64bit binaries

[Michael Dalanek]

Hi,

how can you tell if a binary is 64bit - if it was compiled as a 64bit executable ?

[Stefan Farrelly]

Use the file command on the executable to see its type. If it comes back with;

ELF-64 executable object file - PA-RISC 2.0 (LP64)

Then it was compiled as a 64bit executable. If not it will say something like;

PA-RISC1.1 shared executable dynamically linked
or
PA-RISC2.0 shared executable dynamically linked -not stripped

[Michael Dalanek]

Hi Stefan,

thanks for the quick reply. Howcome then all the binaries in /bin and /usr/sbin are all PA-RISC1.1 and not 64bit on my HP-UX 11/64bit servers ?

[Stefan Farrelly · Accepted solution]

Thats a very good question. I guess saying your HP-UX 11/64 bit servers are 64bit means they are 64bit capable - not that HP has ported all their OS commands and apps to 64bit.

I guess that as 64bit HP-UX is binary compatible with the older versions and the huge amount of work that would be involved if HP recompiled all their binaries to 64bit and then tested them rigorously, so they decided to keep them all as the tried and tested 32bit binaries.

Hopefully someone from HP more knowledgeable on this subject can provide some insight.