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