What are .elf file formats?

[SkittleLinux18]

I've never heard or seen any files with an .elf extension on my system, so I'm trying to figure out why they are so important to the core files of Linux.

[HROAdmin26]

Google?

1. What is ELF? An introduction

ELF (Executable and Linking Format) is a binary format originally developed by USL (UNIX System Laboratories) and currently used in Solaris and System V Release 4. Because of its increased flexibility over the older a.out format that Linux previously used, the GCC and C library developers decided last year to move to using ELF as the Linux standard binary format also.

Since when does a file need some "extension" on the end to identify it? That is Windows-thinking...

If I rename file.doc to file.exe does that make it an executable? *Nix systems are not big on a name extension identifying the type of file.

[SkittleLinux18]

I share the same sentiments. But I just recently learned that it is a favorite target for Virus writers who are targeting Linux computers.

[daark.child]

AFAIK ELF is a file format and not an extension. You can find out a lot of details about them by reading this article.