2.3.1 Interpreters

With an interpreter, the language comes as an environment, where you type in commands at a prompt and the environment executes them for you. For more complicated programs, you can type the commands into a file and get the interpreter to load the file and execute the commands in it. If anything goes wrong, many interpreters will drop you into a debugger to help you track down the problem.

The advantage of this is that you can see the results of your commands immediately, and mistakes can be corrected readily. The biggest disadvantage comes when you want to share your programs with someone. They must have the same interpreter, or you must have some way of giving it to them, and they need to understand how to use it. Also users may not appreciate being thrown into a debugger if they press the wrong key! From a performance point of view, interpreters can use up a lot of memory, and generally do not generate code as efficiently as compilers.

In my opinion, interpreted languages are the best way to start if you have not done any programming before. This kind of environment is typically found with languages like Lisp, Smalltalk, Perl and Basic. It could also be argued that the UNIX shell (sh, csh) is itself an interpreter, and many people do in fact write shell “scripts” to help with various “housekeeping” tasks on their machine. Indeed, part of the original UNIX philosophy was to provide lots of small utility programs that could be linked together in shell scripts to perform useful tasks.

2.3.2 Interpreters available with FreeBSD

Here is a list of interpreters that are available from the FreeBSD Ports Collection, with a brief discussion of some of the more popular interpreted languages.

Instructions on how to get and install applications from the Ports Collection can be found in the Ports section of the handbook.

2.3.3 Compilers

Compilers are rather different. First of all, you write your code in a file (or files) using an editor. You then run the compiler and see if it accepts your program. If it did not compile, grit your teeth and go back to the editor; if it did compile and gave you a program, you can run it either at a shell command prompt or in a debugger to see if it works properly. [1]

Obviously, this is not quite as direct as using an interpreter. However it allows you to do a lot of things which are very difficult or even impossible with an interpreter, such as writing code which interacts closely with the operating system--or even writing your own operating system! It is also useful if you need to write very efficient code, as the compiler can take its time and optimize the code, which would not be acceptable in an interpreter. Moreover, distributing a program written for a compiler is usually more straightforward than one written for an interpreter--you can just give them a copy of the executable, assuming they have the same operating system as you.

Compiled languages include Pascal, C and C++. C and C++ are rather unforgiving languages, and best suited to more experienced programmers; Pascal, on the other hand, was designed as an educational language, and is quite a good language to start with. FreeBSD does not include Pascal support in the base system, but both GNU Pascal Compiler (GPC) and the Free Pascal Compiler are available in the Ports Collection as lang/gpc and lang/fpc.

As the edit-compile-run-debug cycle is rather tedious when using separate programs, many commercial compiler makers have produced Integrated Development Environments (IDEs for short). FreeBSD does not include an IDE in the base system, but devel/kdevelop is available in the Ports Collection and many use Emacs for this purpose. Using Emacs as an IDE is discussed in Section 2.7.

2.4.1 Common cc Queries and Problems

/var/tmp/cc0143941.o: Undefined symbol `_sin' referenced from text segment
         

% cc -o foobar foobar.c -lm
         

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    float f;

    f = pow(2.1, 6);
    printf("2.1 ^ 6 = %f\n", f);
    return 0;
}
         

% cc temp.c -lm
         

% ./a.out
2.1 ^ 6 = 1023.000000
         

#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
...
         

% ./a.out
2.1 ^ 6 = 85.766121
         

% cc -o foobar foobar.c
         

bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:.
         

% ./test
         

% ps
       

% kill -ABRT pid
       

2.5.1 What is make?

When you are working on a simple program with only one or two source files, typing in

% cc file1.c file2.c

is not too bad, but it quickly becomes very tedious when there are several files--and it can take a while to compile, too.

One way to get around this is to use object files and only recompile the source file if the source code has changed. So we could have something like:

% cc file1.o file2.o ... file37.c ...

if we had changed file37.c, but not any of the others, since the last time we compiled. This may speed up the compilation quite a bit, but does not solve the typing problem.

Or we could write a shell script to solve the typing problem, but it would have to re-compile everything, making it very inefficient on a large project.

What happens if we have hundreds of source files lying about? What if we are working in a team with other people who forget to tell us when they have changed one of their source files that we use?

Perhaps we could put the two solutions together and write something like a shell script that would contain some kind of magic rule saying when a source file needs compiling. Now all we need now is a program that can understand these rules, as it is a bit too complicated for the shell.

This program is called make. It reads in a file, called a makefile, that tells it how different files depend on each other, and works out which files need to be re-compiled and which ones do not. For example, a rule could say something like “if fromboz.o is older than fromboz.c, that means someone must have changed fromboz.c, so it needs to be re-compiled.” The makefile also has rules telling make how to re-compile the source file, making it a much more powerful tool.

Makefiles are typically kept in the same directory as the source they apply to, and can be called makefile, Makefile or MAKEFILE. Most programmers use the name Makefile, as this puts it near the top of a directory listing, where it can easily be seen. [6]

2.5.2 Example of using make

Here is a very simple make file:

foo: foo.c
    cc -o foo foo.c

It consists of two lines, a dependency line and a creation line.

The dependency line here consists of the name of the program (known as the target), followed by a colon, then whitespace, then the name of the source file. When make reads this line, it looks to see if foo exists; if it exists, it compares the time foo was last modified to the time foo.c was last modified. If foo does not exist, or is older than foo.c, it then looks at the creation line to find out what to do. In other words, this is the rule for working out when foo.c needs to be re-compiled.

The creation line starts with a tab (press the tab key) and then the command you would type to create foo if you were doing it at a command prompt. If foo is out of date, or does not exist, make then executes this command to create it. In other words, this is the rule which tells make how to re-compile foo.c.

So, when you type make, it will make sure that foo is up to date with respect to your latest changes to foo.c. This principle can be extended to Makefiles with hundreds of targets--in fact, on FreeBSD, it is possible to compile the entire operating system just by typing make world in the appropriate directory!

Another useful property of makefiles is that the targets do not have to be programs. For instance, we could have a make file that looks like this:

foo: foo.c
    cc -o foo foo.c

install:
    cp foo /home/me

We can tell make which target we want to make by typing:

% make target

make will then only look at that target and ignore any others. For example, if we type make foo with the makefile above, make will ignore the install target.

If we just type make on its own, make will always look at the first target and then stop without looking at any others. So if we typed make here, it will just go to the foo target, re-compile foo if necessary, and then stop without going on to the install target.

Notice that the install target does not actually depend on anything! This means that the command on the following line is always executed when we try to make that target by typing make install. In this case, it will copy foo into the user's home directory. This is often used by application makefiles, so that the application can be installed in the correct directory when it has been correctly compiled.

This is a slightly confusing subject to try to explain. If you do not quite understand how make works, the best thing to do is to write a simple program like “hello world” and a make file like the one above and experiment. Then progress to using more than one source file, or having the source file include a header file. The touch command is very useful here--it changes the date on a file without you having to edit it.

2.5.3 Make and include-files

C code often starts with a list of files to include, for example stdio.h. Some of these files are system-include files, some of them are from the project you are now working on:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"

int main(....

To make sure that this file is recompiled the moment foo.h is changed, you have to add it in your Makefile:

foo: foo.c foo.h

The moment your project is getting bigger and you have more and more own include-files to maintain, it will be a pain to keep track of all include files and the files which are depending on it. If you change an include-file but forget to recompile all the files which are depending on it, the results will be devastating. gcc has an option to analyze your files and to produce a list of include-files and their dependencies: -MM.

If you add this to your Makefile:

depend:
    gcc -E -MM *.c > .depend

and run make depend, the file .depend will appear with a list of object-files, C-files and the include-files:

foo.o: foo.c foo.h

If you change foo.h, next time you run make all files depending on foo.h will be recompiled.

Do not forget to run make depend each time you add an include-file to one of your files.

2.5.4 FreeBSD Makefiles

Makefiles can be rather complicated to write. Fortunately, BSD-based systems like FreeBSD come with some very powerful ones as part of the system. One very good example of this is the FreeBSD ports system. Here is the essential part of a typical ports Makefile:

MASTER_SITES=   ftp://freefall.cdrom.com/pub/FreeBSD/LOCAL_PORTS/
DISTFILES=      scheme-microcode+dist-7.3-freebsd.tgz

.include <bsd.port.mk>

Now, if we go to the directory for this port and type make, the following happens:

Now I think you will agree that is rather impressive for a four line script!

The secret lies in the last line, which tells make to look in the system makefile called bsd.port.mk. It is easy to overlook this line, but this is where all the clever stuff comes from--someone has written a makefile that tells make to do all the things above (plus a couple of other things I did not mention, including handling any errors that may occur) and anyone can get access to that just by putting a single line in their own make file!

If you want to have a look at these system makefiles, they are in /usr/share/mk, but it is probably best to wait until you have had a bit of practice with makefiles, as they are very complicated (and if you do look at them, make sure you have a flask of strong coffee handy!)

2.5.5 More advanced uses of make

Make is a very powerful tool, and can do much more than the simple example above shows. Unfortunately, there are several different versions of make, and they all differ considerably. The best way to learn what they can do is probably to read the documentation--hopefully this introduction will have given you a base from which you can do this.

The version of make that comes with FreeBSD is the Berkeley make; there is a tutorial for it in /usr/share/doc/psd/12.make. To view it, do

% zmore paper.ascii.gz

in that directory.

Many applications in the ports use GNU make, which has a very good set of “info” pages. If you have installed any of these ports, GNU make will automatically have been installed as gmake. It is also available as a port and package in its own right.

To view the info pages for GNU make, you will have to edit the dir file in the /usr/local/info directory to add an entry for it. This involves adding a line like

 * Make: (make).                 The GNU Make utility.

to the file. Once you have done this, you can type info and then select make from the menu (or in Emacs, do C-h i).

2.6.1 The Debugger

The debugger that comes with FreeBSD is called gdb (GNU debugger). You start it up by typing

% gdb progname

although many people prefer to run it inside Emacs. You can do this by:

M-x gdb RET progname RET

Using a debugger allows you to run the program under more controlled circumstances. Typically, you can step through the program a line at a time, inspect the value of variables, change them, tell the debugger to run up to a certain point and then stop, and so on. You can even attach to a program that is already running, or load a core file to investigate why the program crashed. It is even possible to debug the kernel, though that is a little trickier than the user applications we will be discussing in this section.

gdb has quite good on-line help, as well as a set of info pages, so this section will concentrate on a few of the basic commands.

Finally, if you find its text-based command-prompt style off-putting, there is a graphical front-end for it (devel/xxgdb) in the Ports Collection.

This section is intended to be an introduction to using gdb and does not cover specialized topics such as debugging the kernel.

2.6.2 Running a program in the debugger

You will need to have compiled the program with the -g option to get the most out of using gdb. It will work without, but you will only see the name of the function you are in, instead of the source code. If you see a line like:

... (no debugging symbols found) ...

when gdb starts up, you will know that the program was not compiled with the -g option.

At the gdb prompt, type break main. This will tell the debugger that you are not interested in watching the preliminary set-up code in the program being run, and that it should stop execution at the beginning of your code. Now type run to start the program--it will start at the beginning of the set-up code and then get stopped by the debugger when it calls main(). (If you have ever wondered where main() gets called from, now you know!).

You can now step through the program, a line at a time, by pressing n. If you get to a function call, you can step into it by pressing s. Once you are in a function call, you can return from stepping into a function call by pressing f. You can also use up and down to take a quick look at the caller.

Here is a simple example of how to spot a mistake in a program with gdb. This is our program (with a deliberate mistake):

#include <stdio.h>

int bazz(int anint);

main() {
    int i;

    printf("This is my program\n");
    bazz(i);
    return 0;
}

int bazz(int anint) {
    printf("You gave me %d\n", anint);
    return anint;
}

This program sets i to be 5 and passes it to a function bazz() which prints out the number we gave it.

When we compile and run the program we get

% cc -g -o temp temp.c
% ./temp
This is my program
anint = 4231

That was not what we expected! Time to see what is going on!

% gdb temp
GDB is free software and you are welcome to distribute copies of it
 under certain conditions; type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB; type "show warranty" for details.
GDB 4.13 (i386-unknown-freebsd), Copyright 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
(gdb) break main               Skip the set-up code
Breakpoint 1 at 0x160f: file temp.c, line 9.    gdb puts breakpoint at main()
(gdb) run                   Run as far as main()
Starting program: /home/james/tmp/temp      Program starts running

Breakpoint 1, main () at temp.c:9       gdb stops at main()
(gdb) n                       Go to next line
This is my program              Program prints out
(gdb) s                       step into bazz()
bazz (anint=4231) at temp.c:17          gdb displays stack frame
(gdb)

Hang on a minute! How did anint get to be 4231? Did we not we set it to be 5 in main()? Let's move up to main() and have a look.

(gdb) up                   Move up call stack
#1  0x1625 in main () at temp.c:11      gdb displays stack frame
(gdb) p i                   Show us the value of i
$1 = 4231                   gdb displays 4231

Oh dear! Looking at the code, we forgot to initialize i. We meant to put

...
main() {
    int i;

    i = 5;
    printf("This is my program\n");
...

but we left the i=5; line out. As we did not initialize i, it had whatever number happened to be in that area of memory when the program ran, which in this case happened to be 4231.

2.6.3 Examining a core file

A core file is basically a file which contains the complete state of the process when it crashed. In “the good old days”, programmers had to print out hex listings of core files and sweat over machine code manuals, but now life is a bit easier. Incidentally, under FreeBSD and other 4.4BSD systems, a core file is called progname.core instead of just core, to make it clearer which program a core file belongs to.

To examine a core file, start up gdb in the usual way. Instead of typing break or run, type

(gdb) core progname.core

If you are not in the same directory as the core file, you will have to do dir /path/to/core/file first.

You should see something like this:

% gdb a.out
GDB is free software and you are welcome to distribute copies of it
 under certain conditions; type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB; type "show warranty" for details.
GDB 4.13 (i386-unknown-freebsd), Copyright 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
(gdb) core a.out.core
Core was generated by `a.out'.
Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault.
Cannot access memory at address 0x7020796d.
#0  0x164a in bazz (anint=0x5) at temp.c:17
(gdb)

In this case, the program was called a.out, so the core file is called a.out.core. We can see that the program crashed due to trying to access an area in memory that was not available to it in a function called bazz.

Sometimes it is useful to be able to see how a function was called, as the problem could have occurred a long way up the call stack in a complex program. The bt command causes gdb to print out a back-trace of the call stack:

(gdb) bt
#0  0x164a in bazz (anint=0x5) at temp.c:17
#1  0xefbfd888 in end ()
#2  0x162c in main () at temp.c:11
(gdb)

The end() function is called when a program crashes; in this case, the bazz() function was called from main().

2.6.4 Attaching to a running program

One of the neatest features about gdb is that it can attach to a program that is already running. Of course, that assumes you have sufficient permissions to do so. A common problem is when you are stepping through a program that forks, and you want to trace the child, but the debugger will only let you trace the parent.

What you do is start up another gdb, use ps to find the process ID for the child, and do

(gdb) attach pid

in gdb, and then debug as usual.

“That is all very well,” you are probably thinking, “but by the time I have done that, the child process will be over the hill and far away”. Fear not, gentle reader, here is how to do it (courtesy of the gdb info pages):

...
if ((pid = fork()) < 0)      /* _Always_ check this */
    error();
else if (pid == 0) {        /* child */
    int PauseMode = 1;

    while (PauseMode)
        sleep(10);  /* Wait until someone attaches to us */
    ...
} else {            /* parent */
    ...

