ELF stands for Executable and Linking Format. This chapter explains the organization of ELF files of all types. Sections of this chapter have been reproduced with permission from UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. For additional information about ELF files, please see System V Application Binary Interface, 1993, UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., published by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
An ELF file can be a relocatable object file or an executable file. A relocatable object file holds program code and data and is suitable for linking with other object files. An executable file is a file which holds programs suitable for execution. ELF files are created by the compiler, assembler, and linker.