2 bool "Kernel support for ELF binaries"
3 depends on MMU && (BROKEN || !FRV)
6 ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) is a format for libraries and
7 executables used across different architectures and operating
8 systems. Saying Y here will enable your kernel to run ELF binaries
9 and enlarge it by about 13 KB. ELF support under Linux has now all
10 but replaced the traditional Linux a.out formats (QMAGIC and ZMAGIC)
11 because it is portable (this does *not* mean that you will be able
12 to run executables from different architectures or operating systems
13 however) and makes building run-time libraries very easy. Many new
14 executables are distributed solely in ELF format. You definitely
17 Information about ELF is contained in the ELF HOWTO available from
18 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>.
20 If you find that after upgrading from Linux kernel 1.2 and saying Y
21 here, you still can't run any ELF binaries (they just crash), then
22 you'll have to install the newest ELF runtime libraries, including
23 ld.so (check the file <file:Documentation/Changes> for location and
26 config COMPAT_BINFMT_ELF
28 depends on COMPAT && BINFMT_ELF
30 config ARCH_BINFMT_ELF_RANDOMIZE_PIE
33 config ARCH_BINFMT_ELF_STATE
36 config BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC
37 bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries"
39 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.
49 config CORE_DUMP_DEFAULT_ELF_HEADERS
50 bool "Write ELF core dumps with partial segments"
52 depends on BINFMT_ELF && ELF_CORE
54 ELF core dump files describe each memory mapping of the crashed
55 process, and can contain or omit the memory contents of each one.
56 The contents of an unmodified text mapping are omitted by default.
58 For an unmodified text mapping of an ELF object, including just
59 the first page of the file in a core dump makes it possible to
60 identify the build ID bits in the file, without paying the i/o
61 cost and disk space to dump all the text. However, versions of
62 GDB before 6.7 are confused by ELF core dump files in this format.
64 The core dump behavior can be controlled per process using
65 the /proc/PID/coredump_filter pseudo-file; this setting is
66 inherited. See Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt for details.
68 This config option changes the default setting of coredump_filter
69 seen at boot time. If unsure, say Y.
72 tristate "Kernel support for scripts starting with #!"
75 Say Y here if you want to execute interpreted scripts starting with
76 #! followed by the path to an interpreter.
78 You can build this support as a module; however, until that module
79 gets loaded, you cannot run scripts. Thus, if you want to load this
80 module from an initramfs, the portion of the initramfs before loading
81 this module must consist of compiled binaries only.
83 Most systems will not boot if you say M or N here. If unsure, say Y.
86 bool "Kernel support for flat binaries"
87 depends on !MMU && (!FRV || BROKEN)
89 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
92 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
93 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
96 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
98 config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT
99 bool "Enable shared FLAT support"
100 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
102 Support FLAT shared libraries
108 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
111 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
112 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
113 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
116 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
117 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
118 who need to run binaries from that era.
120 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
121 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
122 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
125 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
126 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
130 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
131 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
133 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
134 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
135 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
138 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
141 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
142 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
143 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
145 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
146 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
148 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
149 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
150 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
153 tristate "Kernel support for SOM binaries"
154 depends on PARISC && HPUX
156 SOM is a binary executable format inherited from HP/UX. Say
157 Y here to be able to load and execute SOM binaries directly.
160 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
162 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
163 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
164 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
165 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
166 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
167 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
168 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
169 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
170 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
172 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
173 <file:Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt> to learn how to use this
174 feature, <file:Documentation/java.txt> for information about how
175 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/mono.txt> for
176 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
178 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
179 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
181 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
182 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
183 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.
186 bool "Enable core dump support" if EXPERT
189 This option enables support for performing core dumps. You almost
190 certainly want to say Y here. Not necessary on systems that never
191 need debugging or only ever run flawless code.