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 ARCH_HAVE_ELF_PROT
42 config ARCH_USE_GNU_PROPERTY
45 config BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC
46 bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries"
47 default y if !BINFMT_ELF
48 depends on (ARM || (SUPERH && !MMU))
51 ELF FDPIC binaries are based on ELF, but allow the individual load
52 segments of a binary to be located in memory independently of each
53 other. This makes this format ideal for use in environments where no
54 MMU is available as it still permits text segments to be shared,
55 even if data segments are not.
57 It is also possible to run FDPIC ELF binaries on MMU linux also.
62 This option enables kernel/elfcore.o.
64 config CORE_DUMP_DEFAULT_ELF_HEADERS
65 bool "Write ELF core dumps with partial segments"
67 depends on BINFMT_ELF && ELF_CORE
69 ELF core dump files describe each memory mapping of the crashed
70 process, and can contain or omit the memory contents of each one.
71 The contents of an unmodified text mapping are omitted by default.
73 For an unmodified text mapping of an ELF object, including just
74 the first page of the file in a core dump makes it possible to
75 identify the build ID bits in the file, without paying the i/o
76 cost and disk space to dump all the text. However, versions of
77 GDB before 6.7 are confused by ELF core dump files in this format.
79 The core dump behavior can be controlled per process using
80 the /proc/PID/coredump_filter pseudo-file; this setting is
81 inherited. See Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst for details.
83 This config option changes the default setting of coredump_filter
84 seen at boot time. If unsure, say Y.
87 tristate "Kernel support for scripts starting with #!"
90 Say Y here if you want to execute interpreted scripts starting with
91 #! followed by the path to an interpreter.
93 You can build this support as a module; however, until that module
94 gets loaded, you cannot run scripts. Thus, if you want to load this
95 module from an initramfs, the portion of the initramfs before loading
96 this module must consist of compiled binaries only.
98 Most systems will not boot if you say M or N here. If unsure, say Y.
100 config ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
104 bool "Kernel support for flat binaries"
105 depends on ARCH_HAS_BINFMT_FLAT
107 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
109 config BINFMT_FLAT_ARGVP_ENVP_ON_STACK
112 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD_ALWAYS_RAM
115 config BINFMT_FLAT_NO_DATA_START_OFFSET
118 config BINFMT_FLAT_OLD
119 bool "Enable support for very old legacy flat binaries"
120 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
122 Support decade old uClinux FLAT format binaries. Unless you know
123 you have some of those say N here.
126 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
127 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
130 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
132 config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT
133 bool "Enable shared FLAT support"
134 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
136 Support FLAT shared libraries
142 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
145 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
146 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
147 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
150 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
151 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
152 who need to run binaries from that era.
154 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
155 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
156 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
159 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
160 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
164 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
165 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
167 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
168 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
169 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
172 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
175 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
176 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
177 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
179 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
180 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
182 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
183 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
184 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
187 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
189 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
190 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
191 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
192 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
193 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
194 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
195 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
196 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
197 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
199 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
200 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst> to learn how to use this
201 feature, <file:Documentation/admin-guide/java.rst> for information about how
202 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/admin-guide/mono.rst> for
203 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
205 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
206 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
208 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
209 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
210 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.
213 bool "Enable core dump support" if EXPERT
216 This option enables support for performing core dumps. You almost
217 certainly want to say Y here. Not necessary on systems that never
218 need debugging or only ever run flawless code.