Mono(tm) Binary Kernel Support for Linux
-----------------------------------------
To configure Linux to automatically execute Mono-based .NET binaries
(in the form of .exe files) without the need to use the mono CLR
wrapper, you can use the BINFMT_MISC kernel support.
This will allow you to execute Mono-based .NET binaries just like any
other program after you have done the following:
1) You MUST FIRST install the Mono CLR support, either by downloading
a binary package, a source tarball or by installing from Git. Binary
packages for several distributions can be found at:
https://www.mono-project.com/download/
Instructions for compiling Mono can be found at:
https://www.mono-project.com/docs/compiling-mono/linux/
Once the Mono CLR support has been installed, just check that
``/usr/bin/mono`` (which could be located elsewhere, for example
``/usr/local/bin/mono``) is working.
2) You have to compile BINFMT_MISC either as a module or into
the kernel (``CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC``) and set it up properly.
If you choose to compile it as a module, you will have
to insert it manually with modprobe/insmod, as kmod
cannot be easily supported with binfmt_misc.
Read the file ``binfmt_misc.txt`` in this directory to know
more about the configuration process.
3) Add the following entries to ``/etc/rc.local`` or similar script
to be run at system startup:
.. code-block:: sh
# Insert BINFMT_MISC module into the kernel
if [ ! -e /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register ]; then
/sbin/modprobe binfmt_misc
# Some distributions, like Fedora Core, perform
# the following command automatically when the
# binfmt_misc module is loaded into the kernel
# or during normal boot up (systemd-based systems).
# Thus, it is possible that the following line
# is not needed at all.
mount -t binfmt_misc none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
fi
# Register support for .NET CLR binaries
if [ -e /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register ]; then
# Replace /usr/bin/mono with the correct pathname to
# the Mono CLR runtime (usually /usr/local/bin/mono
# when compiling from sources or CVS).
echo ':CLR:M::MZ::/usr/bin/mono:' > /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register
else
echo "No binfmt_misc support"
exit 1
fi
4) Check that ``.exe`` binaries can be ran without the need of a
wrapper script, simply by launching the ``.exe`` file directly
from a command prompt, for example::
/usr/bin/xsd.exe
.. note::
If this fails with a permission denied error, check
that the ``.exe`` file has execute permissions.
