Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
System call. A high-level overview of the Linux kernel's system call interface, which handles communication between its various components and the userspace. In computing, a system call (commonly abbreviated to syscall) is the programmatic way in which a computer program requests a service from the operating system [a] on which it is executed.
This article describes the calling conventions used when programming x86 architecture microprocessors. Calling conventions describe the interface of called code: The order in which atomic (scalar) parameters, or individual parts of a complex parameter, are allocated. How parameters are passed (pushed on the stack, placed in registers, or a mix ...
fork (system call) In computing, an operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself. In computing, particularly in the context of the Unix operating system and its workalikes, fork is an operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself. It is an interface which is required for compliance with the POSIX and Single UNIX Specification ...
exec (system call) In computing, exec is a functionality of an operating system that runs an executable file in the context of an already existing process, replacing the previous executable. This act is also referred to as an overlay. It is especially important in Unix-like systems, although it also exists elsewhere.
read (system call) In modern POSIX compliant operating systems, a program that needs to access data from a file stored in a file system uses the read system call. The file is identified by a file descriptor that is normally obtained from a previous call to open. This system call reads in data in bytes, the number of which is specified by the ...
stat command line. stat () is a Unix system call that returns file attributes about an inode. The semantics of stat () vary between operating systems. As an example, Unix command ls uses this system call to retrieve information on files that includes: atime: time of last access (ls -lu) mtime: time of last modification (ls -l)
write (system call) The write is one of the most basic routines provided by a Unix-like operating system kernel. It writes data from a buffer declared by the user to a given device, such as a file. This is the primary way to output data from a program by directly using a system call. The destination is identified by a numeric code.
The sleep library function, on the other hand, is implemented via the alarm syscall on many older systems, thus it only works by delivering a signal. The Windows Sleep function is non-interruptible due to absence of signals (other than the thread or its process being terminated), although the related SleepEx function can be used to put the ...