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