Now all you have to do is attach to the child, set PauseMode to 0, and wait for the sleep() call to return!

2.7.1 Emacs

Unfortunately, UNIX systems do not come with the kind of everything-you-ever-wanted-and-lots-more-you-did-not-in-one-gigantic-package integrated development environments that other systems have. [7] However, it is possible to set up your own environment. It may not be as pretty, and it may not be quite as integrated, but you can set it up the way you want it. And it is free. And you have the source to it.

The key to it all is Emacs. Now there are some people who loathe it, but many who love it. If you are one of the former, I am afraid this section will hold little of interest to you. Also, you will need a fair amount of memory to run it--I would recommend 8MB in text mode and 16MB in X as the bare minimum to get reasonable performance.

Emacs is basically a highly customizable editor--indeed, it has been customized to the point where it is more like an operating system than an editor! Many developers and sysadmins do in fact spend practically all their time working inside Emacs, leaving it only to log out.

It is impossible even to summarize everything Emacs can do here, but here are some of the features of interest to developers:

• Very powerful editor, allowing search-and-replace on both strings and regular expressions (patterns), jumping to start/end of block expression, etc, etc.

• Pull-down menus and online help.

• Language-dependent syntax highlighting and indentation.

• Completely customizable.

• You can compile and debug programs within Emacs.

• On a compilation error, you can jump to the offending line of source code.

• Friendly-ish front-end to the info program used for reading GNU hypertext documentation, including the documentation on Emacs itself.

• Friendly front-end to gdb, allowing you to look at the source code as you step through your program.

• You can read Usenet news and mail while your program is compiling.

And doubtless many more that I have overlooked.

Emacs can be installed on FreeBSD using the editors/emacs port.

Once it is installed, start it up and do C-h t to read an Emacs tutorial--that means hold down the control key, press h, let go of the control key, and then press t. (Alternatively, you can you use the mouse to select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu).

Although Emacs does have menus, it is well worth learning the key bindings, as it is much quicker when you are editing something to press a couple of keys than to try to find the mouse and then click on the right place. And, when you are talking to seasoned Emacs users, you will find they often casually throw around expressions like “M-x replace-s RET foo RET bar RET” so it is useful to know what they mean. And in any case, Emacs has far too many useful functions for them to all fit on the menu bars.

Fortunately, it is quite easy to pick up the key-bindings, as they are displayed next to the menu item. My advice is to use the menu item for, say, opening a file until you understand how it works and feel confident with it, then try doing C-x C-f. When you are happy with that, move on to another menu command.

If you can not remember what a particular combination of keys does, select Describe Key from the Help menu and type it in--Emacs will tell you what it does. You can also use the Command Apropos menu item to find out all the commands which contain a particular word in them, with the key binding next to it.

By the way, the expression above means hold down the Meta key, press x, release the Meta key, type replace-s (short for replace-string--another feature of Emacs is that you can abbreviate commands), press the return key, type foo (the string you want replaced), press the return key, type bar (the string you want to replace foo with) and press return again. Emacs will then do the search-and-replace operation you have just requested.

If you are wondering what on earth the Meta key is, it is a special key that many UNIX workstations have. Unfortunately, PC's do not have one, so it is usually the alt key (or if you are unlucky, the escape key).

Oh, and to get out of Emacs, do C-x C-c (that means hold down the control key, press x, press c and release the control key). If you have any unsaved files open, Emacs will ask you if you want to save them. (Ignore the bit in the documentation where it says C-z is the usual way to leave Emacs--that leaves Emacs hanging around in the background, and is only really useful if you are on a system which does not have virtual terminals).

2.7.2 Configuring Emacs

Emacs does many wonderful things; some of them are built in, some of them need to be configured.

Instead of using a proprietary macro language for configuration, Emacs uses a version of Lisp specially adapted for editors, known as Emacs Lisp. Working with Emacs Lisp can be quite helpful if you want to go on and learn something like Common Lisp. Emacs Lisp has many features of Common Lisp, although it is considerably smaller (and thus easier to master).

The best way to learn Emacs Lisp is to download the Emacs Tutorial

However, there is no need to actually know any Lisp to get started with configuring Emacs, as I have included a sample .emacs file, which should be enough to get you started. Just copy it into your home directory and restart Emacs if it is already running; it will read the commands from the file and (hopefully) give you a useful basic setup.

2.7.3 A sample .emacs file

Unfortunately, there is far too much here to explain it in detail; however there are one or two points worth mentioning.

• Everything beginning with a ; is a comment and is ignored by Emacs.

• In the first line, the -*- Emacs-Lisp -*- is so that we can edit the .emacs file itself within Emacs and get all the fancy features for editing Emacs Lisp. Emacs usually tries to guess this based on the filename, and may not get it right for .emacs.

• The tab key is bound to an indentation function in some modes, so when you press the tab key, it will indent the current line of code. If you want to put a tab character in whatever you are writing, hold the control key down while you are pressing the tab key.

• This file supports syntax highlighting for C, C++, Perl, Lisp and Scheme, by guessing the language from the filename.

• Emacs already has a pre-defined function called next-error. In a compilation output window, this allows you to move from one compilation error to the next by doing M-n; we define a complementary function, previous-error, that allows you to go to a previous error by doing M-p. The nicest feature of all is that C-c C-c will open up the source file in which the error occurred and jump to the appropriate line.

• We enable Emacs's ability to act as a server, so that if you are doing something outside Emacs and you want to edit a file, you can just type in

  % emacsclient filename
       
  

  and then you can edit the file in your Emacs! [8]

;; -*-Emacs-Lisp-*-

;; This file is designed to be re-evaled; use the variable first-time
;; to avoid any problems with this.
(defvar first-time t
  "Flag signifying this is the first time that .emacs has been evaled")

;; Meta
(global-set-key "\M- " 'set-mark-command)
(global-set-key "\M-\C-h" 'backward-kill-word)
(global-set-key "\M-\C-r" 'query-replace)
(global-set-key "\M-r" 'replace-string)
(global-set-key "\M-g" 'goto-line)
(global-set-key "\M-h" 'help-command)

;; Function keys
(global-set-key [f1] 'manual-entry)
(global-set-key [f2] 'info)
(global-set-key [f3] 'repeat-complex-command)
(global-set-key [f4] 'advertised-undo)
(global-set-key [f5] 'eval-current-buffer)
(global-set-key [f6] 'buffer-menu)
(global-set-key [f7] 'other-window)
(global-set-key [f8] 'find-file)
(global-set-key [f9] 'save-buffer)
(global-set-key [f10] 'next-error)
(global-set-key [f11] 'compile)
(global-set-key [f12] 'grep)
(global-set-key [C-f1] 'compile)
(global-set-key [C-f2] 'grep)
(global-set-key [C-f3] 'next-error)
(global-set-key [C-f4] 'previous-error)
(global-set-key [C-f5] 'display-faces)
(global-set-key [C-f8] 'dired)
(global-set-key [C-f10] 'kill-compilation)

;; Keypad bindings
(global-set-key [up] "\C-p")
(global-set-key [down] "\C-n")
(global-set-key [left] "\C-b")
(global-set-key [right] "\C-f")
(global-set-key [home] "\C-a")
(global-set-key [end] "\C-e")
(global-set-key [prior] "\M-v")
(global-set-key [next] "\C-v")
(global-set-key [C-up] "\M-\C-b")
(global-set-key [C-down] "\M-\C-f")
(global-set-key [C-left] "\M-b")
(global-set-key [C-right] "\M-f")
(global-set-key [C-home] "\M-<")
(global-set-key [C-end] "\M->")
(global-set-key [C-prior] "\M-<")
(global-set-key [C-next] "\M->")

;; Mouse
(global-set-key [mouse-3] 'imenu)

;; Misc
(global-set-key [C-tab] "\C-q\t")   ; Control tab quotes a tab.
(setq backup-by-copying-when-mismatch t)

;; Treat 'y' or <CR> as yes, 'n' as no.
(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)
(define-key query-replace-map [return] 'act)
(define-key query-replace-map [?\C-m] 'act)

;; Load packages
(require 'desktop)
(require 'tar-mode)

;; Pretty diff mode
(autoload 'ediff-buffers "ediff" "Intelligent Emacs interface to diff" t)
(autoload 'ediff-files "ediff" "Intelligent Emacs interface to diff" t)
(autoload 'ediff-files-remote "ediff"
  "Intelligent Emacs interface to diff")

(if first-time
    (setq auto-mode-alist
      (append '(("\\.cpp$" . c++-mode)
            ("\\.hpp$" . c++-mode)
            ("\\.lsp$" . lisp-mode)
            ("\\.scm$" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.pl$" . perl-mode)
            ) auto-mode-alist)))

;; Auto font lock mode
(defvar font-lock-auto-mode-list
  (list 'c-mode 'c++-mode 'c++-c-mode 'emacs-lisp-mode 'lisp-mode 'perl-mode 'scheme-mode)
  "List of modes to always start in font-lock-mode")

(defvar font-lock-mode-keyword-alist
  '((c++-c-mode . c-font-lock-keywords)
    (perl-mode . perl-font-lock-keywords))
  "Associations between modes and keywords")

(defun font-lock-auto-mode-select ()
  "Automatically select font-lock-mode if the current major mode is in font-lock-auto-mode-list"
  (if (memq major-mode font-lock-auto-mode-list)
      (progn
    (font-lock-mode t))
    )
  )

(global-set-key [M-f1] 'font-lock-fontify-buffer)

;; New dabbrev stuff
;(require 'new-dabbrev)
(setq dabbrev-always-check-other-buffers t)
(setq dabbrev-abbrev-char-regexp "\\sw\\|\\s_")
(add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
      '(lambda ()
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-fold-search) nil)
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-replace) nil)))
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook
      '(lambda ()
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-fold-search) nil)
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-replace) nil)))
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook
      '(lambda ()
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-fold-search) t)
         (set (make-local-variable 'dabbrev-case-replace) t)))

;; C++ and C mode...
(defun my-c++-mode-hook ()
  (setq tab-width 4)
  (define-key c++-mode-map "\C-m" 'reindent-then-newline-and-indent)
  (define-key c++-mode-map "\C-ce" 'c-comment-edit)
  (setq c++-auto-hungry-initial-state 'none)
  (setq c++-delete-function 'backward-delete-char)
  (setq c++-tab-always-indent t)
  (setq c-indent-level 4)
  (setq c-continued-statement-offset 4)
  (setq c++-empty-arglist-indent 4))

(defun my-c-mode-hook ()
  (setq tab-width 4)
  (define-key c-mode-map "\C-m" 'reindent-then-newline-and-indent)
  (define-key c-mode-map "\C-ce" 'c-comment-edit)
  (setq c-auto-hungry-initial-state 'none)
  (setq c-delete-function 'backward-delete-char)
  (setq c-tab-always-indent t)
;; BSD-ish indentation style
  (setq c-indent-level 4)
  (setq c-continued-statement-offset 4)
  (setq c-brace-offset -4)
  (setq c-argdecl-indent 0)
  (setq c-label-offset -4))

;; Perl mode
(defun my-perl-mode-hook ()
  (setq tab-width 4)
  (define-key c++-mode-map "\C-m" 'reindent-then-newline-and-indent)
  (setq perl-indent-level 4)
  (setq perl-continued-statement-offset 4))

;; Scheme mode...
(defun my-scheme-mode-hook ()
  (define-key scheme-mode-map "\C-m" 'reindent-then-newline-and-indent))

;; Emacs-Lisp mode...
(defun my-lisp-mode-hook ()
  (define-key lisp-mode-map "\C-m" 'reindent-then-newline-and-indent)
  (define-key lisp-mode-map "\C-i" 'lisp-indent-line)
  (define-key lisp-mode-map "\C-j" 'eval-print-last-sexp))

;; Add all of the hooks...
(add-hook 'c++-mode-hook 'my-c++-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'scheme-mode-hook 'my-scheme-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'my-lisp-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'lisp-mode-hook 'my-lisp-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'perl-mode-hook 'my-perl-mode-hook)

;; Complement to next-error
(defun previous-error (n)
  "Visit previous compilation error message and corresponding source code."
  (interactive "p")
  (next-error (- n)))

;; Misc...
(transient-mark-mode 1)
(setq mark-even-if-inactive t)
(setq visible-bell nil)
(setq next-line-add-newlines nil)
(setq compile-command "make")
(setq suggest-key-bindings nil)
(put 'eval-expression 'disabled nil)
(put 'narrow-to-region 'disabled nil)
(put 'set-goal-column 'disabled nil)
(if (>= emacs-major-version 21)
    (setq show-trailing-whitespace t))

;; Elisp archive searching
(autoload 'format-lisp-code-directory "lispdir" nil t)
(autoload 'lisp-dir-apropos "lispdir" nil t)
(autoload 'lisp-dir-retrieve "lispdir" nil t)
(autoload 'lisp-dir-verify "lispdir" nil t)

;; Font lock mode
(defun my-make-face (face color &optional bold)
  "Create a face from a color and optionally make it bold"
  (make-face face)
  (copy-face 'default face)
  (set-face-foreground face color)
  (if bold (make-face-bold face))
  )

(if (eq window-system 'x)
    (progn
      (my-make-face 'blue "blue")
      (my-make-face 'red "red")
      (my-make-face 'green "dark green")
      (setq font-lock-comment-face 'blue)
      (setq font-lock-string-face 'bold)
      (setq font-lock-type-face 'bold)
      (setq font-lock-keyword-face 'bold)
      (setq font-lock-function-name-face 'red)
      (setq font-lock-doc-string-face 'green)
      (add-hook 'find-file-hooks 'font-lock-auto-mode-select)

      (setq baud-rate 1000000)
      (global-set-key "\C-cmm" 'menu-bar-mode)
      (global-set-key "\C-cms" 'scroll-bar-mode)
      (global-set-key [backspace] 'backward-delete-char)
                    ;      (global-set-key [delete] 'delete-char)
      (standard-display-european t)
      (load-library "iso-transl")))

;; X11 or PC using direct screen writes
(if window-system
    (progn
      ;;      (global-set-key [M-f1] 'hilit-repaint-command)
      ;;      (global-set-key [M-f2] [?\C-u M-f1])
      (setq hilit-mode-enable-list
        '(not text-mode c-mode c++-mode emacs-lisp-mode lisp-mode
          scheme-mode)
        hilit-auto-highlight nil
        hilit-auto-rehighlight 'visible
        hilit-inhibit-hooks nil
        hilit-inhibit-rebinding t)
      (require 'hilit19)
      (require 'paren))
  (setq baud-rate 2400)         ; For slow serial connections
  )

;; TTY type terminal
(if (and (not window-system)
     (not (equal system-type 'ms-dos)))
    (progn
      (if first-time
      (progn
        (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)
        (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h)))))

;; Under UNIX
(if (not (equal system-type 'ms-dos))
    (progn
      (if first-time
      (server-start))))

;; Add any face changes here
(add-hook 'term-setup-hook 'my-term-setup-hook)
(defun my-term-setup-hook ()
  (if (eq window-system 'pc)
      (progn
;;  (set-face-background 'default "red")
    )))

;; Restore the "desktop" - do this as late as possible
(if first-time
    (progn
      (desktop-load-default)
      (desktop-read)))

;; Indicate that this file has been read at least once
(setq first-time nil)

;; No need to debug anything now

(setq debug-on-error nil)

;; All done
(message "All done, %s%s" (user-login-name) ".")
   

