Unresolved externals are those symbols for which SLINK was unable to find a definition when searching the specified library and object files. Some omissions may be intentional and may simply be routines that will not be called. Others may be unintentional omissions. SLINK will successfully complete a link session even when there are unresolved externals. It will provide a temporary definition of these symbols so that, when the function is called, an error message will be printed out stating the name of the function and the address from which it has been called.
In interactive mode, the command lure (List UnResolved Externals) may be used at any time to check the progress of the linker session. This command will list all of the functions for which it currently has no definition together with the path name of the file that contained the reference.
Do not be alarmed if a large number of functions are listed as unresolved when the command is used immediately before the file command is issued. This is quite normal because there will be functions in FTN77.DLL, FTN95.DLL, SALFLIBC.LIB (or SALFLIBC.DLL) and in the system DLLs that need to be linked. SLINK will automatically link them after the file command has been issued.