EXECVE(2) Linux Programmer's Manual EXECVE(2)
NAME
execve - execute program
SYNOPSIS
#include
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 environment
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 inter-
preter 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 supe-
ruser, 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 can-
not 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 can-
not 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 docu-
ment 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.
HISTORICAL
With Unix V6 the argument list of an exec call was ended by 0, while
the argument list of main was ended by -1. Thus, this argument list
was not directly usable in a further exec call. Since Unix V7 both
are NULL.
SEE ALSO
chmod(2), fork(2), execl(3), environ(5), ld.so(8)
Linux 2.0.30 1997-09-03 EXECVE(2)
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