A script xxx.lds is used to instruct the linker, how to generate and link the final elf target. I recently solved a bootloader problem, by moving a part of (reginfo) into Data section. The bug in binutil overwrite my target elf file, with the reginfo, which shouldn't be loaded.
Some links about the linker.
http://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/manual/ld-2.9.1/html_mono/ld.html
http://www.embedded.com/2000/0002/0002feat2.htm
