How to convert ELF file to binary file? - elf

Question

My understanding is that a binary file is the hex-codes of the instructions of the processor (can be loaded into memory & start executing from entry point) and a ELF file is the same with NO-Fixed memory addresses assigned for data etc...
Now, how can I convert ELF to binary?
How the conversion works? I mean how the memory addresses are assigned?

Answer 1

In general
An ELF file does not need to use "NO-Fixed memory addresses". In fact, the typical ELF executable file (ET_EXEC) is using a fixed address.
A binary file is usually understood as a file containing non-text data. In the context of programs, it is usually understood to mean the compiled form of the program (in opposition to the source form which is usually a bunch of text files). ELF file are binary files.
Now you might want to know how the ELF file is transformed into the in-memory-representation of the program: the ELF file contains additional information such as where in the program (virtual) address-space each segment of the program should be loaded, which dynamic-libraries should be loaded, how to link the main program and the dynamic libraries together, how to initialise the program, where is the entry point of the program, etc.
One important part of an executable or shared-object is the location of the segments which must be loaded into the program address space. You can look at them using readelf -l:
$ readelf -l /bin/bash
Elf file type is EXEC (Executable file)
Entry point 0x4205bc
There are 9 program headers, starting at offset 64
Program Headers:
Type Offset VirtAddr PhysAddr
FileSiz MemSiz Flags Align
PHDR 0x0000000000000040 0x0000000000400040 0x0000000000400040
0x00000000000001f8 0x00000000000001f8 R E 8
INTERP 0x0000000000000238 0x0000000000400238 0x0000000000400238
0x000000000000001c 0x000000000000001c R 1
[Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]
LOAD 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000400000 0x0000000000400000
0x00000000000f1a74 0x00000000000f1a74 R E 200000
LOAD 0x00000000000f1de0 0x00000000006f1de0 0x00000000006f1de0
0x0000000000009068 0x000000000000f298 RW 200000
DYNAMIC 0x00000000000f1df8 0x00000000006f1df8 0x00000000006f1df8
0x0000000000000200 0x0000000000000200 RW 8
NOTE 0x0000000000000254 0x0000000000400254 0x0000000000400254
0x0000000000000044 0x0000000000000044 R 4
GNU_EH_FRAME 0x00000000000d6af0 0x00000000004d6af0 0x00000000004d6af0
0x000000000000407c 0x000000000000407c R 4
GNU_STACK 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 RW 10
GNU_RELRO 0x00000000000f1de0 0x00000000006f1de0 0x00000000006f1de0
0x0000000000000220 0x0000000000000220 R 1
Each LOAD (PT_LOAD) entry describes a segment which must be loaded in the program address-space.
Reading and processing this information is the job of the ELF loaders: on your typical OS this is done in part by the kernel and in part by the dynamic-linker (ld.so, also called "program interpreter" in ELF parlance).
ARM plain binary files
(I don't really known about ARM stuff.)
You're apparently talking about embedded platforms. On ARM, a plain binary file contains the raw content of the initial memory of the program. It does not contain things such as string tables, symbol tables, relocation tables, debug informations but only the data of the (PT_LOAD) segments.
It is a binary file, not hex-encoded. The vhx files are hex-encoded.
Plain binary files can be generated from the ELF files with fromelf.
The basic idea here is that each PT_LOAD entry of a ELF file is dumped at its correct position in the file and remaining gaps (if any) between them are filled with zeros.
The ELF file already has addresses assigned in the p_vaddr field of each segment so this conversion process does not need to determine addresses: this has already been done by the link editor (and the linker script).
References
ARM ELF file format

Answer 2

I came here while searching for "convert .elf into binary file" (with arm files in mind, though).
It turned out that the easiest way in my case was to use
arm-none-eabi-objcopy -O binary kernel.elf kernel.bin

Answer 3

I do not understand what do you want to say but ELF(Executable Linkable format) is a new executable format. ofcourse its sections including .text need to be mapped in memory for execution. but if you want to convert ELF into binary check what is the difference between ELF files and bin files. some answers contain information how to change ELF into other binary format
in order to clear how ELF is loaded into memory check http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=elf. if you have still some problems come with specific question.