Editing Vmlinux (section)

{{Short description|Executable file containing the Linux kernel}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2012}}

[[Image:Linux-kernel-vmlinux.png|right|thumb|Linux kernel boot and decompression process]]

'''<code>vmlinux</code>''' is a [[static library|statically linked]] [[executable]] file that contains the [[Linux kernel]] in one of the [[object file]] formats supported by Linux, which includes [[Executable and Linkable Format]] (ELF) and [[Common Object File Format]] (COFF). The <code>vmlinux</code> file might be required for kernel [[debugging]], [[symbol table]] generation or other operations, but must be made bootable before being used as an [[operating system kernel]] by adding a [[Multiboot Specification|multiboot]] header, [[bootsector]] and setup routines.