2 tristate "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 If you want to compile this as a module ( = code which can be
27 inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want),
28 say M here and read <file:Documentation/modules.txt>. The module
29 will be called binfmt_elf. Saying M or N here is dangerous because
30 some crucial programs on your system might be in ELF format.
33 tristate "Kernel support for flat binaries"
34 depends on !MMU || SUPERH
36 Support uClinux FLAT format binaries.
39 bool "Enable ZFLAT support"
40 depends on BINFMT_FLAT
42 Support FLAT format compressed binaries
45 tristate "Kernel support for a.out and ECOFF binaries"
46 depends on (X86 && !X86_64) || ALPHA || ARM || M68K || MIPS || SPARC
48 A.out (Assembler.OUTput) is a set of formats for libraries and
49 executables used in the earliest versions of UNIX. Linux used
50 the a.out formats QMAGIC and ZMAGIC until they were replaced
53 The conversion to ELF started in 1995. This option is primarily
54 provided for historical interest and for the benefit of those
55 who need to run binaries from that era.
57 Most people should answer N here. If you think you may have
58 occasional use for this format, enable module support above
59 and answer M here to compile this support as a module called
62 If any crucial components of your system (such as /sbin/init
63 or /lib/ld.so) are still in a.out format, you will have to
67 bool "OSF/1 v4 readv/writev compatibility"
68 depends on ALPHA && BINFMT_AOUT
70 Say Y if you are using OSF/1 binaries (like Netscape and Acrobat)
71 with v4 shared libraries freely available from Compaq. If you're
72 going to use shared libraries from Tru64 version 5.0 or later, say N.
75 tristate "Kernel support for Linux/Intel ELF binaries"
78 Say Y here if you want to be able to execute Linux/Intel ELF
79 binaries just like native Alpha binaries on your Alpha machine. For
80 this to work, you need to have the emulator /usr/bin/em86 in place.
82 You can get the same functionality by saying N here and saying Y to
83 "Kernel support for MISC binaries".
85 You may answer M to compile the emulation support as a module and
86 later load the module when you want to use a Linux/Intel binary. The
87 module will be called binfmt_em86. If unsure, say Y.
90 tristate "Kernel support for SOM binaries"
91 depends on PARISC && HPUX
93 SOM is a binary executable format inherited from HP/UX. Say
94 Y here to be able to load and execute SOM binaries directly.
97 tristate "Kernel support for MISC binaries"
99 If you say Y here, it will be possible to plug wrapper-driven binary
100 formats into the kernel. You will like this especially when you use
101 programs that need an interpreter to run like Java, Python or
102 Emacs-Lisp. It's also useful if you often run DOS executables under
103 the Linux DOS emulator DOSEMU (read the DOSEMU-HOWTO, available from
104 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>). Once you have
105 registered such a binary class with the kernel, you can start one of
106 those programs simply by typing in its name at a shell prompt; Linux
107 will automatically feed it to the correct interpreter.
109 You can do other nice things, too. Read the file
110 <file:Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt> to learn how to use this
111 feature, and <file:Documentation/java.txt> for information about how
112 to include Java support.
114 You may say M here for module support and later load the module when
115 you have use for it; the module is called binfmt_misc. If you
116 don't know what to answer at this point, say Y.