UPDATE-BINFMTS(8)



UPDATE-BINFMTS(8)         BSD System Manager's Manual        UPDATE-BINFMTS(8)

NAME
     update-binfmts -- maintain registry of executable binary formats

SYNOPSIS
     update-binfmts [options] --install name path spec
     update-binfmts [options] --remove name path
     update-binfmts [options] --import [name]
     update-binfmts [options] --unimport [name]
     update-binfmts [options] --display [name]
     update-binfmts [options] --enable [name]
     update-binfmts [options] --disable [name]
     update-binfmts [options] --find [path]

DESCRIPTION
     Versions 2.1.43 and later of the Linux kernel have contained the
     binfmt_misc module.  This enables a system administrator to register in-
     terpreters for various binary formats based on a magic number or their
     file extension, and cause the appropriate interpreter to be invoked when-
     ever a matching file is executed.  Think of it as a more flexible version
     of the #! executable interpreter mechanism, or as something which can be-
     have a little like "associations" in certain other operating systems
     (though in GNU/Linux the tendency is to keep this sort of thing somewhere
     else, like your file manager).  update-binfmts manages a persistent data-
     base of these interpreters.

     When each package providing a registered interpreter is installed,
     changed, or removed, update-binfmts is called to update information about
     that interpreter.  update-binfmts is usually called from the postinst or
     prerm scripts in Debian packages.

OPTIONS
     Exactly one action must be specified; this may be accompanied by any one
     of the common options.

   COMMON OPTIONS
     --package package-name
           Specifies the name of the current package, to be used by package
           post-installation and pre-removal scripts.  System administrators
           installing binary formats for local use should probably ignore this
           option.

           When installing new formats, the --import action should be used in-
           stead.  Similarly, when removing old formats, the --unimport action
           should be used instead.

     --admindir directory
           Specifies the administrative directory, when this is to be differ-
           ent from the default of /var/lib/binfmts.

     --importdir directory
           Specifies the directory from which packaged binary formats are im-
           ported, when this is to be different from the default of
           /usr/share/binfmts.

     --test
           Don't do anything, just demonstrate what would be done.

     --help
           Display some usage information.

     --version
           Display version information.

   ACTIONS
     --install name path spec
           Install a binary format identified by name with interpreter path
           into the database.  After registration, this format will be used
           when the kernel tries to execute a file matching spec (see BINARY
           FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS below).

           --install will attempt to enable this binary format in the kernel
           as well as adding it to its own database; see --enable below.

           You cannot install a format with any of the names ".", "..", "reg-
           ister", or "status", as these are used by the filesystem or the
           binfmt_misc module.

     --remove name path
           Remove the binary format identified by name with interpreter path
           from the database.  This will also attempt to disable the binary
           format in the kernel; see --disable below.

     --import [name]
           Import a packaged format file called name, or import all format
           files currently on the system if no name is given.  If name is not
           a full path, it is assumed to be a file in the import directory
           (/usr/share/binfmts by default).  See FORMAT FILES below for the
           required contents of these files.

           For packages, this is preferable to using the --install option, as
           a format file can be installed without update-binfmts needing to be
           available.

     --unimport [name]
           Unimport a packaged format file called name, or unimport all format
           files currently on the system if no name is given.  If name is not
           a full path, it is assumed to be a file in the import directory
           (/usr/share/binfmts by default).  See FORMAT FILES below for the
           required contents of these files.

           For packages, this is preferable to using the --remove option, for
           symmetry with --import.

     --display [name]
           Display any information held in the database about the binary for-
           mat identifier name, or about all known binary formats if no name
           is given.  Also show whether displayed binary formats are enabled
           or disabled.

     --enable [name]
           Enable binary format name, or all known binary formats if no name
           is given, in the kernel, thus enabling direct execution of matching
           files.  You must have binfmt_misc compiled into the kernel or
           loaded as a module for this to work.

     --disable [name]
           Disable binary format name, or all known binary formats if no name
           is given, in the kernel, thus disabling direct execution of match-
           ing files.  You must have binfmt_misc compiled into the kernel or
           loaded as a module for this to work.

     --find [path]
           Print the list of interpreters that will be tried in sequence when
           attempting to execute path, one per line.  The first one for which
           execvp(3) succeeds will be used.

