Running Elf Files

mshindo · 06-25-2008, 10:42 PM

I have a few questions about elf files and how they are executed.

When gcc compiles a elf file it creates an executable. Is this executable then run directly by the hardware or does the kernel get involved, interpret the elf file and place the asm code directly in memory.

Cheers

paulsm4 · 06-25-2008, 10:52 PM

Yes - the kernel does get involved, does some interpretation of the executable image, and does much work before it passes the machine instructions off to the hardware to execute a timeslice.

Here is a brief overview of what happens during Linux "program load", from a developer's perspective:

http://www.informit.com/articles/art...70047&seqNum=2

'Hope that helps .. PSM