Understanding ELF Binary Execution on Linux Systems
By
st_goliath
Pulled from the oven just right. Trustworthy, fact-dense, deeply satisfying.
Summary
This technical article explains how ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) binaries are executed on Linux systems. It covers the detailed process of how the kernel loads and runs ELF executables, including the role of the kernel's ELF loader, program headers, memory mapping, and the transition from kernel to user space. The article is part of a series on program execution mechanisms in Linux.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledThe previous article in this series described the general mechanisms that the Linux kernel has for executing programs as a result of a user-space call to execve().
However, the particular format handlers described in that article each deferred the process of execution to an inner call to search for the appropriate binary format.
ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) is the standard binary format used on Linux and many other Unix-like systems.
The kernel's ELF loader is responsible for mapping the binary's segments into memory and setting up the initial execution environment.
Understanding ELF binary execution is fundamental to comprehending how programs run on Linux systems.
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