2.7.4 Extending the Range of Languages Emacs Understands

Now, this is all very well if you only want to program in the languages already catered for in the .emacs file (C, C++, Perl, Lisp and Scheme), but what happens if a new language called “whizbang” comes out, full of exciting features?

The first thing to do is find out if whizbang comes with any files that tell Emacs about the language. These usually end in .el, short for “Emacs Lisp”. For example, if whizbang is a FreeBSD port, we can locate these files by doing

% find /usr/ports/lang/whizbang -name "*.el" -print

and install them by copying them into the Emacs site Lisp directory. On FreeBSD, this is /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp.

So for example, if the output from the find command was

/usr/ports/lang/whizbang/work/misc/whizbang.el

we would do

# cp /usr/ports/lang/whizbang/work/misc/whizbang.el /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp

Next, we need to decide what extension whizbang source files have. Let's say for the sake of argument that they all end in .wiz. We need to add an entry to our .emacs file to make sure Emacs will be able to use the information in whizbang.el.

Find the auto-mode-alist entry in .emacs and add a line for whizbang, such as:

...
("\\.lsp$" . lisp-mode)
("\\.wiz$" . whizbang-mode)
("\\.scm$" . scheme-mode)
...

This means that Emacs will automatically go into whizbang-mode when you edit a file ending in .wiz.

Just below this, you will find the font-lock-auto-mode-list entry. Add whizbang-mode to it like so:

;; Auto font lock mode
(defvar font-lock-auto-mode-list
  (list 'c-mode 'c++-mode 'c++-c-mode 'emacs-lisp-mode 'whizbang-mode 'lisp-mode 'perl-mode 'scheme-mode)
  "List of modes to always start in font-lock-mode")

This means that Emacs will always enable font-lock-mode (ie syntax highlighting) when editing a .wiz file.

And that is all that is needed. If there is anything else you want done automatically when you open up a .wiz file, you can add a whizbang-mode hook (see my-scheme-mode-hook for a simple example that adds auto-indent).

3.3.1 Example Buffer Overflow

The following example code contains a buffer overflow designed to overwrite the return address and skip the instruction immediately following the function call. (Inspired by 4)

#include <stdio.h>

void manipulate(char *buffer) {
  char newbuffer[80];
  strcpy(newbuffer,buffer);
}

int main() {
  char ch,buffer[4096];
  int i=0;

  while ((buffer[i++] = getchar()) != '\n') {};
  
  i=1;
  manipulate(buffer);
  i=2;
  printf("The value of i is : %d\n",i);
  return 0;
}

Let us examine what the memory image of this process would look like if we were to input 160 spaces into our little program before hitting return.

[XXX figure here!]

Obviously more malicious input can be devised to execute actual compiled instructions (such as exec(/bin/sh)).

3.3.2 Avoiding Buffer Overflows

The most straightforward solution to the problem of stack-overflows is to always use length restricted memory and string copy functions. strncpy and strncat are part of the standard C library. These functions accept a length value as a parameter which should be no larger than the size of the destination buffer. These functions will then copy up to `length' bytes from the source to the destination. However there are a number of problems with these functions. Neither function guarantees NUL termination if the size of the input buffer is as large as the destination. The length parameter is also used inconsistently between strncpy and strncat so it is easy for programmers to get confused as to their proper usage. There is also a significant performance loss compared to strcpy when copying a short string into a large buffer since strncpy NUL fills up the size specified.

In OpenBSD, another memory copy implementation has been created to get around these problem. The strlcpy and strlcat functions guarantee that they will always null terminate the destination string when given a non-zero length argument. For more information about these functions see 6. The OpenBSD strlcpy and strlcat instructions have been in FreeBSD since 3.3.

3.5.1 FreeBSD's jail functionality

The concept of a Jail extends upon the chroot() by limiting the powers of the superuser to create a true `virtual server'. Once a prison is set up all network communication must take place through the specified IP address, and the power of "root privilege" in this jail is severely constrained.

While in a prison, any tests of superuser power within the kernel using the suser() call will fail. However, some calls to suser() have been changed to a new interface suser_xxx(). This function is responsible for recognizing or denying access to superuser power for imprisoned processes.

A superuser process within a jailed environment has the power to:

• Manipulate credential with setuid, seteuid, setgid, setegid, setgroups, setreuid, setregid, setlogin

• Set resource limits with setrlimit

• Modify some sysctl nodes (kern.hostname)

• chroot()

• Set flags on a vnode: chflags, fchflags

• Set attributes of a vnode such as file permission, owner, group, size, access time, and modification time.

• Bind to privileged ports in the Internet domain (ports < 1024)

Jail is a very useful tool for running applications in a secure environment but it does have some shortcomings. Currently, the IPC mechanisms have not been converted to the suser_xxx so applications such as MySQL cannot be run within a jail. Superuser access may have a very limited meaning within a jail, but there is no way to specify exactly what "very limited" means.

3.5.2 POSIX®.1e Process Capabilities

POSIX has released a working draft that adds event auditing, access control lists, fine grained privileges, information labeling, and mandatory access control.

This is a work in progress and is the focus of the TrustedBSD project. Some of the initial work has been committed to FreeBSD-CURRENT (cap_set_proc(3)).

4.1.1 A Call to Unify the I18N Effort

It has come to our attention that the individual I18N/L10N efforts for each country has been repeating each others' efforts. Many of us have been reinventing the wheel repeatedly and inefficiently. We hope that the various major groups in I18N could congregate into a group effort similar to the Core Team's responsibility.

Currently, we hope that, when you write or port I18N programs, you would send it out to each country's related FreeBSD mailing list for testing. In the future, we hope to create applications that work in all the languages out-of-the-box without dirty hacks.

The FreeBSD internationalization mailing list has been established. If you are an I18N/L10N developer, please send your comments, ideas, questions, and anything you deem related to it.

4.1.2 Perl and Python

Perl and Python have I18N and wide character handling libraries. Please use them for I18N compliance.

4.2.1 Organizing Localized Messages into Catalog Files

POSIX.1 NLS is based on catalog files, which contain the localized messages in the desired encoding. The messages are organized into sets and each message is identified by an integer number in the containing set. The catalog files are conventionally named after the locale they contain localized messages for, followed by the .msg extension. For instance, the Hungarian messages for ISO8859-2 encoding should be stored in a file called hu_HU.ISO8859-2.

These catalog files are common text files that contain the numbered messages. It is possible to write comments by starting the line with a $ sign. Set boundaries are also separated by special comments, where the keyword set must directly follow the $ sign. The set keyword is then followed by the set number. For example:

$set 1

The actual message entries start with the message number and followed by the localized message. The well-known modifiers from printf(3) are accepted:

15 "File not found: %s\n"

The language catalog files have to be compiled into a binary form before they can be opened from the program. This conversion is done with the gencat(1) utility. Its first argument is the filename of the compiled catalog and its further arguments are the input catalogs. The localized messages can also be organized into more catalog files and then all of them can be processed with gencat(1).

4.2.2 Using the Catalog Files from the Source Code

Using the catalog files is simple. To use the related functions, nl_types.h must be included. Before using a catalog, it has to be opened with catopen(3). The function takes two arguments. The first parameter is the name of the installed and compiled catalog. Usually, the name of the program is used, such as grep. This name will be used when looking for the compiled catalog file. The catopen(3) call looks for this file in /usr/share/nls/locale/catname and in /usr/local/share/nls/locale/catname, where locale is the locale set and catname is the catalog name being discussed. The second parameter is a constant, which can have two values:

• NL_CAT_LOCALE, which means that the used catalog file will be based on LC_MESSAGES.

• 0, which means that LANG has to be used to open the proper catalog.

The catopen(3) call returns a catalog identifier of type nl_catd. Please refer to the manual page for a list of possible returned error codes.

After opening a catalog catgets(3) can be used to retrieve a message. The first parameter is the catalog identifier returned by catopen(3), the second one is the number of the set, the third one is the number of the messages, and the fourth one is a fallback message, which will be returned if the requested message cannot be retrieved from the catalog file.

After using the catalog file, it must be closed by calling catclose(3), which has one argument, the catalog id.

4.2.3 A Practical Example

The following example will demonstrate an easy solution on how to use NLS catalogs in a flexible way.

The below lines need to be put into a common header file of the program, which is included into all source files where localized messages are necessary:

#ifdef WITHOUT_NLS
#define getstr(n)    nlsstr[n]
#else
#include <nl_types.h>

extern nl_catd       catalog;
#define getstr(n)    catgets(catalog, 1, n, nlsstr[n])
#endif

extern char     *nlsstr[];

Next, put these lines into the global declaration part of the main source file:

#ifndef WITHOUT_NLS
#include <nl_types.h>
nl_catd  catalog;
#endif

/*
 * Default messages to use when NLS is disabled or no catalog
 * is found.
 */
char    *nlsstr[] = {
        "",
/* 1*/  "some random message",
/* 2*/  "some other message"
};

Next come the real code snippets, which open, read, and close the catalog:

#ifndef WITHOUT_NLS
    catalog = catopen("myapp", NL_CAT_LOCALE);
#endif

...

printf(getstr(1));

...

#ifndef WITHOUT_NLS
    catclose(catalog);
#endif

#include <err.h>
...
if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
    err(1, "argument is not a directory");
     

#include <err.h>
#include <errno.h>
...
if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
    errno = ENOTDIR;
    err(1, NULL);
}
     

#include <err.h>
...
if ((p = malloc(size)) == NULL)
    err(1, NULL);
     

4.2.4 Making use of bsd.nls.mk

Using the catalog files requires few repeatable steps, such as compiling the catalogs and installing them to the proper location. In order to simplify this process even more, bsd.nls.mk introduces some macros. It is not necessary to include bsd.nls.mk explicitly, it is pulled in from the common Makefiles, such as bsd.prog.mk or bsd.lib.mk.

Usually it is enough to define NLSNAME, which should have the catalog name mentioned as the first argument of catopen(3) and list the catalog files in NLS without their .msg extension. Here is an example, which makes it possible to to disable NLS when used with the code examples before. The WITHOUT_NLS make(1) variable has to be defined in order to build the program without NLS support.

.if !defined(WITHOUT_NLS)
NLS=    es_ES.ISO8859-1
NLS+=   hu_HU.ISO8859-2
NLS+=   pt_BR.ISO8859-1
.else
CFLAGS+=    -DWITHOUT_NLS
.endif

Conventionally, the catalog files are placed under the nls subdirectory and this is the default behaviour of bsd.nls.mk. It is possible, though to override the location of the catalogs with the NLSSRCDIR make(1) variable. The default name of the precompiled catalog files also follow the naming convention mentioned before. It can be overriden by setting the NLSNAME variable. There are other options to fine tune the processing of the catalog files but usually it is not needed, thus they are not described here. For further information on bsd.nls.mk, please refer to the file itself, it is short and easy to understand.

5.2.1 Vendor Imports with CVS

The file utility, used to identify the format of a file, will be used as example of how this model works:

src/contrib/file contains the source as distributed by the maintainers of this package. Parts that are entirely not applicable for FreeBSD can be removed. In the case of file(1), the python subdirectory and files with the lt prefix were eliminated before the import, amongst others.

src/lib/libmagic contains a bmake style Makefile that uses the standard bsd.lib.mk makefile rules to produce the library and install the documentation.

src/usr.bin/file contains a bmake style Makefile which will produce and install the file program and its associated man-pages using the standard bsd.prog.mk rules.

The important thing here is that the src/contrib/file directory is created according to the rules: it is supposed to contain the sources as distributed (on a proper vendor-branch and without RCS keyword expansion) with as few FreeBSD-specific changes as possible. If there are any doubts on how to go about it, it is imperative that you ask first and not blunder ahead and hope it “works out”.

Because of the previously mentioned design limitations with vendor branches, it is required that “official” patches from the vendor be applied to the original distributed sources and the result re-imported onto the vendor branch again. Official patches should never be patched into the FreeBSD checked out version and “committed”, as this destroys the vendor branch coherency and makes importing future versions rather difficult as there will be conflicts.

Since many packages contain files that are meant for compatibility with other architectures and environments than FreeBSD, it is permissible to remove parts of the distribution tree that are of no interest to FreeBSD in order to save space. Files containing copyright notices and release-note kind of information applicable to the remaining files shall not be removed.

If it seems easier, the bmake Makefiles can be produced from the dist tree automatically by some utility, something which would hopefully make it even easier to upgrade to a new version. If this is done, be sure to check in such utilities (as necessary) in the src/tools directory along with the port itself so that it is available to future maintainers.

In the src/contrib/file level directory, a file called FREEBSD-upgrade should be added and it should state things like:

• Which files have been left out.

• Where the original distribution was obtained from and/or the official master site.

• Where to send patches back to the original authors.

• Perhaps an overview of the FreeBSD-specific changes that have been made.

Example wording from src/contrib/groff/FREEBSD-upgrade is below:

$FreeBSD: src/contrib/groff/FREEBSD-upgrade,v 1.5.12.1 2005/11/15 22:06:18 ru Exp $

This directory contains virgin copies of the original distribution files
on a "vendor" branch.  Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to upgrade
the files in this directory via patches and a cvs commit.

To upgrade to a newer version of groff, when it is available:
    1. Unpack the new version into an empty directory.
       [Do not make ANY changes to the files.]

    2. Use the command:
        cvs import -m 'Virgin import of FSF groff v<version>' \
            src/contrib/groff FSF v<version>

       For example, to do the import of version 1.19.2, I typed:
        cvs import -m 'Virgin import of FSF groff v1.19.2' \
            src/contrib/groff FSF v1_19_2

    3. Follow the instructions printed out in step 2 to resolve any
       conflicts between local FreeBSD changes and the newer version.

Do not, under any circumstances, deviate from this procedure.

To make local changes to groff, simply patch and commit to the main
branch (aka HEAD).  Never make local changes on the FSF branch.

All local changes should be submitted to Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org> or 
Ted Harding <ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> for inclusion in the next
vendor release.

ru@FreeBSD.org - 20 October 2005

Another approach my also be taken for the list of files to be excluded, which is especially useful when the list is large or complicated or where imports happen frequently. By creating a file FREEBSD-Xlist in the same directory the vendor source is imported into, containing a list of filename patterns to be excluded one per line, future imports can often performed with:

% tar -X FREEBSD-Xlist -xzf vendor-source.tgz

An example of a FREEBSD-Xlist file, from src/contrib/tcsh, is here:

*/BUGS
*/config/a*
*/config/bs2000
*/config/bsd
*/config/bsdreno
*/config/[c-z]*
*/tests
*/win32

5.2.2 Vendor Imports with SVN

This section describes the vendor import procedure with Subversion in details.

