EXECVE(2)						     Linux Programmer's Manual							 EXECVE(2)

NAME

       execve - execute program

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int execve(const char *filename, char *const argv [], char *const envp[]);

DESCRIPTION

       execve() executes the program pointed to by filename.  filename must be either a binary executable, or a script starting with a line of the
       form "#! interpreter [arg]".  In the latter case, the interpreter must be a valid pathname for an executable which is not itself a  script,
       which will be invoked as interpreter [arg] filename.

       argv  is  an array of argument strings passed to the new program.  envp is an array of strings, conventionally of the form key=value, which
       are passed as environment to the new program.  Both, argv and envp must be terminated by a null pointer.  The argument vector and  environ-
       ment can be accessed by the called program's main function, when it is defined as int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *envp[]).

       execve()  does  not  return  on	success,  and the text, data, bss, and stack of the calling process are overwritten by that of the program
       loaded.	The program invoked inherits the calling process's PID, and any open file descriptors that are not set to close on exec.   Signals
       pending on the calling process are cleared.  Any signals set to be caught by the calling process are reset to their default behaviour.  The
       SIGCHLD signal (when set to SIG_IGN) may or may not be reset to SIG_DFL.

       If the current program is being ptraced, a SIGTRAP is sent to it after a successful execve().

       If the set-uid bit is set on the program file pointed to by filename the effective user ID of the calling process is changed to that of the
       owner of the program file.  Similarly, when the set-gid bit of the program file is set the effective group ID of the calling process is set
       to the group of the program file.

       If the executable is an a.out dynamically-linked binary executable containing shared-library stubs, the Linux dynamic  linker  ld.so(8)	is
       called at the start of execution to bring needed shared libraries into core and link the executable with them.

       If  the executable is a dynamically-linked ELF executable, the interpreter named in the PT_INTERP segment is used to load the needed shared
       libraries.  This interpreter is typically /lib/ld-linux.so.1 for binaries linked with the Linux libc version 5, or  /lib/ld-linux.so.2  for
       binaries linked with the GNU libc version 2.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, execve() does not return, on error -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       EACCES The file or a script interpreter is not a regular file.

       EACCES Execute permission is denied for the file or a script or ELF interpreter.

       EACCES The file system is mounted noexec.

       EPERM  The file system is mounted nosuid, the user is not the superuser, and the file has an SUID or SGID bit set.

       EPERM  The process is being traced, the user is not the superuser and the file has an SUID or SGID bit set.

       E2BIG  The argument list is too big.

       ENOEXEC
	      An  executable  is not in a recognised format, is for the wrong architecture, or has some other format error that means it cannot be
	      executed.

       EFAULT filename points outside your accessible address space.

       ENAMETOOLONG
	      filename is too long.

       ENOENT The file filename or a script or ELF interpreter does not exist, or a shared library needed for file or interpreter cannot be found.

       ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       ENOTDIR
	      A component of the path prefix of filename or a script or ELF interpreter is not a directory.

       EACCES Search permission is denied on a component of the path prefix of filename or the name of a script interpreter.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving filename or the name of a script or ELF interpreter.

       ETXTBSY
	      Executable was open for writing by one or more processes.

       EIO    An I/O error occurred.

       ENFILE The limit on the total number of files open on the system has been reached.

       EMFILE The process has the maximum number of files open.

       EINVAL An ELF executable had more than one PT_INTERP segment (i.e., tried to name more than one interpreter).

       EISDIR An ELF interpreter was a directory.

       ELIBBAD
	      An ELF interpreter was not in a recognised format.

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, SVID, X/OPEN, BSD 4.3.  POSIX does not document the #!  behavior but is otherwise compatible.  SVr4 documents additional error condi-
       tions  EAGAIN, EINTR, ELIBACC, ENOLINK, EMULTIHOP; POSIX does not document ETXTBSY, EPERM, EFAULT, ELOOP, EIO, ENFILE, EMFILE, EINVAL, EIS-
       DIR or ELIBBAD error conditions.

NOTES

       SUID and SGID processes can not be ptrace()d.

       Linux ignores the SUID and SGID bits on scripts.

       The result of mounting a filesystem nosuid vary between Linux kernel versions: some will refuse execution  of  SUID/SGID  executables  when
       this  would  give  the  user powers she did not have already (and return EPERM), some will just ignore the SUID/SGID bits and exec success-
       fully.

       A maximum line length of 127 characters is allowed for the first line in a #! executable shell script.

SEE ALSO

       chmod(2), fork(2), execl(3), environ(5), ld.so(8)

Linux 2.0.30							    1997-09-03								 EXECVE(2)