommended instead
- release/production builds - it is only intended for debug builds
- you need a linker kept in sync with the latest Xcode versions

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: build-tool, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, performance, compilers
- platform: cpp, cli
- tags: linker, xcode, debug-builds, incremental-builds, drop-in-replacement, macos, ios

## Member repositories
- michaeleisel/zld (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:56.358416+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:22:31.094848+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/michaeleisel/zld (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:56.358416+00:00, sha 448dbc19a642)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.