7.5.1 The Client-Server Difference

Typically, one of the ends of a socket-based data communication is a server, the other is a client.

int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);

/*
 * Structure used by kernel to store most
 * addresses.
 */
struct sockaddr {
    unsigned char   sa_len;     /* total length */
    sa_family_t sa_family;  /* address family */
    char        sa_data[14];    /* actually longer; address value */
};
#define SOCK_MAXADDRLEN 255     /* longest possible addresses */

/*
 * Address families.
 */
#define AF_UNSPEC   0       /* unspecified */
#define AF_LOCAL    1       /* local to host (pipes, portals) */
#define AF_UNIX     AF_LOCAL    /* backward compatibility */
#define AF_INET     2       /* internetwork: UDP, TCP, etc. */
#define AF_IMPLINK  3       /* arpanet imp addresses */
#define AF_PUP      4       /* pup protocols: e.g. BSP */
#define AF_CHAOS    5       /* mit CHAOS protocols */
#define AF_NS       6       /* XEROX NS protocols */
#define AF_ISO      7       /* ISO protocols */
#define AF_OSI      AF_ISO
#define AF_ECMA     8       /* European computer manufacturers */
#define AF_DATAKIT  9       /* datakit protocols */
#define AF_CCITT    10      /* CCITT protocols, X.25 etc */
#define AF_SNA      11      /* IBM SNA */
#define AF_DECnet   12      /* DECnet */
#define AF_DLI      13      /* DEC Direct data link interface */
#define AF_LAT      14      /* LAT */
#define AF_HYLINK   15      /* NSC Hyperchannel */
#define AF_APPLETALK    16      /* Apple Talk */
#define AF_ROUTE    17      /* Internal Routing Protocol */
#define AF_LINK     18      /* Link layer interface */
#define pseudo_AF_XTP   19      /* eXpress Transfer Protocol (no AF) */
#define AF_COIP     20      /* connection-oriented IP, aka ST II */
#define AF_CNT      21      /* Computer Network Technology */
#define pseudo_AF_RTIP  22      /* Help Identify RTIP packets */
#define AF_IPX      23      /* Novell Internet Protocol */
#define AF_SIP      24      /* Simple Internet Protocol */
#define pseudo_AF_PIP   25      /* Help Identify PIP packets */
#define AF_ISDN     26      /* Integrated Services Digital Network*/
#define AF_E164     AF_ISDN     /* CCITT E.164 recommendation */
#define pseudo_AF_KEY   27      /* Internal key-management function */
#define AF_INET6    28      /* IPv6 */
#define AF_NATM     29      /* native ATM access */
#define AF_ATM      30      /* ATM */
#define pseudo_AF_HDRCMPLT 31       /* Used by BPF to not rewrite headers
                     * in interface output routine
                     */
#define AF_NETGRAPH 32      /* Netgraph sockets */
#define AF_SLOW     33      /* 802.3ad slow protocol */
#define AF_SCLUSTER 34      /* Sitara cluster protocol */
#define AF_ARP      35
#define AF_BLUETOOTH    36      /* Bluetooth sockets */
#define AF_MAX      37

/*
 * Socket address, internet style.
 */
struct sockaddr_in {
    uint8_t     sin_len;
    sa_family_t sin_family;
    in_port_t   sin_port;
    struct  in_addr sin_addr;
    char    sin_zero[8];
};

/*
 * Internet address (a structure for historical reasons)
 */
struct in_addr {
    in_addr_t s_addr;
};

   sa.sin_family      = AF_INET;
    sa.sin_port        = 13;
    sa.sin_addr.s_addr = (((((192 << 8) | 43) << 8) | 244) << 8) | 18;

   sa.sin_family      = AF_INET;
    sa.sin_port        = 13 << 8;
    sa.sin_addr.s_addr = (((((18 << 8) | 244) << 8) | 43) << 8) | 192;

int connect(int s, const struct sockaddr *name, socklen_t namelen);

/*
 * daytime.c
 *
 * Programmed by G. Adam Stanislav
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>

int main() {
  register int s;
  register int bytes;
  struct sockaddr_in sa;
  char buffer[BUFSIZ+1];

  if ((s = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
    perror("socket");
    return 1;
  }

  bzero(&sa, sizeof sa);

  sa.sin_family = AF_INET;
  sa.sin_port = htons(13);
  sa.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl((((((192 << 8) | 43) << 8) | 244) << 8) | 18);
  if (connect(s, (struct sockaddr *)&sa, sizeof sa) < 0) {
    perror("connect");
    close(s);
    return 2;
  }

  while ((bytes = read(s, buffer, BUFSIZ)) > 0)
    write(1, buffer, bytes);

  close(s);
  return 0;
}

% cc -O3 -o daytime daytime.c
% ./daytime

52079 01-06-19 02:29:25 50 0 1 543.9 UTC(NIST) * 
%

int bind(int s, const struct sockaddr *addr, socklen_t addrlen);

#define    INADDR_ANY      (u_int32_t)0x00000000

int listen(int s, int backlog);

int accept(int s, struct sockaddr *addr, socklen_t *addrlen);

/*
 * daytimed - a port 13 server
 *
 * Programmed by G. Adam Stanislav
 * June 19, 2001
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>

#define BACKLOG 4

int main() {
    register int s, c;
    int b;
    struct sockaddr_in sa;
    time_t t;
    struct tm *tm;
    FILE *client;

    if ((s = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
        perror("socket");
        return 1;
    }

    bzero(&sa, sizeof sa);

    sa.sin_family = AF_INET;
    sa.sin_port   = htons(13);

    if (INADDR_ANY)
        sa.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);

    if (bind(s, (struct sockaddr *)&sa, sizeof sa) < 0) {
        perror("bind");
        return 2;
    }

    switch (fork()) {
        case -1:
            perror("fork");
            return 3;
            break;
        default:
            close(s);
            return 0;
            break;
        case 0:
            break;
    }

    listen(s, BACKLOG);

    for (;;) {
        b = sizeof sa;

        if ((c = accept(s, (struct sockaddr *)&sa, &b)) < 0) {
            perror("daytimed accept");
            return 4;
        }

        if ((client = fdopen(c, "w")) == NULL) {
            perror("daytimed fdopen");
            return 5;
        }

        if ((t = time(NULL)) < 0) {
            perror("daytimed time");

            return 6;
        }

        tm = gmtime(&t);
        fprintf(client, "%.4i-%.2i-%.2iT%.2i:%.2i:%.2iZ\n",
            tm->tm_year + 1900,
            tm->tm_mon + 1,
            tm->tm_mday,
            tm->tm_hour,
            tm->tm_min,
            tm->tm_sec);

        fclose(client);
    }
}

    if (INADDR_ANY)
        sa.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);

% ./daytimed
bind: Permission denied
%

# ./daytimed
#

# ./daytimed

bind: Address already in use
#

% telnet localhost 13

Trying ::1...
telnet: connect to address ::1: Connection refused
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
2001-06-19T21:04:42Z
Connection closed by foreign host.
%

% who

whizkid          ttyp0   Jun 19 16:59   (216.127.220.143)
xxx              ttyp1   Jun 19 16:06   (xx.xx.xx.xx)
% telnet 216.127.220.143 13

Trying 216.127.220.143...
Connected to r47.bfm.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
2001-06-19T21:31:11Z
Connection closed by foreign host.
%

% telnet r47.bfm.org 13

Trying 216.127.220.143...
Connected to r47.bfm.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
2001-06-19T21:31:40Z
Connection closed by foreign host.
%

7.6.1 gethostbyname

While there is no way to pass the domain name directly to any of the sockets functions, the FreeBSD C library comes with the gethostbyname(3) and gethostbyname2(3) functions, declared in netdb.h.

struct hostent * gethostbyname(const char *name);
struct hostent * gethostbyname2(const char *name, int af);

Both return a pointer to the hostent structure, with much information about the domain. For our purposes, the h_addr_list[0] field of the structure points at h_length bytes of the correct address, already stored in the network byte order.

This allows us to create a much more flexible--and much more useful--version of our daytime program:

/*
 * daytime.c
 *
 * Programmed by G. Adam Stanislav
 * 19 June 2001
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netdb.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
  register int s;
  register int bytes;
  struct sockaddr_in sa;
  struct hostent *he;
  char buf[BUFSIZ+1];
  char *host;

  if ((s = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
    perror("socket");
    return 1;
  }

  bzero(&sa, sizeof sa);

  sa.sin_family = AF_INET;
  sa.sin_port = htons(13);

  host = (argc > 1) ? (char *)argv[1] : "time.nist.gov";

  if ((he = gethostbyname(host)) == NULL) {
    herror(host);
    return 2;
  }

  bcopy(he->h_addr_list[0],&sa.sin_addr, he->h_length);

  if (connect(s, (struct sockaddr *)&sa, sizeof sa) < 0) {
    perror("connect");
    return 3;
  }

  while ((bytes = read(s, buf, BUFSIZ)) > 0)
    write(1, buf, bytes);

  close(s);
  return 0;
}

We now can type a domain name (or an IP address, it works both ways) on the command line, and the program will try to connect to its daytime server. Otherwise, it will still default to time.nist.gov. However, even in this case we will use gethostbyname rather than hard coding 192.43.244.18. That way, even if its IP address changes in the future, we will still find it.

Since it takes virtually no time to get the time from your local server, you could run daytime twice in a row: First to get the time from time.nist.gov, the second time from your own system. You can then compare the results and see how exact your system clock is:

% daytime ; daytime localhost


52080 01-06-20 04:02:33 50 0 0 390.2 UTC(NIST) * 
2001-06-20T04:02:35Z
%

As you can see, my system was two seconds ahead of the NIST time.

7.6.2 getservbyname

Sometimes you may not be sure what port a certain service uses. The getservbyname(3) function, also declared in netdb.h comes in very handy in those cases:

struct servent * getservbyname(const char *name, const char *proto);

The servent structure contains the s_port, which contains the proper port, already in network byte order.

Had we not known the correct port for the daytime service, we could have found it this way:

  struct servent *se;
  ...
  if ((se = getservbyname("daytime", "tcp")) == NULL {
    fprintf(stderr, "Cannot determine which port to use.\n");
    return 7;
  }
  sa.sin_port = se->s_port;

You usually do know the port. But if you are developing a new protocol, you may be testing it on an unofficial port. Some day, you will register the protocol and its port (if nowhere else, at least in your /etc/services, which is where getservbyname looks). Instead of returning an error in the above code, you just use the temporary port number. Once you have listed the protocol in /etc/services, your software will find its port without you having to rewrite the code.

8.1.1 IPv6

   fe80:1::200:f8ff:fe01:6317
   

Internet6:
Destination                   Gateway                   Flags      Netif Expire
fe80:1::%ed0/64               link#1                    UC          ed0
fe80:2::%ep0/64               link#2                    UC          ep0

   accept_rtadv    forwarding  role of the node
    ---     ---     ---
    0       0       host (to be manually configured)
    0       1       router
    1       0       autoconfigured host
                    (spec assumes that host has single
                    interface only, autoconfigured host
                    with multiple interface is
                    out-of-scope)
    1       1       invalid, or experimental
                    (out-of-scope of spec)

% ping6 -b 70000 -s 68000 ::1

% netstat -s -p ip6
      ip6:
        (snip)
        1 with data size < data length

Mbuf statistics:
                317 one mbuf
                two or more mbuf::
                        lo0 = 8
            cce0 = 10
                3282 one ext mbuf
                0 two or more ext mbuf
   

listening side          initiating side
                (AF_INET6 wildcard      (connection to ::ffff:10.1.1.1)
                socket gets IPv4 conn.)
                ---                     ---
FreeBSD 4.x     configurable            supported
                default: enabled
   

   int on;

    setsockopt(s, IPPROTO_IPV6, IPV6_BINDV6ONLY,
           (char *)&on, sizeof (on)) < 0));
   

   int on;

    setsockopt(s, IPPROTO_IPV6, IPV6_BINDV6ONLY,
           (char *)&on, sizeof (on)) < 0));
   

   struct sockaddr_storage {
        u_char  __ss_len;   /* address length */
        u_char  __ss_family;    /* address family */
        /* and bunch of padding */
    };
   

   struct sockaddr_storage {
        u_char  ss_len;     /* address length */
        u_char  ss_family;  /* address family */
        /* and bunch of padding */
    };
   

8.1.2 Network Drivers

Now following two items are required to be supported by standard drivers:

1. mbuf clustering requirement. In this stable release, we changed MINCLSIZE into MHLEN+1 for all the operating systems in order to make all the drivers behave as we expect.

2. multicast. If ifmcstat(8) yields no multicast group for a interface, that interface has to be patched.

If any of the drivers do not support the requirements, then the drivers can not be used for IPv6 and/or IPsec communication. If you find any problem with your card using IPv6/IPsec, then, please report it to the FreeBSD problem reports mailing list.

(NOTE: In the past we required all PCMCIA drivers to have a call to in6_ifattach(). We have no such requirement any more)

8.1.3 Translator

We categorize IPv4/IPv6 translator into 4 types:

• Translator A --- It is used in the early stage of transition to make it possible to establish a connection from an IPv6 host in an IPv6 island to an IPv4 host in the IPv4 ocean.

• Translator B --- It is used in the early stage of transition to make it possible to establish a connection from an IPv4 host in the IPv4 ocean to an IPv6 host in an IPv6 island.

• Translator C --- It is used in the late stage of transition to make it possible to establish a connection from an IPv4 host in an IPv4 island to an IPv6 host in the IPv6 ocean.

• Translator D --- It is used in the late stage of transition to make it possible to establish a connection from an IPv6 host in the IPv6 ocean to an IPv4 host in an IPv4 island.

TCP relay translator for category A is supported. This is called "FAITH". We also provide IP header translator for category A. (The latter is not yet put into FreeBSD 4.x yet.)

   destination IPv4 node (163.221.202.12)
      ^
      | IPv4 tcp toward 163.221.202.12
    FAITH-relay dual stack node
      ^
      | IPv6 TCP toward 2001:0DB8:0200:ffff::163.221.202.12
    source IPv6 node
   

8.1.4 IPsec

IPsec is mainly organized by three components.

1. Policy Management

2. Key Management

3. AH and ESP handling

                encapsulate                     decapsulate
                ---                             ---
RFC2401         copy all TOS bits               drop TOS bits on outer
                from inner to outer.            (use inner TOS bits as is)

ECN forbidden   copy TOS bits except for ECN    drop TOS bits on outer
                (masked with 0xfc) from inner   (use inner TOS bits as is)
                to outer.  set ECN bits to 0.

ECN allowed     copy TOS bits except for ECN    use inner TOS bits with some
                CE (masked with 0xfe) from      change.  if outer ECN CE bit
                inner to outer.                 is 1, enable ECN CE bit on
                set ECN CE bit to 0.            the inner.

   

10.1.1 Configuring the Dump Device

Before the kernel will dump the contents of its physical memory to a dump device, a dump device must be configured. A dump device is specified by using the dumpon(8) command to tell the kernel where to save kernel crash dumps. The dumpon(8) program must be called after the swap partition has been configured with swapon(8). This is normally handled by setting the dumpdev variable in rc.conf(5) to the path of the swap device (the recommended way to extract a kernel dump) or AUTO to use the first configured swap device. AUTO is the default as of FreeBSD 6.0.

10.1.2 Extracting a Kernel Dump

Once a dump has been written to a dump device, the dump must be extracted before the swap device is mounted. To extract a dump from a dump device, use the savecore(8) program. If dumpdev has been set in rc.conf(5), savecore(8) will be called automatically on the first multi-user boot after the crash and before the swap device is mounted. The location of the extracted core is placed in the rc.conf(5) value dumpdir, by default /var/crash and will be named vmcore.0.

In the event that there is already a file called vmcore.0 in /var/crash (or whatever dumpdir is set to), the kernel will increment the trailing number for every crash to avoid overwriting an existing vmcore (e.g., vmcore.1). While debugging, it is highly likely that you will want to use the highest version vmcore in /var/crash when searching for the right vmcore.

