Documentation/admin-guide/mono.rst

   1 Mono(tm) Binary Kernel Support for Linux
   2 -----------------------------------------
   3
   4 To configure Linux to automatically execute Mono-based .NET binaries
   5 (in the form of .exe files) without the need to use the mono CLR
   6 wrapper, you can use the BINFMT_MISC kernel support.
   7
   8 This will allow you to execute Mono-based .NET binaries just like any
   9 other program after you have done the following:
  10
  11 1) You MUST FIRST install the Mono CLR support, either by downloading
  12    a binary package, a source tarball or by installing from Git. Binary
  13    packages for several distributions can be found at:
  14
  15         https://www.mono-project.com/download/
  16
  17    Instructions for compiling Mono can be found at:
  18
  19         https://www.mono-project.com/docs/compiling-mono/linux/
  20
  21    Once the Mono CLR support has been installed, just check that
  22    ``/usr/bin/mono`` (which could be located elsewhere, for example
  23    ``/usr/local/bin/mono``) is working.
  24
  25 2) You have to compile BINFMT_MISC either as a module or into
  26    the kernel (``CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC``) and set it up properly.
  27    If you choose to compile it as a module, you will have
  28    to insert it manually with modprobe/insmod, as kmod
  29    cannot be easily supported with binfmt_misc.
  30    Read the file ``binfmt_misc.txt`` in this directory to know
  31    more about the configuration process.
  32
  33 3) Add the following entries to ``/etc/rc.local`` or similar script
  34    to be run at system startup:
  35
  36    .. code-block:: sh
  37
  38     # Insert BINFMT_MISC module into the kernel
  39     if [ ! -e /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register ]; then
  40         /sbin/modprobe binfmt_misc
  41         # Some distributions, like Fedora Core, perform
  42         # the following command automatically when the
  43         # binfmt_misc module is loaded into the kernel
  44         # or during normal boot up (systemd-based systems).
  45         # Thus, it is possible that the following line
  46         # is not needed at all.
  47         mount -t binfmt_misc none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
  48     fi
  49
  50     # Register support for .NET CLR binaries
  51     if [ -e /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register ]; then
  52         # Replace /usr/bin/mono with the correct pathname to
  53         # the Mono CLR runtime (usually /usr/local/bin/mono
  54         # when compiling from sources or CVS).
  55         echo ':CLR:M::MZ::/usr/bin/mono:' > /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register
  56     else
  57         echo "No binfmt_misc support"
  58         exit 1
  59     fi
  60
  61 4) Check that ``.exe`` binaries can be ran without the need of a
  62    wrapper script, simply by launching the ``.exe`` file directly
  63    from a command prompt, for example::
  64
  65         /usr/bin/xsd.exe
  66
  67    .. note::
  68
  69       If this fails with a permission denied error, check
  70       that the ``.exe`` file has execute permissions.