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.