For a quick and dirty introduction to the format, see: ELF Hello World Tutorial.
Extracted from this Stack Overflow answer.
ELF is specified by the LSB:
The LSB basically links to other standards with minor extensions, in particular:
- Generic (both by SCO):
- System V ABI 4.1 (1997) www.sco.com/developers/devspecs/gabi41.pdf, no 64 bit, although a magic number is reserved for it. Same for core files. This is the first document you should look at when searching for information.
- System V ABI Update DRAFT 17 (2003) www.sco.com/developers/gabi/2003-12-17/contents.html, adds 64 bit. Only updates chapters 4 and 5 of the previous document: the others remain valid and are still referenced.
- Architecture specific (by the processor vendor):
A handy summary can be found at:
man elfSpin like mad between:
- standards
- high level generators. We use the assembler
asand linkerld. - hexdumps
- file decompilers. We use
readelf. It makes it faster to read the ELF file by turning it into human readable output. But you must have seen one byte-by-byte example first, and think howreadelfoutput maps to the standard. - low-level generators: stand-alone libraries that let you control every field of the ELF files you generated. github.com/BR903/ELFkickers, github.com/sqall01/ZwoELF and many more on GitHub.
- consumer: the
execsystem call of the Linux kernel can parse ELF files to starts processes: github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/v4.11/fs/binfmt_elf.c, stackoverflow.com/questions/8352535/how-does-kernel-get-an-executable-binary-file-running-under-linux/31394861#31394861
The ELF standard specifies multiple file formats:
- Object files (
.o).Intermediate step to generating executables and other formats:Source code | | Compilation | v Object file | | Linking | v ExecutableObject files exist to make compilation faster: withmake, we only have to recompile the modified source files based on timestamps.
- Executable files (no standard Linux extension).This is what the Linux kernel can actually run.
- Archive files (
.a).Libraries meant to be embedded into executables during the Linking step.
- Shared object files (
.so).Libraries meant to be loaded when the executable starts running.
- Core dumps.Such files may be generated by the Linux kernel when the program does naughty things, e.g. segfault.They exist to help debugging the program.
In this tutorial, we consider only object and executable files.
- Compiler toolchains generate and read ELF files.
- Operating systems read and run ELF files.
- Specialized libraries. Examples:
Video with a solid color:
- 2 second white video:Also add some audio:
ffplay -autoexit -f lavfi -i 'color=white:640x480:d=3,format=rgb24,trim=end=2'TODO how to ffplay the video + audio directly?ffmpeg -lavfi "color=white:640x480:d=3,format=rgb24,trim=end=2[v];sine=f=1000:d=2[a]" -map '[a]' -map '[v]' out.mkv-mapdoes not seem to work unfortunately. - 2 second white followed by 2 second black video:
ffplay -autoexit -f lavfi -i 'color=white:640x480:d=3,format=rgb24,trim=end=2[a];color=black:640x480:d=3,format=rgb24,trim=end=2[b];[a][b]concat=n=2:v=1:a=0' - bibliography:
Display count in seconds on the video:
- black text on white background. Start from 0 and count up to 2:
ffplay -autoexit -f lavfi -i " color=white:480x480:d=3, format=rgb24, drawtext= fontcolor=black: fontsize=600: text='%{eif\:t\:d}': x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2 " - count 0 to 2 with one different sine wave per count:
ffmpeg -lavfi " color=white:480x480:d=3, format=rgb24, drawtext= fontcolor=black: fontsize=600: text='%{eif\:t\:d}': x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2[v]; sine=f=500:d=1[a1]; sine=f=1000:d=1[a2]; sine=f=2000:d=1[a3]; [a1][a2][a3]concat=n=3:v=0:a=1[a]; " -map '[v]' -map '[a]' count.mkv - bibliography:
Bibliography:
- ffmpeg.org//ffmpeg-filters.html#Video-Sources main section of the documentation listing various video generators
- stackoverflow.com/questions/11640458/how-can-i-generate-a-video-file-directly-from-an-ffmpeg-filter-with-no-actual-in generically asking how to generate the video without an input video
It is non-trivial to determine what is the smallest legal ELF file, or the smaller one that will do something trivial in Linux.
