https://ndless.pages.dev/ Recent content on F4ult Hugo en-us Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:26:17 +0530 https://ndless.pages.dev/posts/what-happens-when-you-run-an-executable-file/ Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:26:17 +0530 https://ndless.pages.dev/posts/what-happens-when-you-run-an-executable-file/ <h3 id="what-is-an-executable-really">What is an executable really?</h3> <p>An executable file is a bunch of machine code instructions packed into a structure that your operating systems understand. Every OS has its own way of representing instructions, which is why you cannot run programs compiled for Linux on Windows and vice versa. Executable files in Windows and Linux follow the PE(portable executable) and ELF(Executable and Linkable Format) formats respectively. We will be looking at ELF files today.</p>