Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mtunx!whuts!homxb!genesis!hotlr!dkc
From: dkc@hotlr.ATT (Dave Cornutt)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re:  Reading VAX SID register on ultrix or 4.3bsd
Message-ID: <337@hotlr.ATT>
Date: 25 Apr 88 14:45:13 GMT
References: <13089@brl-adm.ARPA>
Reply-To: dkc@hotlr.UUCP (Dave Cornutt)
Organization: Not much, but I'm working on it
Lines: 25
Keywords: syscall kenel variable

In article <13089@brl-adm.ARPA> chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) writes:
 > I was not railing *against* the `get interesting kernel variable'
 > syscalls, I was railing *for* them.
 > ...
 > It would be nice, though, if it did not take a horrendous number
 > of syscall table entries to describe all the interesting kernel
 > variables; I argued for a call of the form
 > 
 > 	get_kernel_variable(int variable_index)
 > 
 > I still think this should be done.

Yep, a lot of stuff like getpagesize and getdtablesize could be
sucked up into this.  Define a bunch of indices in an include file
for naming the variables (it might be a good idea to divide them
into hardware-independent and hardware-dependent partitions, with
plenty of numbers reserved for future use in both).  You might
also want to make the syscall take a pointer to an area where
it can deposit the value, so it can return string and structure
items instead of just ints.
-- 
Dave Cornutt, AT&T Bell Labs (rm 4A406,x1088), Holmdel, NJ
UUCP:{ihnp4,allegra,cbosgd}!hotly!dkc
"The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily my employer's, not
necessarily mine, and probably not necessary"