11.2.1 The Assembler

The most important tool for assembly language programming is the assembler, the software that converts assembly language code into machine language.

Two very different assemblers are available for FreeBSD. One is as(1), which uses the traditional UNIX assembly language syntax. It comes with the system.

The other is /usr/ports/devel/nasm. It uses the Intel syntax. Its main advantage is that it can assemble code for many operating systems. It needs to be installed separately, but is completely free.

This chapter uses nasm syntax because most assembly language programmers coming to FreeBSD from other operating systems will find it easier to understand. And, because, quite frankly, that is what I am used to.

11.2.2 The Linker

The output of the assembler, like that of any compiler, needs to be linked to form an executable file.

The standard ld(1) linker comes with FreeBSD. It works with the code assembled with either assembler.

11.3.1 Default Calling Convention

By default, the FreeBSD kernel uses the C calling convention. Further, although the kernel is accessed using int 80h, it is assumed the program will call a function that issues int 80h, rather than issuing int 80h directly.

This convention is very convenient, and quite superior to the Microsoft convention used by MS-DOS. Why? Because the UNIX convention allows any program written in any language to access the kernel.

An assembly language program can do that as well. For example, we could open a file:

kernel:
    int 80h ; Call kernel
    ret

open:
    push    dword mode
    push    dword flags
    push    dword path
    mov eax, 5
    call    kernel
    add esp, byte 12
    ret

This is a very clean and portable way of coding. If you need to port the code to a UNIX system which uses a different interrupt, or a different way of passing parameters, all you need to change is the kernel procedure.

But assembly language programmers like to shave off cycles. The above example requires a call/ret combination. We can eliminate it by pushing an extra dword:

open:
    push    dword mode
    push    dword flags
    push    dword path
    mov eax, 5
    push    eax     ; Or any other dword
    int 80h
    add esp, byte 16

The 5 that we have placed in EAX identifies the kernel function, in this case open.

11.3.2 Alternate Calling Convention

FreeBSD is an extremely flexible system. It offers other ways of calling the kernel. For it to work, however, the system must have Linux emulation installed.

Linux is a UNIX like system. However, its kernel uses the same system-call convention of passing parameters in registers MS-DOS does. As with the UNIX convention, the function number is placed in EAX. The parameters, however, are not passed on the stack but in EBX, ECX, EDX, ESI, EDI, EBP:

open:
    mov eax, 5
    mov ebx, path
    mov ecx, flags
    mov edx, mode
    int 80h

This convention has a great disadvantage over the UNIX way, at least as far as assembly language programming is concerned: Every time you make a kernel call you must push the registers, then pop them later. This makes your code bulkier and slower. Nevertheless, FreeBSD gives you a choice.

If you do choose the Linux convention, you must let the system know about it. After your program is assembled and linked, you need to brand the executable:

% brandelf -f Linux filename

11.3.3 Which Convention Should You Use?

If you are coding specifically for FreeBSD, you should always use the UNIX convention: It is faster, you can store global variables in registers, you do not have to brand the executable, and you do not impose the installation of the Linux emulation package on the target system.

If you want to create portable code that can also run on Linux, you will probably still want to give the FreeBSD users as efficient a code as possible. I will show you how you can accomplish that after I have explained the basics.

11.3.4 Call Numbers

To tell the kernel which system service you are calling, place its number in EAX. Of course, you need to know what the number is.

0  STD NOHIDE  { int nosys(void); } syscall nosys_args int
1   STD NOHIDE  { void exit(int rval); } exit rexit_args void
2   STD POSIX   { int fork(void); }
3   STD POSIX   { ssize_t read(int fd, void *buf, size_t nbyte); }
4   STD POSIX   { ssize_t write(int fd, const void *buf, size_t nbyte); }
5   STD POSIX   { int open(char *path, int flags, int mode); }
6   STD POSIX   { int close(int fd); }
etc...

11.4.1 Man Pages

The traditional place to look for information about various system calls under UNIX systems are the manual pages. FreeBSD describes its system calls in section 2, sometimes in section 3.

For example, open(2) says:

If successful, open() returns a non-negative integer, termed a file descriptor. It returns -1 on failure, and sets errno to indicate the error.

The assembly language programmer new to UNIX and FreeBSD will immediately ask the puzzling question: Where is errno and how do I get to it?

11.4.2 Where Are the Return Values?

Unfortunately, it depends... For most system calls it is in EAX, but not for all. A good rule of thumb, when working with a system call for the first time, is to look for the return value in EAX. If it is not there, you need further research.

11.4.3 Where Is errno?

Actually, nowhere...

errno is part of the C language, not the UNIX kernel. When accessing kernel services directly, the error code is returned in EAX, the same register the proper return value generally ends up in.

This makes perfect sense. If there is no error, there is no error code. If there is an error, there is no return value. One register can contain either.

11.4.4 Determining an Error Occurred

When using the standard FreeBSD calling convention, the carry flag is cleared upon success, set upon failure.

When using the Linux emulation mode, the signed value in EAX is non-negative upon success, and contains the return value. In case of an error, the value is negative, i.e., -errno.

11.5.1 Dealing with Function Numbers

In many cases the function numbers are the same. However, even when they are not, the problem is easy to deal with: Instead of using numbers in your code, use constants which you have declared differently depending on the target architecture:

%ifdef LINUX
%define SYS_execve  11
%else
%define SYS_execve  59
%endif

11.5.2 Dealing with Conventions

Both, the calling convention, and the return value (the errno problem) can be resolved with macros:

%ifdef LINUX

%macro  system  0
    call    kernel
%endmacro

align 4
kernel:
    push    ebx
    push    ecx
    push    edx
    push    esi
    push    edi
    push    ebp

    mov ebx, [esp+32]
    mov ecx, [esp+36]
    mov edx, [esp+40]
    mov esi, [esp+44]
    mov ebp, [esp+48]
    int 80h

    pop ebp
    pop edi
    pop esi
    pop edx
    pop ecx
    pop ebx

    or  eax, eax
    js  .errno
    clc
    ret

.errno:
    neg eax
    stc
    ret

%else

%macro  system  0
    int 80h
%endmacro

%endif

11.5.3 Dealing with Other Portability Issues

The above solutions can handle most cases of writing code portable between FreeBSD and Linux. Nevertheless, with some kernel services the differences are deeper.

In that case, you need to write two different handlers for those particular system calls, and use conditional assembly. Luckily, most of your code does something other than calling the kernel, so usually you will only need a few such conditional sections in your code.

11.5.4 Using a Library

You can avoid portability issues in your main code altogether by writing a library of system calls. Create a separate library for FreeBSD, a different one for Linux, and yet other libraries for more operating systems.

In your library, write a separate function (or procedure, if you prefer the traditional assembly language terminology) for each system call. Use the C calling convention of passing parameters. But still use EAX to pass the call number in. In that case, your FreeBSD library can be very simple, as many seemingly different functions can be just labels to the same code:

sys.open:
sys.close:
[etc...]
    int 80h
    ret

Your Linux library will require more different functions. But even here you can group system calls using the same number of parameters:

sys.exit:
sys.close:
[etc... one-parameter functions]
    push    ebx
    mov ebx, [esp+12]
    int 80h
    pop ebx
    jmp sys.return

...

sys.return:
    or  eax, eax
    js  sys.err
    clc
    ret

sys.err:
    neg eax
    stc
    ret

The library approach may seem inconvenient at first because it requires you to produce a separate file your code depends on. But it has many advantages: For one, you only need to write it once and can use it for all your programs. You can even let other assembly language programmers use it, or perhaps use one written by someone else. But perhaps the greatest advantage of the library is that your code can be ported to other systems, even by other programmers, by simply writing a new library without any changes to your code.

If you do not like the idea of having a library, you can at least place all your system calls in a separate assembly language file and link it with your main program. Here, again, all porters have to do is create a new object file to link with your main program.

11.5.5 Using an Include File

If you are releasing your software as (or with) source code, you can use macros and place them in a separate file, which you include in your code.

Porters of your software will simply write a new include file. No library or external object file is necessary, yet your code is portable without any need to edit the code.

We can start our system.inc by declaring the standard file descriptors:

%define    stdin   0
%define stdout  1
%define stderr  2

Next, we create a symbolic name for each system call:

%define    SYS_nosys   0
%define SYS_exit    1
%define SYS_fork    2
%define SYS_read    3
%define SYS_write   4
; [etc...]

We add a short, non-global procedure with a long name, so we do not accidentally reuse the name in our code:

section    .text
align 4
access.the.bsd.kernel:
    int 80h
    ret

We create a macro which takes one argument, the syscall number:

%macro system  1
    mov eax, %1
    call    access.the.bsd.kernel
%endmacro

Finally, we create macros for each syscall. These macros take no arguments.

%macro sys.exit    0
    system  SYS_exit
%endmacro

%macro  sys.fork    0
    system  SYS_fork
%endmacro

%macro  sys.read    0
    system  SYS_read
%endmacro

%macro  sys.write   0
    system  SYS_write
%endmacro

; [etc...]

Go ahead, enter it into your editor and save it as system.inc. We will add more to it as we discuss more syscalls.

11.6.1 Assembling the Code

Type the code (except the line numbers) in an editor, and save it in a file named hello.asm. You need nasm to assemble it.

% su
Password:your root password
# cd /usr/ports/devel/nasm
# make install
# exit
%

% nasm -f elf hello.asm
% ld -s -o hello hello.o
% ./hello
Hello, World!
%

11.8.1 How to Unread a Character

While our sample program does not require it, more sophisticated filters often need to look ahead. In other words, they may need to see what the next character is (or even several characters). If the next character is of a certain value, it is part of the token currently being processed. Otherwise, it is not.

For example, you may be parsing the input stream for a textual string (e.g., when implementing a language compiler): If a character is followed by another character, or perhaps a digit, it is part of the token you are processing. If it is followed by white space, or some other value, then it is not part of the current token.

This presents an interesting problem: How to return the next character back to the input stream, so it can be read again later?

One possible solution is to store it in a character variable, then set a flag. We can modify getchar to check the flag, and if it is set, fetch the byte from that variable instead of the input buffer, and reset the flag. But, of course, that slows us down.

The C language has an ungetc() function, just for that purpose. Is there a quick way to implement it in our code? I would like you to scroll back up and take a look at the getchar procedure and see if you can find a nice and fast solution before reading the next paragraph. Then come back here and see my own solution.

The key to returning a character back to the stream is in how we are getting the characters to start with:

First we check if the buffer is empty by testing the value of EBX. If it is zero, we call the read procedure.

If we do have a character available, we use lodsb, then decrease the value of EBX. The lodsb instruction is effectively identical to:

   mov al, [esi]
    inc esi

The byte we have fetched remains in the buffer until the next time read is called. We do not know when that happens, but we do know it will not happen until the next call to getchar. Hence, to "return" the last-read byte back to the stream, all we have to do is decrease the value of ESI and increase the value of EBX:

ungetc:
    dec esi
    inc ebx
    ret

But, be careful! We are perfectly safe doing this if our look-ahead is at most one character at a time. If we are examining more than one upcoming character and call ungetc several times in a row, it will work most of the time, but not all the time (and will be tough to debug). Why?

Because as long as getchar does not have to call read, all of the pre-read bytes are still in the buffer, and our ungetc works without a glitch. But the moment getchar calls read, the contents of the buffer change.

We can always rely on ungetc working properly on the last character we have read with getchar, but not on anything we have read before that.

If your program reads more than one byte ahead, you have at least two choices:

If possible, modify the program so it only reads one byte ahead. This is the simplest solution.

If that option is not available, first of all determine the maximum number of characters your program needs to return to the input stream at one time. Increase that number slightly, just to be sure, preferably to a multiple of 16--so it aligns nicely. Then modify the .bss section of your code, and create a small "spare" buffer right before your input buffer, something like this:

section    .bss
    resb    16  ; or whatever the value you came up with
ibuffer resb    BUFSIZE
obuffer resb    BUFSIZE

You also need to modify your ungetc to pass the value of the byte to unget in AL:

ungetc:
    dec esi
    inc ebx
    mov [esi], al
    ret

With this modification, you can call ungetc up to 17 times in a row safely (the first call will still be within the buffer, the remaining 16 may be either within the buffer or within the "spare").

11.10.1 How to Find Environment Variables

I said earlier that when a program starts executing, the stack contains argc followed by the NULL-terminated argv array, followed by something else. The "something else" is the environment, or, to be more precise, a NULL-terminated array of pointers to environment variables. This is often referred to as env.

The structure of env is the same as that of argv, a list of memory addresses followed by a NULL (0). In this case, there is no "envc"--we figure out where the array ends by searching for the final NULL.

The variables usually come in the name=value format, but sometimes the =value part may be missing. We need to account for that possibility.

11.10.2 webvars

I could just show you some code that prints the environment the same way the UNIX env command does. But I thought it would be more interesting to write a simple assembly language CGI utility.

;;;;;;; webvars.asm ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Copyright (c) 2000 G. Adam Stanislav
; All rights reserved.
;
; Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
; modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
; are met:
; 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
;    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
; 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
;    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
;    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
;
; THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
; ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
; IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
; ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
; FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
; DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
; OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
; HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
; LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
; OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
; SUCH DAMAGE.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Version 1.0
;
; Started:   8-Dec-2000
; Updated:   8-Dec-2000
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
%include    'system.inc'

section .data
http    db  'Content-type: text/html', 0Ah, 0Ah
    db  '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>', 0Ah
    db  '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C/DTD XHTML Strict//EN" '
    db  '"DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">', 0Ah
    db  '<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" '
    db  'xml.lang="en" lang="en">', 0Ah
    db  '<head>', 0Ah
    db  '<title>Web Environment</title>', 0Ah
    db  '<meta name="author" content="G. Adam Stanislav" />', 0Ah
    db  '</head>', 0Ah, 0Ah
    db  '<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000ff" '
    db  'vlink="#840084" alink="#0000ff">', 0Ah
    db  '<div class="webvars">', 0Ah
    db  '<h1>Web Environment</h1>', 0Ah
    db  '<p>The following <b>environment variables</b> are defined '
    db  'on this web server:</p>', 0Ah, 0Ah
    db  '<table align="center" width="80" border="0" cellpadding="10" '
    db  'cellspacing="0" class="webvars">', 0Ah
httplen equ $-http
left    db  '<tr>', 0Ah
    db  '<td class="name"><tt>'
leftlen equ $-left
middle  db  '</tt></td>', 0Ah
    db  '<td class="value"><tt><b>'
midlen  equ $-middle
undef   db  '<i>(undefined)</i>'
undeflen    equ $-undef
right   db  '</b></tt></td>', 0Ah
    db  '</tr>', 0Ah
rightlen    equ $-right
wrap    db  '</table>', 0Ah
    db  '</div>', 0Ah
    db  '</body>', 0Ah
    db  '</html>', 0Ah, 0Ah
wraplen equ $-wrap

section .text
global  _start
_start:
    ; First, send out all the http and xhtml stuff that is
    ; needed before we start showing the environment
    push    dword httplen
    push    dword http
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Now find how far on the stack the environment pointers
    ; are. We have 12 bytes we have pushed before "argc"
    mov eax, [esp+12]

    ; We need to remove the following from the stack:
    ;
    ;   The 12 bytes we pushed for sys.write
    ;   The  4 bytes of argc
    ;   The EAX*4 bytes of argv
    ;   The  4 bytes of the NULL after argv
    ;
    ; Total:
    ;   20 + eax * 4
    ;
    ; Because stack grows down, we need to ADD that many bytes
    ; to ESP.
    lea esp, [esp+20+eax*4]
    cld     ; This should already be the case, but let's be sure.

