Executable and Linkable Format
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) is a file format used for executables, shared (dynamically linked) libraries, object code and core dumps.
The Wikipedia article has a long list of links to various specifications.
Contents[hide] |
Format info
Software
- GNU Binutils → objdump
- GNU Binutils → nm (used for reading symbols)
- GNU C Library → ldd (prints shared object dependencies)
- GNU Binutils → readelf
- File command (could also be used to identify the type of executable)
- elfdump (Available in certain *BSD flavors[1][2] and Solaris[3])
Sample files
See Search results for extension "so", that also belongs to the executable family, and is also ELF format - Discmaster.textfiles.com for a huge list of sample files.
.ko or kernel object
See Search results for extension "ko", that also belongs to the executable family, and is also ELF format - Discmaster.textfiles.com for a huge list of sample files.
Links
- Wikipedia: Executable and Linkable Format
- Debugging With Arbitrary Record Formats (DWARF) on Wikipedia - a debugging data format that was designed along with Executable and Linkable Format (ELF)
- ELF101 - a Linux executable walkthrough
- Hacking GCN via OpenGL (it's got an ELF in it)
- ELF Hello World Tutorial
