2 bool "Kernel support for ELF binaries"
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 BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC
27 bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries"
31 ELF FDPIC binaries are based on ELF, but allow the individual load
32 segments of a binary to be located in memory independently of each
33 other. This makes this format ideal for use in environments where no
34 MMU is available as it still permits text segments to be shared,
35 even if data segments are not.
37 It is also possible to run FDPIC ELF binaries on MMU linux also.
40 tristate "Kernel support for flat binaries"
41 depends on !MMU || SUPERH
43 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
46 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
47 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
50 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
52 config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT
53 bool "Enable shared FLAT support"
54 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
56 Support FLAT shared libraries
59 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
60 depends on X86_32 || ALPHA || ARM || M68K || SPARC32
62 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
63 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
64 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
67 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
68 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
69 who need to run binaries from that era.
71 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
72 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
73 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
76 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
77 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
81 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
82 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
84 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
85 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
86 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
89 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
92 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
93 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
94 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
96 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
97 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
99 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
100 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
101 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
104 tristate "Kernel support for SOM binaries"
105 depends on PARISC && HPUX
107 SOM is a binary executable format inherited from HP/UX. Say
108 Y here to be able to load and execute SOM binaries directly.
111 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
113 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
114 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
115 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python, .NET or
116 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
117 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
118 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
119 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
120 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
121 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
123 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
124 <file:Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt> to learn how to use this
125 feature, <file:Documentation/java.txt> for information about how
126 to include Java support. and <file:Documentation/mono.txt> for
127 information about how to include Mono-based .NET support.
129 To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it:
130 mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
132 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
133 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
134 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.