           Note that if multiple formats match an executable, then the order
           is in general not defined, and may not be preserved between
           update-binfmts operations, so you should generally try to ensure
           that this option prints at most one line for any given path.  The
           exception to this is that any format with a userspace detector will
           be run before any format without a userspace detector.

   BINARY FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS
     --magic byte-sequence
           This matches all files with the magic number byte-sequence.  Hexa-
           decimal escapes may be included in the byte-sequence by preceding
           them with \x, for example '\x0a' for a linefeed.  Remember to pro-
           tect such escapes with quotes or an additional backslash to prevent
           their interpretation by the shell.

           Also see --offset and --mask.

     --offset offset
           This is the offset of the magic/mask in the file, counted in bytes.
           The default is 0.  Only valid with --magic.

     --mask byte-sequence
           This mask will be logically-ANDed with the string to be checked
           against the magic number given with --magic.  The default is all
           0xff, i.e. no effect.  Only valid with --magic.

     --extension extension
           This matches all files whose names end in ".extension".  Hexadeci-
           mal escapes are not recognized here.  Extension matching is case-
           sensitive.

     --detector path
           If this option is used, a userspace detector program will be used
           to check whether the file is suitable for this interpreter.  This
           may be used when the binary format is more complex than can be han-
           dled by the kernel's format specifications alone.  The program
           should return an exit code of zero if the file is appropriate and
           non-zero otherwise.  This option cannot be used together with
           --fix-binary yes.

     --credentials yes, --credentials no
           Whether to keep the credentials of the original binary to run the
           interpreter; this is typically useful to run setuid binaries, but
           has security implications.

     --preserve yes, --preserve no
           Whether to preserve the original argv[0] when running the inter-
           preter, rather than overwriting it with the full path to the bi-
           nary.

     --fix-binary yes, --fix-binary no
           Whether to open the interpreter binary immediately and always use
           the opened image.  This allows the interpreter from the host to be
           used regardless of usage in chroots or different mount namespaces.
           The default behaviour is no, meaning that the kernel should open
           the interpreter binary lazily when needed.  This option requires
           Linux 4.8 or newer.  It cannot be used together with --detector, or
           with multiple binary formats that share the same magic number,
           since the kernel will only open a single interpreter binary which
           will then not be able to detect and execute the real interpreter
           from inside a chroot or from a different mount namespace.

   FORMAT FILES
     A format file is a sequence of options, one per line, corresponding
     roughly to the options given to an --install command.  Each option con-
     sists of a key, followed by whitespace, followed by a value.

     The package option should be set to the current package.  The interpreter
     option should be set to the path to the interpreter that will handle this
     binary format.  The magic, offset, mask, extension, detector,
     credentials, preserve, and fix_binary options correspond to the command-
     line options of the same names.

EXIT STATUS
     0     The requested action was successfully performed.

     2     Problems were encountered whilst parsing the command line or per-
           forming the action.

EXAMPLES
     This format file can be used with an interpreter capable of handling Java
     .class files:

         package javawrapper
         interpreter /usr/bin/javawrapper
         magic \xca\xfe\xba\xbe

     This corresponds roughly to the following command:

         update-binfmts --package javawrapper \
             --install javawrapper /usr/bin/javawrapper \
             --magic '\xca\xfe\xba\xbe'

NOTES
     If you're not careful, you can break your system with update-binfmts.  An
     easy way to do this is to register an ELF binary as a handler for ELF,
     which will almost certainly cause your system to hang immediately; even
     if it doesn't, you won't be able to run update-binfmts to fix it.  In the
     future update-binfmts may have some checks to prevent this sort of thing
     happening accidentally, though of course you can still manipulate the
     binfmt_misc kernel module directly.

AUTHOR
     update-binfmts is copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
     2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>.  See the
     GNU General Public License version 3 or later for copying conditions.

     You can find the GNU GPL v3 in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3 on any
     modern Debian system.

     Richard Guenther wrote the binfmt_misc kernel module.

THANKS
     Ian Jackson wrote update-alternatives and dpkg-divert, from which this
     program borrows heavily.

Debian                         January 24, 2011                         Debian

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