Some impressive attempts:
hello_world.asm
section .data
hello_world db "Hello world!", 10
hello_world_len equ $ - hello_world
section .text
global _start
_start:
mov rax, 1
mov rdi, 1
mov rsi, hello_world
mov rdx, hello_world_len
syscall
mov rax, 60
mov rdi, 0
syscallCompiled with:
nasm -w+all -f elf64 -o 'hello_world.o' 'hello_world.asm'
ld -o 'hello_world.out' 'hello_world.o'Running:gives:
hd hello_world.o00000000 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |.ELF............|
00000010 01 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..>.............|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |........@.......|
00000030 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 07 00 03 00 |....@.....@.....|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000080 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000090 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000a0 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000b0 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000c0 07 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000e0 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |'...............|
000000f0 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000100 0d 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000110 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 |........@.......|
00000120 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |2...............|
00000130 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000140 17 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000150 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000160 a8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 |................|
00000170 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000180 1f 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000190 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 |........0.......|
000001a0 34 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |4...............|
000001b0 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001c0 27 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |'...............|
000001d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 70 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 |........p.......|
000001e0 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000200 48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f 72 6c 64 21 0a 00 00 00 |Hello world!....|
00000210 b8 01 00 00 00 bf 01 00 00 00 48 be 00 00 00 00 |..........H.....|
00000220 00 00 00 00 ba 0d 00 00 00 0f 05 b8 3c 00 00 00 |............<...|
00000230 bf 00 00 00 00 0f 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000240 00 2e 64 61 74 61 00 2e 74 65 78 74 00 2e 73 68 |..data..text..sh|
00000250 73 74 72 74 61 62 00 2e 73 79 6d 74 61 62 00 2e |strtab..symtab..|
00000260 73 74 72 74 61 62 00 2e 72 65 6c 61 2e 74 65 78 |strtab..rela.tex|
00000270 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |t...............|
00000280 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000290 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 04 00 f1 ff |................|
000002a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002b0 00 00 00 00 03 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 02 00 |................|
000002d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002e0 11 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d 00 00 00 00 00 f1 ff |................|
00000300 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000310 2d 00 00 00 10 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |-...............|
00000320 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000330 00 68 65 6c 6c 6f 5f 77 6f 72 6c 64 2e 61 73 6d |.hello_world.asm|
00000340 00 68 65 6c 6c 6f 5f 77 6f 72 6c 64 00 68 65 6c |.hello_world.hel|
00000350 6c 6f 5f 77 6f 72 6c 64 5f 6c 65 6e 00 5f 73 74 |lo_world_len._st|
00000360 61 72 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |art.............|
00000370 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 |................|
00000380 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000390Running:gives:
hd hello_world.out00000000 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |.ELF............|
00000010 02 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00 b0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 |..>.......@.....|
00000020 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@...............|
00000030 00 00 00 00 40 00 38 00 02 00 40 00 06 00 03 00 |....@.8...@.....|
00000040 01 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000050 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 |..@.......@.....|
00000060 d7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 d7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000070 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 |.. .............|
00000080 d8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 d8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 |..........`.....|
00000090 d8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..`.............|
000000a0 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 |.......... .....|
000000b0 b8 01 00 00 00 bf 01 00 00 00 48 be d8 00 60 00 |..........H...`.|
000000c0 00 00 00 00 ba 0d 00 00 00 0f 05 b8 3c 00 00 00 |............<...|
000000d0 bf 00 00 00 00 0f 05 00 48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f |........Hello wo|
000000e0 72 6c 64 21 0a 00 2e 73 79 6d 74 61 62 00 2e 73 |rld!...symtab..s|
