readelf error: not an elf file, wrong magic bytes at the start

Question

I am trying to learn and use Elfreader by compiling a simple hello world program to a elf file as-

gcc -o test test.c

The file compiles correctly and runs perfect. But when I try to run ReadElf on it by

readelf -h test

it returns

readelf: Error: Not and ELF file - it has the wrong magic bytes at the start

What do you think I am doing wrong, or is there a problem with my linker script? Let me know if you need any additional info from me.

It was pretty dumb question from my part. The answer is pretty straight forward (Or I should say the question did not specify that I was using a Windows-Cygwin environment). I was using cygwin on Windows. The executable thus produced was a .exe and not an ELF format file. Obviously readelf returned that error since undertaken file is not a valid ELF. — Steve H, Jun 28 '13 at 04:31

score -1 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 10 '19 at 08:41

-1

You can check file format type follow as :

$ objdump -t hello.exe

hello.exe: file format pei-i386

Maybe I guess your file is not elf format.

edited Apr 10 '19 at 08:41

EzLo

answered Apr 10 '19 at 08:24

LinuxBeginner

1 Answers1