A function with this attribute has its name emitted as a weak symbol instead of a global name. This is primarily for the naming of library routines that can be overridden by user code.
weak symbol Having two or more global symbols of the same name will not cause a conflict as long as all but one of them are declared as being weak symbols. The linker ignores the definitions of the weak symbols and uses the normal global symbol definition to resolve all references, but the weak symbols will be used if the normal global symbol is not available. A weak symbol can be used to name functions and data that can be overridden by user code. A weak symbol is also referred to as a weak alias, or simply weak.