000000f0 74 72 74 61 62 00 2e 73 68 73 74 72 74 61 62 00 |trtab..shstrtab.|
00000100 2e 74 65 78 74 00 2e 64 61 74 61 00 00 00 00 00 |.text..data.....|
00000110 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000150 1b 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000160 b0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..@.............|
00000170 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |'...............|
00000180 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000190 21 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |!...............|
000001a0 d8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 d8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..`.............|
000001b0 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001c0 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001d0 11 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |'...............|
00000200 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000210 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000220 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 90 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000230 08 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 |................|
00000240 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000250 09 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000260 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 98 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000270 4c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |L...............|
00000280 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000290 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 01 00 |................|
000002b0 b0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..@.............|
000002c0 00 00 00 00 03 00 02 00 d8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 |..........`.....|
000002d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 04 00 f1 ff |................|
000002e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000002f0 11 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 d8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 |..........`.....|
00000300 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d 00 00 00 00 00 f1 ff |................|
00000310 0d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000320 00 00 00 00 04 00 f1 ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000330 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 2d 00 00 00 10 00 01 00 |........-.......|
00000340 b0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..@.............|
00000350 34 00 00 00 10 00 02 00 e5 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 |4.........`.....|
00000360 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 10 00 02 00 |........@.......|
00000370 e5 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..`.............|
00000380 47 00 00 00 10 00 02 00 e8 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 |G.........`.....|
00000390 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 68 65 6c 6c 6f 5f 77 |.........hello_w|
000003a0 6f 72 6c 64 2e 61 73 6d 00 68 65 6c 6c 6f 5f 77 |orld.asm.hello_w|
000003b0 6f 72 6c 64 00 68 65 6c 6c 6f 5f 77 6f 72 6c 64 |orld.hello_world|
000003c0 5f 6c 65 6e 00 5f 73 74 61 72 74 00 5f 5f 62 73 |_len._start.__bs|
000003d0 73 5f 73 74 61 72 74 00 5f 65 64 61 74 61 00 5f |s_start._edata._|
000003e0 65 6e 64 00 |end.|
000003e4An ELF file contains the following parts:
- ELF header. Points to the position of the section header table and the program header table.
- Section header table (optional on executable). Each has
e_shnumsection headers, each pointing to the position of a section. - N sections, with
N <= e_shnum(optional on executable) - Program header table (only on executable). Each has
e_phnumprogram headers, each pointing to the position of a segment. - N segments, with
N <= e_phnum(only on executable)
The order of those parts is not fixed: the only fixed thing is the ELF header that must be the first thing on the file: Generic docs say:
In pictures: sample object file with three sections:
+-------------------+
| ELF header |---+
+---------> +-------------------+ | e_shoff
| | |<--+
| Section | Section header 0 |
| | |---+ sh_offset
| Header +-------------------+ |
| | Section header 1 |---|--+ sh_offset
| Table +-------------------+ | |
| | Section header 2 |---|--|--+
+---------> +-------------------+ | | |
| Section 0 |<--+ | |
+-------------------+ | | sh_offset
| Section 1 |<-----+ |
+-------------------+ |
| Section 2 |<--------+
+-------------------+But nothing (except sanity) prevents the following topology:
+-------------------+
| ELF header |---+ e_shoff
+-------------------+ |
| Section 1 |<--|--+
+---------> +-------------------+ | |
| | |<--+ | sh_offset
| Section | Section header 0 | |
| | |------|---------+
| Header +-------------------+ | |
| | Section header 1 |------+ |
| Table +-------------------+ |
| | Section header 2 |---+ | sh_offset
+---------> +-------------------+ | sh_offset |
| Section 2 |<--+ |
+-------------------+ |
| Section 0 |<---------------+
+-------------------+But some newbies may prefer PNGs :-)
- section: exists before linking, in object files.Major information sections contain for the linker: is this section:
- segment: exists after linking, in the executable file.Contains information about how each segment should be loaded into memory by the OS, notably location and permissions.
