1 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
3 menu "Executable file formats"
6 bool "Kernel support for ELF binaries"
11 ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) is a format for libraries and
12 executables used across different architectures and operating
13 systems. Saying Y here will enable your kernel to run ELF binaries
14 and enlarge it by about 13 KB. ELF support under Linux has now all
15 but replaced the traditional Linux a.out formats (QMAGIC and ZMAGIC)
16 because it is portable (this does *not* mean that you will be able
17 to run executables from different architectures or operating systems
18 however) and makes building run-time libraries very easy. Many new
19 executables are distributed solely in ELF format. You definitely
22 Information about ELF is contained in the ELF HOWTO available from
23 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>.
25 If you find that after upgrading from Linux kernel 1.2 and saying Y
26 here, you still can't run any ELF binaries (they just crash), then
27 you'll have to install the newest ELF runtime libraries, including
28 ld.so (check the file <file:Documentation/Changes> for location and
31 config COMPAT_BINFMT_ELF
33 depends on COMPAT && BINFMT_ELF
36 config ARCH_BINFMT_ELF_STATE
39 config BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC
40 bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries"
41 default y if !BINFMT_ELF
42 depends on (ARM || (SUPERH32 && !MMU) || C6X)
45 ELF FDPIC binaries are based on ELF, but allow the individual load
46 segments of a binary to be located in memory independently of each
47 other. This makes this format ideal for use in environments where no
48 MMU is available as it still permits text segments to be shared,
49 even if data segments are not.
51 It is also possible to run FDPIC ELF binaries on MMU linux also.
56 This option enables kernel/elfcore.o.
58 config CORE_DUMP_DEFAULT_ELF_HEADERS
59 bool "Write ELF core dumps with partial segments"
61 depends on BINFMT_ELF && ELF_CORE
63 ELF core dump files describe each memory mapping of the crashed
64 process, and can contain or omit the memory contents of each one.
65 The contents of an unmodified text mapping are omitted by default.
67 For an unmodified text mapping of an ELF object, including just
68 the first page of the file in a core dump makes it possible to
69 identify the build ID bits in the file, without paying the i/o
70 cost and disk space to dump all the text. However, versions of
71 GDB before 6.7 are confused by ELF core dump files in this format.
73 The core dump behavior can be controlled per process using
74 the /proc/PID/coredump_filter pseudo-file; this setting is
75 inherited. See Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt for details.
77 This config option changes the default setting of coredump_filter
78 seen at boot time. If unsure, say Y.
81 tristate "Kernel support for scripts starting with #!"
84 Say Y here if you want to execute interpreted scripts starting with
85 #! followed by the path to an interpreter.
87 You can build this support as a module; however, until that module
88 gets loaded, you cannot run scripts. Thus, if you want to load this
89 module from an initramfs, the portion of the initramfs before loading
90 this module must consist of compiled binaries only.
92 Most systems will not boot if you say M or N here. If unsure, say Y.
95 bool "Kernel support for flat binaries"
96 depends on !MMU || ARM || M68K
98 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
101 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
102 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
105 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
107 config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT
108 bool "Enable shared FLAT support"
109 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
111 Support FLAT shared libraries
117 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
120 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
121 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
122 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
125 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
126 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
127 who need to run binaries from that era.
129 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
130 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
131 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
134 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
135 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
139 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
140 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
142 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
143 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
144 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
147 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
150 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
151 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
152 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
154 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
155 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
157 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
158 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
159 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
162 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
164 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
165 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
166 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
167 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
168 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
169 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
170 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
171 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
172 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
174 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
175 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst> to learn how to use this
176 feature, <file:Documentation/admin-guide/java.rst> for information about how
177 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/admin-guide/mono.rst> for
178 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
180 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
181 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
183 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
184 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
185 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.
188 bool "Enable core dump support" if EXPERT
191 This option enables support for performing core dumps. You almost
192 certainly want to say Y here. Not necessary on systems that never
193 need debugging or only ever run flawless code.