    ; Loop through the environment, printing it out
.loop:
    pop edi
    or  edi, edi    ; Done yet?
    je  near .wrap

    ; Print the left part of HTML
    push    dword leftlen
    push    dword left
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; It may be tempting to search for the '=' in the env string next.
    ; But it is possible there is no '=', so we search for the
    ; terminating NUL first.
    mov esi, edi    ; Save start of string
    sub ecx, ecx
    not ecx     ; ECX = FFFFFFFF
    sub eax, eax
repne   scasb
    not ecx     ; ECX = string length + 1
    mov ebx, ecx    ; Save it in EBX

    ; Now is the time to find '='
    mov edi, esi    ; Start of string
    mov al, '='
repne   scasb
    not ecx
    add ecx, ebx    ; Length of name

    push    ecx
    push    esi
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Print the middle part of HTML table code
    push    dword midlen
    push    dword middle
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Find the length of the value
    not ecx
    lea ebx, [ebx+ecx-1]

    ; Print "undefined" if 0
    or  ebx, ebx
    jne .value

    mov ebx, undeflen
    mov edi, undef

.value:
    push    ebx
    push    edi
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Print the right part of the table row
    push    dword rightlen
    push    dword right
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Get rid of the 60 bytes we have pushed
    add esp, byte 60

    ; Get the next variable
    jmp .loop

.wrap:
    ; Print the rest of HTML
    push    dword wraplen
    push    dword wrap
    push    dword stdout
    sys.write

    ; Return success
    push    dword 0
    sys.exit

% nasm -f elf webvars.asm
% ld -s -o webvars webvars.o

11.11.1 Finite State Machine

The problem is easily solved by the use of a technique called finite state machine, originally developed by the designers of digital electronic circuits. A finite state machine is a digital circuit whose output is dependent not only on its input but on its previous input, i.e., on its state. The microprocessor is an example of a finite state machine: Our assembly language code is assembled to machine language in which some assembly language code produces a single byte of machine language, while others produce several bytes. As the microprocessor fetches the bytes from the memory one by one, some of them simply change its state rather than produce some output. When all the bytes of the op code are fetched, the microprocessor produces some output, or changes the value of a register, etc.

Because of that, all software is essentially a sequence of state instructions for the microprocessor. Nevertheless, the concept of finite state machine is useful in software design as well.

Our text file converter can be designed as a finite state machine with three possible states. We could call them states 0-2, but it will make our life easier if we give them symbolic names:

• ordinary

• cr

• lf

Our program will start in the ordinary state. During this state, the program action depends on its input as follows:

• If the input is anything other than a carriage return or line feed, the input is simply passed on to the output. The state remains unchanged.

• If the input is a carriage return, the state is changed to cr. The input is then discarded, i.e., no output is made.

• If the input is a line feed, the state is changed to lf. The input is then discarded.

Whenever we are in the cr state, it is because the last input was a carriage return, which was unprocessed. What our software does in this state again depends on the current input:

• If the input is anything other than a carriage return or line feed, output a line feed, then output the input, then change the state to ordinary.

• If the input is a carriage return, we have received two (or more) carriage returns in a row. We discard the input, we output a line feed, and leave the state unchanged.

• If the input is a line feed, we output the line feed and change the state to ordinary. Note that this is not the same as the first case above - if we tried to combine them, we would be outputting two line feeds instead of one.

Finally, we are in the lf state after we have received a line feed that was not preceded by a carriage return. This will happen when our file already is in UNIX format, or whenever several lines in a row are expressed by a single carriage return followed by several line feeds, or when line ends with a line feed / carriage return sequence. Here is how we need to handle our input in this state:

• If the input is anything other than a carriage return or line feed, we output a line feed, then output the input, then change the state to ordinary. This is exactly the same action as in the cr state upon receiving the same kind of input.

• If the input is a carriage return, we discard the input, we output a line feed, then change the state to ordinary.

• If the input is a line feed, we output the line feed, and leave the state unchanged.

11.11.2 Implementing FSM in Software

The hardest part of working with a finite state machine is analyzing the problem and expressing it as a finite state machine. That accomplished, the software almost writes itself.

In a high-level language, such as C, there are several main approaches. One is to use a switch statement which chooses what function should be run. For example,

   switch (state) {
    default:
    case REGULAR:
        regular(inputchar);
        break;
    case CR:
        cr(inputchar);
        break;
    case LF:
        lf(inputchar);
        break;
    }

Another approach is by using an array of function pointers, something like this:

   (output[state])(inputchar);

Yet another is to have state be a function pointer, set to point at the appropriate function:

   (*state)(inputchar);

This is the approach we will use in our program because it is very easy to do in assembly language, and very fast, too. We will simply keep the address of the right procedure in EBX, and then just issue:

   call    ebx

This is possibly faster than hardcoding the address in the code because the microprocessor does not have to fetch the address from the memory--it is already stored in one of its registers. I said possibly because with the caching modern microprocessors do, either way may be equally fast.

11.11.3 Memory Mapped Files

Because our program works on a single file, we cannot use the approach that worked for us before, i.e., to read from an input file and to write to an output file.

UNIX allows us to map a file, or a section of a file, into memory. To do that, we first need to open the file with the appropriate read/write flags. Then we use the mmap system call to map it into the memory. One nice thing about mmap is that it automatically works with virtual memory: We can map more of the file into the memory than we have physical memory available, yet still access it through regular memory op codes, such as mov, lods, and stos. Whatever changes we make to the memory image of the file will be written to the file by the system. We do not even have to keep the file open: As long as it stays mapped, we can read from it and write to it.

The 32-bit Intel microprocessors can access up to four gigabytes of memory - physical or virtual. The FreeBSD system allows us to use up to a half of it for file mapping.

For simplicity sake, in this tutorial we will only convert files that can be mapped into the memory in their entirety. There are probably not too many text files that exceed two gigabytes in size. If our program encounters one, it will simply display a message suggesting we use the original tuc instead.

If you examine your copy of syscalls.master, you will find two separate syscalls named mmap. This is because of evolution of UNIX: There was the traditional BSD mmap, syscall 71. That one was superseded by the POSIX mmap, syscall 197. The FreeBSD system supports both because older programs were written by using the original BSD version. But new software uses the POSIX version, which is what we will use.

The syscalls.master file lists the POSIX version like this:

197    STD BSD { caddr_t mmap(caddr_t addr, size_t len, int prot, \
                int flags, int fd, long pad, off_t pos); }

This differs slightly from what mmap(2) says. That is because mmap(2) describes the C version.

The difference is in the long pad argument, which is not present in the C version. However, the FreeBSD syscalls add a 32-bit pad after pushing a 64-bit argument. In this case, off_t is a 64-bit value.

When we are finished working with a memory-mapped file, we unmap it with the munmap syscall:

11.11.4 Determining File Size

Because we need to tell mmap how many bytes of the file to map into the memory, and because we want to map the entire file, we need to determine the size of the file.

We can use the fstat syscall to get all the information about an open file that the system can give us. That includes the file size.

Again, syscalls.master lists two versions of fstat, a traditional one (syscall 62), and a POSIX one (syscall 189). Naturally, we will use the POSIX version:

189    STD POSIX   { int fstat(int fd, struct stat *sb); }

This is a very straightforward call: We pass to it the address of a stat structure and the descriptor of an open file. It will fill out the contents of the stat structure.

I do, however, have to say that I tried to declare the stat structure in the .bss section, and fstat did not like it: It set the carry flag indicating an error. After I changed the code to allocate the structure on the stack, everything was working fine.

11.11.5 Changing the File Size

Because our program may combine carriage return / line feed sequences into straight line feeds, our output may be smaller than our input. However, since we are placing our output into the same file we read the input from, we may have to change the size of the file.

The ftruncate system call allows us to do just that. Despite its somewhat misleading name, the ftruncate system call can be used to both truncate the file (make it smaller) and to grow it.

And yes, we will find two versions of ftruncate in syscalls.master, an older one (130), and a newer one (201). We will use the newer one:

201    STD BSD { int ftruncate(int fd, int pad, off_t length); }

Please note that this one contains a int pad again.

11.11.6 ftuc

We now know everything we need to write ftuc. We start by adding some new lines in system.inc. First, we define some constants and structures, somewhere at or near the beginning of the file:

;;;;;;; open flags
%define O_RDONLY    0
%define O_WRONLY    1
%define O_RDWR  2

;;;;;;; mmap flags
%define PROT_NONE   0
%define PROT_READ   1
%define PROT_WRITE  2
%define PROT_EXEC   4
;;
%define MAP_SHARED  0001h
%define MAP_PRIVATE 0002h

;;;;;;; stat structure
struc   stat
st_dev      resd    1   ; = 0
st_ino      resd    1   ; = 4
st_mode     resw    1   ; = 8, size is 16 bits
st_nlink    resw    1   ; = 10, ditto
st_uid      resd    1   ; = 12
st_gid      resd    1   ; = 16
st_rdev     resd    1   ; = 20
st_atime    resd    1   ; = 24
st_atimensec    resd    1   ; = 28
st_mtime    resd    1   ; = 32
st_mtimensec    resd    1   ; = 36
st_ctime    resd    1   ; = 40
st_ctimensec    resd    1   ; = 44
st_size     resd    2   ; = 48, size is 64 bits
st_blocks   resd    2   ; = 56, ditto
st_blksize  resd    1   ; = 64
st_flags    resd    1   ; = 68
st_gen      resd    1   ; = 72
st_lspare   resd    1   ; = 76
st_qspare   resd    4   ; = 80
endstruc

We define the new syscalls:

%define    SYS_mmap    197
%define SYS_munmap  73
%define SYS_fstat   189
%define SYS_ftruncate   201

We add the macros for their use:

%macro sys.mmap    0
    system  SYS_mmap
%endmacro

%macro  sys.munmap  0
    system  SYS_munmap
%endmacro

%macro  sys.ftruncate   0
    system  SYS_ftruncate
%endmacro

%macro  sys.fstat   0
    system  SYS_fstat
%endmacro

And here is our code:

;;;;;;; Fast Text-to-Unix Conversion (ftuc.asm) ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;; Started: 21-Dec-2000
;; Updated: 22-Dec-2000
;;
;; Copyright 2000 G. Adam Stanislav.
;; All rights reserved.
;;
;;;;;;; v.1 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
%include    'system.inc'

section .data
    db  'Copyright 2000 G. Adam Stanislav.', 0Ah
    db  'All rights reserved.', 0Ah
usg db  'Usage: ftuc filename', 0Ah
usglen  equ $-usg
co  db  "ftuc: Can't open file.", 0Ah
colen   equ $-co
fae db  'ftuc: File access error.', 0Ah
faelen  equ $-fae
ftl db  'ftuc: File too long, use regular tuc instead.', 0Ah
ftllen  equ $-ftl
mae db  'ftuc: Memory allocation error.', 0Ah
maelen  equ $-mae

section .text

align 4
memerr:
    push    dword maelen
    push    dword mae
    jmp short error

align 4
toolong:
    push    dword ftllen
    push    dword ftl
    jmp short error

align 4
facerr:
    push    dword faelen
    push    dword fae
    jmp short error

align 4
cantopen:
    push    dword colen
    push    dword co
    jmp short error

align 4
usage:
    push    dword usglen
    push    dword usg

error:
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write

    push    dword 1
    sys.exit

align 4
global  _start
_start:
    pop eax     ; argc
    pop eax     ; program name
    pop ecx     ; file to convert
    jecxz   usage

    pop eax
    or  eax, eax    ; Too many arguments?
    jne usage

    ; Open the file
    push    dword O_RDWR
    push    ecx
    sys.open
    jc  cantopen

    mov ebp, eax    ; Save fd

    sub esp, byte stat_size
    mov ebx, esp

    ; Find file size
    push    ebx
    push    ebp     ; fd
    sys.fstat
    jc  facerr

    mov edx, [ebx + st_size + 4]

    ; File is too long if EDX != 0 ...
    or  edx, edx
    jne near toolong
    mov ecx, [ebx + st_size]
    ; ... or if it is above 2 GB
    or  ecx, ecx
    js  near toolong

    ; Do nothing if the file is 0 bytes in size
    jecxz   .quit

    ; Map the entire file in memory
    push    edx
    push    edx     ; starting at offset 0
    push    edx     ; pad
    push    ebp     ; fd
    push    dword MAP_SHARED
    push    dword PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE
    push    ecx     ; entire file size
    push    edx     ; let system decide on the address
    sys.mmap
    jc  near memerr

    mov edi, eax
    mov esi, eax
    push    ecx     ; for SYS_munmap
    push    edi

    ; Use EBX for state machine
    mov ebx, ordinary
    mov ah, 0Ah
    cld

.loop:
    lodsb
    call    ebx
    loop    .loop

    cmp ebx, ordinary
    je  .filesize

    ; Output final lf
    mov al, ah
    stosb
    inc edx

.filesize:
    ; truncate file to new size
    push    dword 0     ; high dword
    push    edx     ; low dword
    push    eax     ; pad
    push    ebp
    sys.ftruncate

    ; close it (ebp still pushed)
    sys.close

    add esp, byte 16
    sys.munmap

.quit:
    push    dword 0
    sys.exit

align 4
ordinary:
    cmp al, 0Dh
    je  .cr

    cmp al, ah
    je  .lf

    stosb
    inc edx
    ret

align 4
.cr:
    mov ebx, cr
    ret

align 4
.lf:
    mov ebx, lf
    ret

align 4
cr:
    cmp al, 0Dh
    je  .cr

    cmp al, ah
    je  .lf

    xchg    al, ah
    stosb
    inc edx

    xchg    al, ah
    ; fall through

.lf:
    stosb
    inc edx
    mov ebx, ordinary
    ret

align 4
.cr:
    mov al, ah
    stosb
    inc edx
    ret

align 4
lf:
    cmp al, ah
    je  .lf

    cmp al, 0Dh
    je  .cr

    xchg    al, ah
    stosb
    inc edx

    xchg    al, ah
    stosb
    inc edx
    mov ebx, ordinary
    ret

align 4
.cr:
    mov ebx, ordinary
    mov al, ah
    ; fall through

.lf:
    stosb
    inc edx
    ret

11.12.1 CSV

I will illustrate this principle with a specific real-life example I was faced with recently:

I needed to extract the 11th field of each record from a database I downloaded from a web site. The database was a CSV file, i.e., a list of comma-separated values. That is quite a standard format for sharing data among people who may be using different database software.

The first line of the file contains the list of various fields separated by commas. The rest of the file contains the data listed line by line, with values separated by commas.

I tried awk, using the comma as a separator. But because several lines contained a quoted comma, awk was extracting the wrong field from those lines.

Therefore, I needed to write my own software to extract the 11th field from the CSV file. However, going with the UNIX spirit, I only needed to write a simple filter that would do the following:

• Remove the first line from the file;

• Change all unquoted commas to a different character;

• Remove all quotation marks.

Strictly speaking, I could use sed to remove the first line from the file, but doing so in my own program was very easy, so I decided to do it and reduce the size of the pipeline.

