Comparison of executable file formats: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:08, 26 December 2014

Revision as of 17:09, 26 December 2014

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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}

This is a comparison of binary [[executable]] [[file format]]s which, once loaded by a suitable executable [[Loader (computing)|loader]], can be directly executed by the CPU rather than become interpreted by software. In addition to the binary application code, the executables may contain headers and tables with relocation and fixup information as well as various kinds of meta data. Among those formats listed, the ones in most common use are [[Portable Executable|PE]] (on [[Microsoft Windows]]), [[Executable and Linkable Format|ELF]] (on [[Linux]] and most other versions of [[Unix]]), [[Mach-O]] (on [[OS X]] and [[iOS]]) and [[DOS MZ executable|MZ]] (on [[DOS]]).

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| {{No}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}<ref name=aout>{{cite web|url=http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=a.out&sektion=5 |title=a.out(5) - FreeBSD Man Pages |publisher=Freebsd.org |date=2010-06-10 June 2010 |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| {{Yes}}<ref name=aout />

| {{Some|Extension}}

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| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freshmeat.net/projects/elfsign/ |title=elfsign – Freecode |publisher=Freshmeat.net |date= |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}<ref name=3elf>{{cite web|url=http://uw714doc.sco.com/en/man/html.3elf/elf_getarsym.3elf.html |title=(3elf) - Elf library routines |publisher=Uw714doc.sco.com |date=2004-04-25 April 2004 |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| {{Yes}}

| {{some|Extension<ref name=fatelf>{{cite web|url=http://icculus.org/fatelf/ |title=FatELF: Universal Binaries for Linux |publisher=Icculus.org |date= |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>}}

| {{some|Extension<ref name=elficon>{{cite web|url=http://www.compholio.com/elfres/ |title=ElfIcon: Icons for ELF files |publisher=Compholio.com |date= |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>}}

|-

! scope="row" | [[Mach-O]]<ref name=macosx>{{cite web|url=http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/MachORuntime/Reference/reference.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20001298-BAJIHABI |title=Mac OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference |publisher=Apple Inc. |date=4 February 2009-02-04 |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| [[NeXTSTEP]], [[OS&nbsp;X]], [[iOS]]

| style="text-align: center;" | none

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| {{No}}

|-

! scope="row" | [[Preferred Executable Format|PEF]]<ref name="apple-pef">{{cite web|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080512065331/http://developer.apple.com/tools/mpw-tools/commandref/dumppef.html|title=MPW Command Reference - DumpPEF|archivedate=May 12, May 2008|url=http://developer.apple.com/tools/mpw-tools/commandref/dumppef.htm|publisher=Apple Inc.}}</ref>

| [[Mac&nbsp;OS]]

| style="text-align: center;" | none

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| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/OS2/hobbes/os2/dev/info/lxexe.doc |title=Linear eXecutable Module Format |date= |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| {{No}}

| {{No}}

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| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/drvsign/Authenticode_PE.mspx |title=Windows Authenticode Portable Executable Signature Format |publisher=Microsoft |date=2008-08-29 August 2008 |accessdate=9 July 2012-07-09}}</ref>

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

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|}

== Notes ==

{{notelist|refs=

<ref name=metadata>