Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | config BINFMT_ELF |
| 2 | bool "Kernel support for ELF binaries" |
David Howells | 2919b51 | 2006-01-08 01:01:16 -0800 | [diff] [blame^] | 3 | depends on MMU && (BROKEN || !FRV) |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 4 | default y |
| 5 | ---help--- |
| 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 |
| 15 | want to say Y here. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Information about ELF is contained in the ELF HOWTO available from |
| 18 | <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>. |
| 19 | |
| 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 |
| 24 | latest version). |
| 25 | |
| 26 | config BINFMT_ELF_FDPIC |
| 27 | bool "Kernel support for FDPIC ELF binaries" |
| 28 | default y |
| 29 | depends on FRV |
| 30 | help |
| 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. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | It is also possible to run FDPIC ELF binaries on MMU linux also. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | config BINFMT_FLAT |
| 40 | tristate "Kernel support for flat binaries" |
| 41 | depends on !MMU || SUPERH |
| 42 | help |
| 43 | Support uClinux FLAT format binaries. |
| 44 | |
| 45 | config BINFMT_ZFLAT |
| 46 | bool "Enable ZFLAT support" |
| 47 | depends on BINFMT_FLAT |
| 48 | select ZLIB_INFLATE |
| 49 | help |
| 50 | Support FLAT format compressed binaries |
| 51 | |
| 52 | config BINFMT_SHARED_FLAT |
| 53 | bool "Enable shared FLAT support" |
| 54 | depends on BINFMT_FLAT |
| 55 | help |
| 56 | Support FLAT shared libraries |
| 57 | |
| 58 | config BINFMT_AOUT |
| 59 | tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries" |
Brian Gerst | 0d078f6 | 2005-10-30 14:59:20 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 60 | depends on X86_32 || ALPHA || ARM || M68K || SPARC32 |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | ---help--- |
| 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 |
| 65 | with the ELF format. |
| 66 | |
| 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. |
| 70 | |
| 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 |
| 74 | binfmt_aout. |
| 75 | |
| 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 |
| 78 | say Y here. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | config OSF4_COMPAT |
| 81 | bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility" |
| 82 | depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT |
| 83 | help |
| 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. |
| 87 | |
| 88 | config BINFMT_EM86 |
| 89 | tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries" |
| 90 | depends on ALPHA |
| 91 | ---help--- |
| 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. |
| 95 | |
| 96 | You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to |
| 97 | "Kernel support for MISC binaries". |
| 98 | |
| 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. |
| 102 | |
| 103 | config BINFMT_SOM |
| 104 | tristate "Kernel support for SOM binaries" |
| 105 | depends on PARISC && HPUX |
| 106 | help |
| 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. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | config BINFMT_MISC |
| 111 | tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries" |
| 112 | ---help--- |
| 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. |
| 122 | |
| 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. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | To use binfmt_misc, you will need to mount it: |
| 130 | mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc |
| 131 | |
| 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. |