At any rate, writing a program like this took me about 20 minutes. Writing a program that extracts the 11th field from the CSV file would take a lot longer, and I could not reuse it to extract some other field from some other database.

This time I decided to let it do a little more work than a typical tutorial program would:

• It parses its command line for options;

• It displays proper usage if it finds wrong arguments;

• It produces meaningful error messages.

Here is its usage message:

Usage: csv [-t<delim>] [-c<comma>] [-p] [-o <outfile>] [-i <infile>]

All parameters are optional, and can appear in any order.

The -t parameter declares what to replace the commas with. The tab is the default here. For example, -t; will replace all unquoted commas with semicolons.

I did not need the -c option, but it may come in handy in the future. It lets me declare that I want a character other than a comma replaced with something else. For example, -c@ will replace all at signs (useful if you want to split a list of email addresses to their user names and domains).

The -p option preserves the first line, i.e., it does not delete it. By default, we delete the first line because in a CSV file it contains the field names rather than data.

The -i and -o options let me specify the input and the output files. Defaults are stdin and stdout, so this is a regular UNIX filter.

I made sure that both -i filename and -ifilename are accepted. I also made sure that only one input and one output files may be specified.

To get the 11th field of each record, I can now do:

% csv '-t;' data.csv | awk '-F;' '{print $11}'

The code stores the options (except for the file descriptors) in EDX: The comma in DH, the new separator in DL, and the flag for the -p option in the highest bit of EDX, so a check for its sign will give us a quick decision what to do.

Here is the code:

;;;;;;; csv.asm ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Convert a comma-separated file to a something-else separated file.
;
; Started:  31-May-2001
; Updated:   1-Jun-2001
;
; Copyright (c) 2001 G. Adam Stanislav
; All rights reserved.
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

%include    'system.inc'

%define BUFSIZE 2048

section .data
fd.in   dd  stdin
fd.out  dd  stdout
usg db  'Usage: csv [-t<delim>] [-c<comma>] [-p] [-o <outfile>] [-i <infile>]', 0Ah
usglen  equ $-usg
iemsg   db  "csv: Can't open input file", 0Ah
iemlen  equ $-iemsg
oemsg   db  "csv: Can't create output file", 0Ah
oemlen  equ $-oemsg

section .bss
ibuffer resb    BUFSIZE
obuffer resb    BUFSIZE

section .text
align 4
ierr:
    push    dword iemlen
    push    dword iemsg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 1     ; return failure
    sys.exit

align 4
oerr:
    push    dword oemlen
    push    dword oemsg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 2
    sys.exit

align 4
usage:
    push    dword usglen
    push    dword usg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 3
    sys.exit

align 4
global  _start
_start:
    add esp, byte 8 ; discard argc and argv[0]
    mov edx, (',' << 8) | 9

.arg:
    pop ecx
    or  ecx, ecx
    je  near .init      ; no more arguments

    ; ECX contains the pointer to an argument
    cmp byte [ecx], '-'
    jne usage

    inc ecx
    mov ax, [ecx]

.o:
    cmp al, 'o'
    jne .i

    ; Make sure we are not asked for the output file twice
    cmp dword [fd.out], stdout
    jne usage

    ; Find the path to output file - it is either at [ECX+1],
    ; i.e., -ofile --
    ; or in the next argument,
    ; i.e., -o file

    inc ecx
    or  ah, ah
    jne .openoutput
    pop ecx
    jecxz   usage

.openoutput:
    push    dword 420   ; file mode (644 octal)
    push    dword 0200h | 0400h | 01h
    ; O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY
    push    ecx
    sys.open
    jc  near oerr

    add esp, byte 12
    mov [fd.out], eax
    jmp short .arg

.i:
    cmp al, 'i'
    jne .p

    ; Make sure we are not asked twice
    cmp dword [fd.in], stdin
    jne near usage

    ; Find the path to the input file
    inc ecx
    or  ah, ah
    jne .openinput
    pop ecx
    or  ecx, ecx
    je near usage

.openinput:
    push    dword 0     ; O_RDONLY
    push    ecx
    sys.open
    jc  near ierr       ; open failed

    add esp, byte 8
    mov [fd.in], eax
    jmp .arg

.p:
    cmp al, 'p'
    jne .t
    or  ah, ah
    jne near usage
    or  edx, 1 << 31
    jmp .arg

.t:
    cmp al, 't'     ; redefine output delimiter
    jne .c
    or  ah, ah
    je  near usage
    mov dl, ah
    jmp .arg

.c:
    cmp al, 'c'
    jne near usage
    or  ah, ah
    je  near usage
    mov dh, ah
    jmp .arg

align 4
.init:
    sub eax, eax
    sub ebx, ebx
    sub ecx, ecx
    mov edi, obuffer

    ; See if we are to preserve the first line
    or  edx, edx
    js  .loop

.firstline:
    ; get rid of the first line
    call    getchar
    cmp al, 0Ah
    jne .firstline

.loop:
    ; read a byte from stdin
    call    getchar

    ; is it a comma (or whatever the user asked for)?
    cmp al, dh
    jne .quote

    ; Replace the comma with a tab (or whatever the user wants)
    mov al, dl

.put:
    call    putchar
    jmp short .loop

.quote:
    cmp al, '"'
    jne .put

    ; Print everything until you get another quote or EOL. If it
    ; is a quote, skip it. If it is EOL, print it.
.qloop:
    call    getchar
    cmp al, '"'
    je  .loop

    cmp al, 0Ah
    je  .put

    call    putchar
    jmp short .qloop

align 4
getchar:
    or  ebx, ebx
    jne .fetch

    call    read

.fetch:
    lodsb
    dec ebx
    ret

read:
    jecxz   .read
    call    write

.read:
    push    dword BUFSIZE
    mov esi, ibuffer
    push    esi
    push    dword [fd.in]
    sys.read
    add esp, byte 12
    mov ebx, eax
    or  eax, eax
    je  .done
    sub eax, eax
    ret

align 4
.done:
    call    write       ; flush output buffer

    ; close files
    push    dword [fd.in]
    sys.close

    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.close

    ; return success
    push    dword 0
    sys.exit

align 4
putchar:
    stosb
    inc ecx
    cmp ecx, BUFSIZE
    je  write
    ret

align 4
write:
    jecxz   .ret    ; nothing to write
    sub edi, ecx    ; start of buffer
    push    ecx
    push    edi
    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.write
    add esp, byte 12
    sub eax, eax
    sub ecx, ecx    ; buffer is empty now
.ret:
    ret

Much of it is taken from hex.asm above. But there is one important difference: I no longer call write whenever I am outputting a line feed. Yet, the code can be used interactively.

I have found a better solution for the interactive problem since I first started writing this chapter. I wanted to make sure each line is printed out separately only when needed. After all, there is no need to flush out every line when used non-interactively.

The new solution I use now is to call write every time I find the input buffer empty. That way, when running in the interactive mode, the program reads one line from the user's keyboard, processes it, and sees its input buffer is empty. It flushes its output and reads the next line.

.loop:
    call    getchar
    not al      ; Create a negative
    call    putchar
    jmp short .loop

11.13.1 Organization of the FPU

The FPU consists of 8 80-bit floating-point registers. These are organized in a stack fashion--you can push a value on TOS (top of stack) and you can pop it.

That said, the assembly language op codes are not push and pop because those are already taken.

You can push a value on TOS by using fld, fild, and fbld. Several other op codes let you push many common constants--such as pi--on the TOS.

Similarly, you can pop a value by using fst, fstp, fist, fistp, and fbstp. Actually, only the op codes that end with a p will literally pop the value, the rest will store it somewhere else without removing it from the TOS.

We can transfer the data between the TOS and the computer memory either as a 32-bit, 64-bit, or 80-bit real, a 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit integer, or an 80-bit packed decimal.

The 80-bit packed decimal is a special case of binary coded decimal which is very convenient when converting between the ASCII representation of data and the internal data of the FPU. It allows us to use 18 significant digits.

No matter how we represent data in the memory, the FPU always stores it in the 80-bit real format in its registers.

Its internal precision is at least 19 decimal digits, so even if we choose to display results as ASCII in the full 18-digit precision, we are still showing correct results.

We can perform mathematical operations on the TOS: We can calculate its sine, we can scale it (i.e., we can multiply or divide it by a power of 2), we can calculate its base-2 logarithm, and many other things.

We can also multiply or divide it by, add it to, or subtract it from, any of the FPU registers (including itself).

The official Intel op code for the TOS is st, and for the registers st(0)-st(7). st and st(0), then, refer to the same register.

For whatever reasons, the original author of nasm has decided to use different op codes, namely st0-st7. In other words, there are no parentheses, and the TOS is always st0, never just st.

80 00 00 00 00 00 01 23 45 67

67 45 23 01 00 00 00 00 00 80

11.13.2 Excursion to Pinhole Photography

To write meaningful software, we must not only understand our programming tools, but also the field we are creating software for.

Our next filter will help us whenever we want to build a pinhole camera, so, we need some background in pinhole photography before we can continue.

   D = PC * sqrt(FL)

   F = FL / D

   t * (B / A)²

11.13.3 Designing the Pinhole Software

We are now ready to decide what exactly we want our pinhole software to do.

100, 150, 210

What is the best pinhole diameter for the focal length of 150?

Syntax error: What
Syntax error: is
Syntax error: the
Syntax error: best

00000000150

17459765723452353453534535353530530534563507309676764423

17459765723452353453534535353530530534563507309676764423   ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

0  ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

   fmul    st0, st0
    fld1
    fld st1
    fyl2x
    frndint
    fld1
    fscale
    fsqrt
    fstp    st1

11.13.4 FPU Optimizations

In assembly language we can optimize the FPU code in ways impossible in high languages, including C.

Whenever a C function needs to calculate a floating-point value, it loads all necessary variables and constants into FPU registers. It then does whatever calculation is required to get the correct result. Good C compilers can optimize that part of the code really well.

It "returns" the value by leaving the result on the TOS. However, before it returns, it cleans up. Any variables and constants it used in its calculation are now gone from the FPU.

It cannot do what we just did above: We calculated the square of the f-number and kept it on the stack for later use by another function.

We knew we would need that value later on. We also knew we had enough room on the stack (which only has room for 8 numbers) to store it there.

A C compiler has no way of knowing that a value it has on the stack will be required again in the very near future.

Of course, the C programmer may know it. But the only recourse he has is to store the value in a memory variable.

That means, for one, the value will be changed from the 80-bit precision used internally by the FPU to a C double (64 bits) or even single (32 bits).

That also means that the value must be moved from the TOS into the memory, and then back again. Alas, of all FPU operations, the ones that access the computer memory are the slowest.

So, whenever programming the FPU in assembly language, look for the ways of keeping intermediate results on the FPU stack.

We can take that idea even further! In our program we are using a constant (the one we named PC).

It does not matter how many pinhole diameters we are calculating: 1, 10, 20, 1000, we are always using the same constant. Therefore, we can optimize our program by keeping the constant on the stack all the time.

Early on in our program, we are calculating the value of the above constant. We need to divide our input by 10 for every digit in the constant.

It is much faster to multiply than to divide. So, at the start of our program, we divide 10 into 1 to obtain 0.1, which we then keep on the stack: Instead of dividing the input by 10 for every digit, we multiply it by 0.1.

By the way, we do not input 0.1 directly, even though we could. We have a reason for that: While 0.1 can be expressed with just one decimal place, we do not know how many binary places it takes. We, therefore, let the FPU calculate its binary value to its own high precision.

We are using other constants: We multiply the pinhole diameter by 1000 to convert it from millimeters to microns. We compare numbers to 10000 when we are rounding them off to four significant digits. So, we keep both, 1000 and 10000, on the stack. And, of course, we reuse the 0.1 when rounding off numbers to four digits.

Last but not least, we keep -5 on the stack. We need it to scale the square of the f-number, instead of dividing it by 32. It is not by coincidence we load this constant last. That makes it the top of the stack when only the constants are on it. So, when the square of the f-number is being scaled, the -5 is at st(1), precisely where fscale expects it to be.

It is common to create certain constants from scratch instead of loading them from the memory. That is what we are doing with -5:

   fld1            ; TOS =  1
    fadd    st0, st0    ; TOS =  2
    fadd    st0, st0    ; TOS =  4
    fld1            ; TOS =  1
    faddp   st1, st0    ; TOS =  5
    fchs            ; TOS = -5

We can generalize all these optimizations into one rule: Keep repeat values on the stack!

11.13.5 pinhole--The Code

;;;;;;; pinhole.asm ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Find various parameters of a pinhole camera construction and use
;
; Started:   9-Jun-2001
; Updated:  10-Jun-2001
;
; Copyright (c) 2001 G. Adam Stanislav
; All rights reserved.
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

%include    'system.inc'

%define BUFSIZE 2048

section .data
align 4
ten dd  10
thousand    dd  1000
tthou   dd  10000
fd.in   dd  stdin
fd.out  dd  stdout
envar   db  'PINHOLE='  ; Exactly 8 bytes, or 2 dwords long
pinhole db  '04,',      ; Bender's constant (0.04)
connors db  '037', 0Ah  ; Connors' constant
usg db  'Usage: pinhole [-b] [-c] [-e] [-p <value>] [-o <outfile>] [-i <infile>]', 0Ah
usglen  equ $-usg
iemsg   db  "pinhole: Can't open input file", 0Ah
iemlen  equ $-iemsg
oemsg   db  "pinhole: Can't create output file", 0Ah
oemlen  equ $-oemsg
pinmsg  db  "pinhole: The PINHOLE constant must not be 0", 0Ah
pinlen  equ $-pinmsg
toobig  db  "pinhole: The PINHOLE constant may not exceed 18 decimal places", 0Ah
biglen  equ $-toobig
huhmsg  db  9, '???'
separ   db  9, '???'
sep2    db  9, '???'
sep3    db  9, '???'
sep4    db  9, '???', 0Ah
huhlen  equ $-huhmsg
header  db  'focal length in millimeters,pinhole diameter in microns,'
    db  'F-number,normalized F-number,F-5.6 multiplier,stops '
    db  'from F-5.6', 0Ah
headlen equ $-header

section .bss
ibuffer resb    BUFSIZE
obuffer resb    BUFSIZE
dbuffer resb    20      ; decimal input buffer
bbuffer resb    10      ; BCD buffer

section .text
align 4
huh:
    call    write
    push    dword huhlen
    push    dword huhmsg
    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.write
    add esp, byte 12
    ret

align 4
perr:
    push    dword pinlen
    push    dword pinmsg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 4     ; return failure
    sys.exit

align 4
consttoobig:
    push    dword biglen
    push    dword toobig
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 5     ; return failure
    sys.exit

align 4
ierr:
    push    dword iemlen
    push    dword iemsg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 1     ; return failure
    sys.exit

align 4
oerr:
    push    dword oemlen
    push    dword oemsg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 2
    sys.exit

align 4
usage:
    push    dword usglen
    push    dword usg
    push    dword stderr
    sys.write
    push    dword 3
    sys.exit

align 4
global  _start
_start:
    add esp, byte 8 ; discard argc and argv[0]
    sub esi, esi

.arg:
    pop ecx
    or  ecx, ecx
    je  near .getenv        ; no more arguments

    ; ECX contains the pointer to an argument
    cmp byte [ecx], '-'
    jne usage

    inc ecx
    mov ax, [ecx]
    inc ecx

.o:
    cmp al, 'o'
    jne .i

    ; Make sure we are not asked for the output file twice
    cmp dword [fd.out], stdout
    jne usage

