Executable Formats


A "binary format" is a file format for programs
An executable is generally made up of three parts
.text: code proper
.data: initialized data
.bss: zeroed data
Only the first two are saved to disk
The "size" command shows the size of the program

ELF (executable and loadable format) offers:
Arbitrary section names
Any number of sections
Definition of object files, executables, libraries
Compiler and linker can build ELF files built as you like
Especially, "ld" can be configured with an "ldscript"
uClinux has its own binary format ("flat")