Running:outputs:
readelf -h hello_world.oMagic: 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Class: ELF64
Data: 2's complement, little endian
Version: 1 (current)
OS/ABI: UNIX - System V
ABI Version: 0
Type: REL (Relocatable file)
Machine: Advanced Micro Devices X86-64
Version: 0x1
Entry point address: 0x0
Start of program headers: 0 (bytes into file)
Start of section headers: 64 (bytes into file)
Flags: 0x0
Size of this header: 64 (bytes)
Size of program headers: 0 (bytes)
Number of program headers: 0
Size of section headers: 64 (bytes)
Number of section headers: 7
Section header string table index: 3Running:outputs:
readelf -h hello_world.outMagic: 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Class: ELF64
Data: 2's complement, little endian
Version: 1 (current)
OS/ABI: UNIX - System V
ABI Version: 0
Type: EXEC (Executable file)
Machine: Advanced Micro Devices X86-64
Version: 0x1
Entry point address: 0x4000b0
Start of program headers: 64 (bytes into file)
Start of section headers: 272 (bytes into file)
Flags: 0x0
Size of this header: 64 (bytes)
Size of program headers: 56 (bytes)
Number of program headers: 2
Size of section headers: 64 (bytes)
Number of section headers: 6
Section header string table index: 3Bytes in the object file:
00000000 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |.ELF............|
00000010 01 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..>.............|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |........@.......|
00000030 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 07 00 03 00 |....@.....@.....|Executable:
00000000 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |.ELF............|
00000010 02 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00 b0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 |..>.......@.....|
00000020 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@...............|
00000030 00 00 00 00 40 00 38 00 02 00 40 00 06 00 03 00 |....@.8...@.....|Structure represented:
# define EI_NIDENT 16
typedef struct {
unsigned char e_ident[EI_NIDENT];
Elf64_Half e_type;
Elf64_Half e_machine;
Elf64_Word e_version;
Elf64_Addr e_entry;
Elf64_Off e_phoff;
Elf64_Off e_shoff;
Elf64_Word e_flags;
Elf64_Half e_ehsize;
Elf64_Half e_phentsize;
Elf64_Half e_phnum;
Elf64_Half e_shentsize;
Elf64_Half e_shnum;
Elf64_Half e_shstrndx;
} Elf64_Ehdr;Manual breakdown:
- 0 0:
EI_MAG=7f 45 4c 46=0x7f 'E', 'L', 'F': ELF magic number - 0 4:
EI_CLASS=02=ELFCLASS64: 64 bit elf - 0 5:
EI_DATA=01=ELFDATA2LSB: little endian data - 0 6:
EI_VERSION=01: format version - 0 7:
EI_OSABI(only in 2003 Update) =00=ELFOSABI_NONE: no extensions. - 0 8:
EI_PAD= 8x00: reserved bytes. Must be set to 0. - On the executable it is
02 00forET_EXEC.Another important possibility for the executable isET_DYNfor PIE executables and shared libraries.ET_DYNtells the Linux kernel that the code is position independent, and can loaded at a random memory location with ASLR. - 1 2:
e_machine=3e 00=62=EM_X86_64: AMD64 architecture - 1 4:
e_version=01 00 00 00: must be 1 - 1 8:
e_entry= 8x00: execution address entry point, or 0 if not applicable like for the object file since there is no entry point.On the executable, it isb0 00 40 00 00 00 00 00. The kernel puts the RIP directly on that value when executing. It can be configured by the linker script or-e. But it will segfault if you set it too low: stackoverflow.com/questions/2187484/why-is-the-elf-execution-entry-point-virtual-address-of-the-form-0x80xxxxx-and-n 40 00 00 00on the executable, i.e. it starts immediately after the ELF header.- 2 8:
e_shoff=407x00=0x40: section header table file offset, 0 if not present. The Intel386 architecture defines no flags; so this member contains zero.
- 3 4:
e_ehsize=40 00: size of this elf header. TODO why this field needed? Isn't the size fixed? 38 00on executable: it is 56 bytes long02 00on executable: there are 2 entries.- 3 A:
e_shentsizeande_shnum=40 00 07 00: section header size and number of entries - 3 E:
e_shstrndx(Section Header STRing iNDeX) =03 00: index of the.shstrtabsection.
Contained in bytes 0x40 to 0x7F.
The first section is always magic: www.sco.com/developers/gabi/2003-12-17/ch4.sheader.html says:
If the number of sections is greater than or equal to SHN_LORESERVE (0xff00), e_shnum has the value SHN_UNDEF (0) and the actual number of section header table entries is contained in the sh_size field of the section header at index 0 (otherwise, the sh_size member of the initial entry contains 0).
There are also other magic sections detailed in
Figure 4-7: Special Section Indexes. Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.
Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.
Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. 
- Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact