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 BINFMT_ELF_KUNIT_TEST
32 bool "Build KUnit tests for ELF binary support" if !KUNIT_ALL_TESTS
33 depends on KUNIT=y && BINFMT_ELF=y
34 default KUNIT_ALL_TESTS
36 This builds the ELF loader KUnit tests, which try to gather
37 prior bug fixes into a regression test collection. This is really
38 only needed for debugging. Note that with CONFIG_COMPAT=y, the
39 compat_binfmt_elf KUnit test is also created.
41 config COMPAT_BINFMT_ELF
43 depends on COMPAT && BINFMT_ELF
46 config ARCH_BINFMT_ELF_STATE
49 config ARCH_BINFMT_ELF_EXTRA_PHDRS
52 config ARCH_HAVE_ELF_PROT
55 config ARCH_USE_GNU_PROPERTY
58 config BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC
59 bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries"
60 default y if !BINFMT_ELF
61 depends on ARM || ((M68K || SUPERH) && !MMU)
64 ELF FDPIC binaries are based on ELF, but allow the individual load
65 segments of a binary to be located in memory independently of each
66 other. This makes this format ideal for use in environments where no
67 MMU is available as it still permits text segments to be shared,
68 even if data segments are not.
70 It is also possible to run FDPIC ELF binaries on MMU linux also.
75 This option enables kernel/elfcore.o.
77 config CORE_DUMP_DEFAULT_ELF_HEADERS
78 bool "Write ELF core dumps with partial segments"
80 depends on BINFMT_ELF && ELF_CORE
82 ELF core dump files describe each memory mapping of the crashed
83 process, and can contain or omit the memory contents of each one.
84 The contents of an unmodified text mapping are omitted by default.
86 For an unmodified text mapping of an ELF object, including just
87 the first page of the file in a core dump makes it possible to
88 identify the build ID bits in the file, without paying the i/o
89 cost and disk space to dump all the text. However, versions of
90 GDB before 6.7 are confused by ELF core dump files in this format.
92 The core dump behavior can be controlled per process using
93 the /proc/PID/coredump_filter pseudo-file; this setting is
94 inherited. See Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst for details.
96 This config option changes the default setting of coredump_filter
97 seen at boot time. If unsure, say Y.
100 tristate "Kernel support for scripts starting with #!"
103 Say Y here if you want to execute interpreted scripts starting with
104 #! followed by the path to an interpreter.
106 You can build this support as a module; however, until that module
107 gets loaded, you cannot run scripts. Thus, if you want to load this
108 module from an initramfs, the portion of the initramfs before loading
109 this module must consist of compiled binaries only.
111 Most systems will not boot if you say M or N here. If unsure, say Y.
113 config ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
117 bool "Kernel support for flat binaries"
118 depends on ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
120 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
122 config BINFMT_FLAT_ARGVP_ENVP_ON_STACK
125 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD_ALWAYS_RAM
128 config BINFMT_FLAT_NO_DATA_START_OFFSET
131 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD
132 bool "Enable support for very old legacy flat binaries"
133 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
135 Support decade old uClinux FLAT format binaries. Unless you know
136 you have some of those say N here.
139 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
140 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
143 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
149 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
152 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
153 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
154 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
157 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
158 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
159 who need to run binaries from that era.
161 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
162 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
163 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
166 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
167 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
171 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
172 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
174 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
175 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
176 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
179 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
181 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
182 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
183 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
184 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
185 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
186 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
187 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
188 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
189 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
191 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
192 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst> to learn how to use this
193 feature, <file:Documentation/admin-guide/java.rst> for information about how
194 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/admin-guide/mono.rst> for
195 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
197 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
198 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
200 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
201 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
202 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.
205 bool "Enable core dump support" if EXPERT
208 This option enables support for performing core dumps. You almost
209 certainly want to say Y here. Not necessary on systems that never
210 need debugging or only ever run flawless code.