ELF

The open, patent-free, extensible Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) first appeared in UNIX System V around 1997; in that same year, the 86open project was convocated (that original document seems to have been lost, but I have archived it).

The DWARF specification for debugging data was developed alongside and in reference to ELF, but is independent of object file formats (subject to certain minimal requirements).

The STT_IFUNC ELF type allows for dynlink time selection among architecture-optimized versions of a library, especially useful for SSE and MMX.

Booting

• coreboot (formerly LinuxBIOS) can boot ELF images directly -- see mkelfimage

See also

• Working with libraries
• rpaths for coverage of the DT_RPATH/DT_RUNPATH dtags

External links

• Evolution of the ELF Object File Format at MaskRay
• Wikipedia's ELF page is pretty good, especially wrt links