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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers What are the executable file formats in Solaris and Linux? Post 302785389 by verdepollo on Monday 25th of March 2013 01:35:17 PM
Old 03-25-2013
"exe" is just an extension name used by Windows to identify executable files but has nothing to do with its internal constitution.

Linux does not rely on extension names but a "Magic Number" database that helps identify the type of any given file by reading the first bytes of its data and comparing it to a pre-defined "signature". You can check the full database on your Linux system by taking a look at "/usr/share/magic".

Regardless of the format in Linux, a file won't run unless it has the "execute" permission on.

As far as I know Windows does not use magic numbers at all -- Although the last version of Windows I used was Windows 2K so it may have changed by now.

Most SystemV-based operating systems (such as Linux) use ELF binary format and do not append any extension to the file name.

For the record, back in the DOS days executables used to be in COM format and later in MZ format under Win 9x and its variants.

Nowadays Windows uses PE format to pack its executables.
 

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YASM_OBJFMTS(7) 					   Yasm Supported Object Formats					   YASM_OBJFMTS(7)

NAME
yasm_objfmts - Yasm Supported Object Formats SYNOPSIS
yasm -f objfmt ... DESCRIPTION
The standard Yasm distribution includes a number of modules for different object formats (Yasm's primary output). The object format is selected on the yasm(1) command line by use of the -f objfmt command line option. BIN
The "bin" object format produces a flat-format, non-relocatable binary file. It is appropriate for producing DOS .COM executables or things like boot blocks. It supports only 3 sections and those sections are written in a predefined order to the output file. COFF
The COFF object format is an older relocatable object format used on older Unix and compatible systems, and also (more recently) on the DJGPP development system for DOS. DBG
The "dbg" object format is not a "real" object format; the output file it creates simply describes the sequence of calls made to it by Yasm and the final object and symbol table information in a human-readable text format (that in a normal object format would get processed into that object format's particular binary representation). This object format is not intended for real use, but rather for debugging Yasm's internals. ELF
The ELF object format really comes in two flavors: "elf32" (for 32-bit targets) and "elf64" (for 64-bit targets). ELF is a standard object format in common use on modern Unix and compatible systems (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD). ELF has complex support for relocatable and shared objects. MACHO
The Mach-O object format really comes in two flavors: "macho32" (for 32-bit targets) and "macho64" (for 64-bit targets). Mach-O is used as the object format on MacOS X. As Yasm currently only supports x86 and AMD64 instruction sets, it can only generate Mach-O objects for Intel-based Macs. RDF
The RDOFF2 object format is a simple multi-section format originally designed for NASM. It supports segment references but not WRT references. It was designed primarily for simplicity and has minimalistic headers for ease of loading and linking. A complete toolchain (linker, librarian, and loader) is distributed with NASM. WIN32 The Win32 object format produces object files compatible with Microsoft compilers (such as Visual C++) that target the 32-bit x86 Windows platform. The object format itself is an extended version of COFF. WIN64 The Win64 object format produces object files compatible with Microsoft compilers that target the 64-bit "x64" Windows platform. This format is very similar to the win32 object format, but produces 64-bit objects. XDF
The XDF object format is essentially a simplified version of COFF. It's a multi-section relocatable format that supports 64-bit physical and virtual addresses. SEE ALSO
yasm(1), yasm_arch(7) AUTHOR
Peter Johnson <peter@tortall.net> Author. COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2006 Peter Johnson Yasm February 2007 YASM_OBJFMTS(7)
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