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.
94 config ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
98 bool "Kernel support for flat binaries"
99 depends on ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
101 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
103 config BINFMT_FLAT_ARGVP_ENVP_ON_STACK
106 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD_ALWAYS_RAM
109 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD
110 bool "Enable support for very old legacy flat binaries"
111 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
113 Support decade old uClinux FLAT format binaries. Unless you know
114 you have some of those say N here.
117 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
118 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
121 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
123 config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT
124 bool "Enable shared FLAT support"
125 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
127 Support FLAT shared libraries
133 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
136 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
137 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
138 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
141 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
142 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
143 who need to run binaries from that era.
145 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
146 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
147 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
150 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
151 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
155 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
156 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
158 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
159 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
160 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
163 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
166 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
167 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
168 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
170 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
171 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
173 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
174 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
175 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
178 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
180 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
181 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
182 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
183 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
184 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
185 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
186 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
187 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
188 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
190 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
191 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst> to learn how to use this
192 feature, <file:Documentation/admin-guide/java.rst> for information about how
193 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/admin-guide/mono.rst> for
194 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
196 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
197 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
199 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
200 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
201 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.
204 bool "Enable core dump support" if EXPERT
207 This option enables support for performing core dumps. You almost
208 certainly want to say Y here. Not necessary on systems that never
209 need debugging or only ever run flawless code.