intro - Linux Command - Unix Command

Linux

Filed In:

Linux

Linux / Unix Command: intro

Command Library

NAME

intro - Introduction to system calls

DESCRIPTION

This chapter describes the Linux system calls. For a list of the 164 syscalls present in Linux 2.0, see syscalls(2).

Calling Directly

In most cases, it is unnecessary to invoke a system call directly, but there are times when the Standard C library does not implement a nice function call for you.

Synopsis

#include <linux/unistd.h>

A _syscall macro

desired system call

Setup

The important thing to know about a system call is its prototype. You need to know how many arguments, their types, and the function return type. There are six macros that make the actual call into the system easier. They have the form:

_syscallX(type,name,type1,arg1,type2,arg2,...)

: where X is 0-5, which are the number of arguments taken by the system call
type is the return type of the system call
name is the name of the system call
typeN is the Nth argument's type
argN is the name of the Nth argument

These macros create a function called name with the arguments you specify. Once you include the _syscall() in your source file, you call the system call by name.

EXAMPLE


#include <stdio.h>
#include <linux/unistd.h>       /* for _syscallX macros/related stuff */
#include <linux/kernel.h>       /* for struct sysinfo */

_syscall1(int, sysinfo, struct sysinfo *, info);

/* Note: if you copy directly from the nroff source, remember to
REMOVE the extra backslashes in the printf statement. */

int main(void)
{
        struct sysinfo s_info;
        int error;

        error = sysinfo(&s_info);
        printf("code error = %d\n", error);
        printf("Uptime = %ds\nLoad: 1 min %d / 5 min %d / 15 min %d\n"
                "RAM: total %d / free %d / shared %d\n"
                "Memory in buffers = %d\nSwap: total %d / free %d\n"
                "Number of processes = %d\n",
                s_info.uptime, s_info.loads[0],
                s_info.loads[1], s_info.loads[2],
                s_info.totalram, s_info.freeram,
                s_info.sharedram, s_info.bufferram,
                s_info.totalswap, s_info.freeswap,
                s_info.procs);
        return(0);
}

Sample Output

code error = 0
uptime = 502034s
Load: 1 min 13376 / 5 min 5504 / 15 min 1152
RAM: total 15343616 / free 827392 / shared 8237056
Memory in buffers = 5066752
Swap: total 27881472 / free 24698880
Number of processes = 40