    ; Find the path to output file - it is either at [ECX+1],
    ; i.e., -ofile --
    ; or in the next argument,
    ; i.e., -o file

    or  ah, ah
    jne .openoutput
    pop ecx
    jecxz   usage

.openoutput:
    push    dword 420   ; file mode (644 octal)
    push    dword 0200h | 0400h | 01h
    ; O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY
    push    ecx
    sys.open
    jc  near oerr

    add esp, byte 12
    mov [fd.out], eax
    jmp short .arg

.i:
    cmp al, 'i'
    jne .p

    ; Make sure we are not asked twice
    cmp dword [fd.in], stdin
    jne near usage

    ; Find the path to the input file
    or  ah, ah
    jne .openinput
    pop ecx
    or  ecx, ecx
    je near usage

.openinput:
    push    dword 0     ; O_RDONLY
    push    ecx
    sys.open
    jc  near ierr       ; open failed

    add esp, byte 8
    mov [fd.in], eax
    jmp .arg

.p:
    cmp al, 'p'
    jne .c
    or  ah, ah
    jne .pcheck

    pop ecx
    or  ecx, ecx
    je  near usage

    mov ah, [ecx]

.pcheck:
    cmp ah, '0'
    jl  near usage
    cmp ah, '9'
    ja  near usage
    mov esi, ecx
    jmp .arg

.c:
    cmp al, 'c'
    jne .b
    or  ah, ah
    jne near usage
    mov esi, connors
    jmp .arg

.b:
    cmp al, 'b'
    jne .e
    or  ah, ah
    jne near usage
    mov esi, pinhole
    jmp .arg

.e:
    cmp al, 'e'
    jne near usage
    or  ah, ah
    jne near usage
    mov al, ','
    mov [huhmsg], al
    mov [separ], al
    mov [sep2], al
    mov [sep3], al
    mov [sep4], al
    jmp .arg

align 4
.getenv:
    ; If ESI = 0, we did not have a -p argument,
    ; and need to check the environment for "PINHOLE="
    or  esi, esi
    jne .init

    sub ecx, ecx

.nextenv:
    pop esi
    or  esi, esi
    je  .default    ; no PINHOLE envar found

    ; check if this envar starts with 'PINHOLE='
    mov edi, envar
    mov cl, 2       ; 'PINHOLE=' is 2 dwords long
rep cmpsd
    jne .nextenv

    ; Check if it is followed by a digit
    mov al, [esi]
    cmp al, '0'
    jl  .default
    cmp al, '9'
    jbe .init
    ; fall through

align 4
.default:
    ; We got here because we had no -p argument,
    ; and did not find the PINHOLE envar.
    mov esi, pinhole
    ; fall through

align 4
.init:
    sub eax, eax
    sub ebx, ebx
    sub ecx, ecx
    sub edx, edx
    mov edi, dbuffer+1
    mov byte [dbuffer], '0'

    ; Convert the pinhole constant to real
.constloop:
    lodsb
    cmp al, '9'
    ja  .setconst
    cmp al, '0'
    je  .processconst
    jb  .setconst

    inc dl

.processconst:
    inc cl
    cmp cl, 18
    ja  near consttoobig
    stosb
    jmp short .constloop

align 4
.setconst:
    or  dl, dl
    je  near perr

    finit
    fild    dword [tthou]

    fld1
    fild    dword [ten]
    fdivp   st1, st0

    fild    dword [thousand]
    mov edi, obuffer

    mov ebp, ecx
    call    bcdload

.constdiv:
    fmul    st0, st2
    loop    .constdiv

    fld1
    fadd    st0, st0
    fadd    st0, st0
    fld1
    faddp   st1, st0
    fchs

    ; If we are creating a CSV file,
    ; print header
    cmp byte [separ], ','
    jne .bigloop

    push    dword headlen
    push    dword header
    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.write

.bigloop:
    call    getchar
    jc  near done

    ; Skip to the end of the line if you got '#'
    cmp al, '#'
    jne .num
    call    skiptoeol
    jmp short .bigloop

.num:
    ; See if you got a number
    cmp al, '0'
    jl  .bigloop
    cmp al, '9'
    ja  .bigloop

    ; Yes, we have a number
    sub ebp, ebp
    sub edx, edx

.number:
    cmp al, '0'
    je  .number0
    mov dl, 1

.number0:
    or  dl, dl      ; Skip leading 0's
    je  .nextnumber
    push    eax
    call    putchar
    pop eax
    inc ebp
    cmp ebp, 19
    jae .nextnumber
    mov [dbuffer+ebp], al

.nextnumber:
    call    getchar
    jc  .work
    cmp al, '#'
    je  .ungetc
    cmp al, '0'
    jl  .work
    cmp al, '9'
    ja  .work
    jmp short .number

.ungetc:
    dec esi
    inc ebx

.work:
    ; Now, do all the work
    or  dl, dl
    je  near .work0

    cmp ebp, 19
    jae near .toobig

    call    bcdload

    ; Calculate pinhole diameter

    fld st0 ; save it
    fsqrt
    fmul    st0, st3
    fld st0
    fmul    st5
    sub ebp, ebp

    ; Round off to 4 significant digits
.diameter:
    fcom    st0, st7
    fstsw   ax
    sahf
    jb  .printdiameter
    fmul    st0, st6
    inc ebp
    jmp short .diameter

.printdiameter:
    call    printnumber ; pinhole diameter

    ; Calculate F-number

    fdivp   st1, st0
    fld st0

    sub ebp, ebp

.fnumber:
    fcom    st0, st6
    fstsw   ax
    sahf
    jb  .printfnumber
    fmul    st0, st5
    inc ebp
    jmp short .fnumber

.printfnumber:
    call    printnumber ; F number

    ; Calculate normalized F-number
    fmul    st0, st0
    fld1
    fld st1
    fyl2x
    frndint
    fld1
    fscale
    fsqrt
    fstp    st1

    sub ebp, ebp
    call    printnumber

    ; Calculate time multiplier from F-5.6

    fscale
    fld st0

    ; Round off to 4 significant digits
.fmul:
    fcom    st0, st6
    fstsw   ax
    sahf

    jb  .printfmul
    inc ebp
    fmul    st0, st5
    jmp short .fmul

.printfmul:
    call    printnumber ; F multiplier

    ; Calculate F-stops from 5.6

    fld1
    fxch    st1
    fyl2x

    sub ebp, ebp
    call    printnumber

    mov al, 0Ah
    call    putchar
    jmp .bigloop

.work0:
    mov al, '0'
    call    putchar

align 4
.toobig:
    call    huh
    jmp .bigloop

align 4
done:
    call    write       ; flush output buffer

    ; close files
    push    dword [fd.in]
    sys.close

    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.close

    finit

    ; return success
    push    dword 0
    sys.exit

align 4
skiptoeol:
    ; Keep reading until you come to cr, lf, or eof
    call    getchar
    jc  done
    cmp al, 0Ah
    jne .cr
    ret

.cr:
    cmp al, 0Dh
    jne skiptoeol
    ret

align 4
getchar:
    or  ebx, ebx
    jne .fetch

    call    read

.fetch:
    lodsb
    dec ebx
    clc
    ret

read:
    jecxz   .read
    call    write

.read:
    push    dword BUFSIZE
    mov esi, ibuffer
    push    esi
    push    dword [fd.in]
    sys.read
    add esp, byte 12
    mov ebx, eax
    or  eax, eax
    je  .empty
    sub eax, eax
    ret

align 4
.empty:
    add esp, byte 4
    stc
    ret

align 4
putchar:
    stosb
    inc ecx
    cmp ecx, BUFSIZE
    je  write
    ret

align 4
write:
    jecxz   .ret    ; nothing to write
    sub edi, ecx    ; start of buffer
    push    ecx
    push    edi
    push    dword [fd.out]
    sys.write
    add esp, byte 12
    sub eax, eax
    sub ecx, ecx    ; buffer is empty now
.ret:
    ret

align 4
bcdload:
    ; EBP contains the number of chars in dbuffer
    push    ecx
    push    esi
    push    edi

    lea ecx, [ebp+1]
    lea esi, [dbuffer+ebp-1]
    shr ecx, 1

    std

    mov edi, bbuffer
    sub eax, eax
    mov [edi], eax
    mov [edi+4], eax
    mov [edi+2], ax

.loop:
    lodsw
    sub ax, 3030h
    shl al, 4
    or  al, ah
    mov [edi], al
    inc edi
    loop    .loop

    fbld    [bbuffer]

    cld
    pop edi
    pop esi
    pop ecx
    sub eax, eax
    ret

align 4
printnumber:
    push    ebp
    mov al, [separ]
    call    putchar

    ; Print the integer at the TOS
    mov ebp, bbuffer+9
    fbstp   [bbuffer]

    ; Check the sign
    mov al, [ebp]
    dec ebp
    or  al, al
    jns .leading

    ; We got a negative number (should never happen)
    mov al, '-'
    call    putchar

.leading:
    ; Skip leading zeros
    mov al, [ebp]
    dec ebp
    or  al, al
    jne .first
    cmp ebp, bbuffer
    jae .leading

    ; We are here because the result was 0.
    ; Print '0' and return
    mov al, '0'
    jmp putchar

.first:
    ; We have found the first non-zero.
    ; But it is still packed
    test    al, 0F0h
    jz  .second
    push    eax
    shr al, 4
    add al, '0'
    call    putchar
    pop eax
    and al, 0Fh

.second:
    add al, '0'
    call    putchar

.next:
    cmp ebp, bbuffer
    jb  .done

    mov al, [ebp]
    push    eax
    shr al, 4
    add al, '0'
    call    putchar
    pop eax
    and al, 0Fh
    add al, '0'
    call    putchar

    dec ebp
    jmp short .next

.done:
    pop ebp
    or  ebp, ebp
    je  .ret

.zeros:
    mov al, '0'
    call    putchar
    dec ebp
    jne .zeros

.ret:
    ret

The code follows the same format as all the other filters we have seen before, with one subtle exception:

We are no longer assuming that the end of input implies the end of things to do, something we took for granted in the character-oriented filters.

This filter does not process characters. It processes a language (albeit a very simple one, consisting only of numbers).

When we have no more input, it can mean one of two things:

• We are done and can quit. This is the same as before.

• The last character we have read was a digit. We have stored it at the end of our ASCII-to-float conversion buffer. We now need to convert the contents of that buffer into a number and write the last line of our output.

For that reason, we have modified our getchar and our read routines to return with the carry flag clear whenever we are fetching another character from the input, or the carry flag set whenever there is no more input.

Of course, we are still using assembly language magic to do that! Take a good look at getchar. It always returns with the carry flag clear.

Yet, our main code relies on the carry flag to tell it when to quit--and it works.

The magic is in read. Whenever it receives more input from the system, it just returns to getchar, which fetches a character from the input buffer, clears the carry flag and returns.

But when read receives no more input from the system, it does not return to getchar at all. Instead, the add esp, byte 4 op code adds 4 to ESP, sets the carry flag, and returns.

So, where does it return to? Whenever a program uses the call op code, the microprocessor pushes the return address, i.e., it stores it on the top of the stack (not the FPU stack, the system stack, which is in the memory). When a program uses the ret op code, the microprocessor pops the return value from the stack, and jumps to the address that was stored there.

But since we added 4 to ESP (which is the stack pointer register), we have effectively given the microprocessor a minor case of amnesia: It no longer remembers it was getchar that called read.

And since getchar never pushed anything before calling read, the top of the stack now contains the return address to whatever or whoever called getchar. As far as that caller is concerned, he called getchar, which returned with the carry flag set!

Other than that, the bcdload routine is caught up in the middle of a Lilliputian conflict between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians.

It is converting the text representation of a number into that number: The text is stored in the big-endian order, but the packed decimal is little-endian.

To solve the conflict, we use the std op code early on. We cancel it with cld later on: It is quite important we do not call anything that may depend on the default setting of the direction flag while std is active.

Everything else in this code should be quite clear, providing you have read the entire chapter that precedes it.

It is a classical example of the adage that programming requires a lot of thought and only a little coding. Once we have thought through every tiny detail, the code almost writes itself.

11.13.6 Using pinhole

Because we have decided to make the program ignore any input except for numbers (and even those inside a comment), we can actually perform textual queries. We do not have to, but we can.

In my humble opinion, forming a textual query, instead of having to follow a very strict syntax, makes software much more user friendly.

Suppose we want to build a pinhole camera to use the 4x5 inch film. The standard focal length for that film is about 150mm. We want to fine-tune our focal length so the pinhole diameter is as round a number as possible. Let us also suppose we are quite comfortable with cameras but somewhat intimidated by computers. Rather than just have to type in a bunch of numbers, we want to ask a couple of questions.

Our session might look like this:

% pinhole

Computer,

What size pinhole do I need for the focal length of 150?
150 490 306 362 2930    12
Hmmm... How about 160?
160 506 316 362 3125    12
Let's make it 155, please.
155 498 311 362 3027    12
Ah, let's try 157...
157 501 313 362 3066    12
156?
156 500 312 362 3047    12
That's it! Perfect! Thank you very much!
^D

We have found that while for the focal length of 150, our pinhole diameter should be 490 microns, or 0.49 mm, if we go with the almost identical focal length of 156 mm, we can get away with a pinhole diameter of exactly one half of a millimeter.

11.13.7 Scripting

Because we have chosen the # character to denote the start of a comment, we can treat our pinhole software as a scripting language.

You have probably seen shell scripts that start with:

#! /bin/sh

...or...

#!/bin/sh

...because the blank space after the #! is optional.

Whenever UNIX is asked to run an executable file which starts with the #!, it assumes the file is a script. It adds the command to the rest of the first line of the script, and tries to execute that.

Suppose now that we have installed pinhole in /usr/local/bin/, we can now write a script to calculate various pinhole diameters suitable for various focal lengths commonly used with the 120 film.

The script might look something like this:

#! /usr/local/bin/pinhole -b -i
# Find the best pinhole diameter
# for the 120 film

### Standard
80

### Wide angle
30, 40, 50, 60, 70

### Telephoto
100, 120, 140

Because 120 is a medium size film, we may name this file medium.

We can set its permissions to execute, and run it as if it were a program:

% chmod 755 medium
% ./medium

UNIX will interpret that last command as:

% /usr/local/bin/pinhole -b -i ./medium

It will run that command and display:

80 358 224 256 1562    11
30  219 137 128 586 9
40  253 158 181 781 10
50  283 177 181 977 10
60  310 194 181 1172    10
70  335 209 181 1367    10
100 400 250 256 1953    11
120 438 274 256 2344    11
140 473 296 256 2734    11

Now, let us enter:

% ./medium -c

UNIX will treat that as:

% /usr/local/bin/pinhole -b -i ./medium -c

That gives it two conflicting options: -b and -c (Use Bender's constant and use Connors' constant). We have programmed it so later options override early ones--our program will calculate everything using Connors' constant:

80 331 242 256 1826    11
30  203 148 128 685 9
40  234 171 181 913 10
50  262 191 181 1141    10
60  287 209 181 1370    10
70  310 226 256 1598    11
100 370 270 256 2283    11
120 405 296 256 2739    11
140 438 320 362 3196    12

We decide we want to go with Bender's constant after all. We want to save its values as a comma-separated file:

% ./medium -b -e > bender
% cat bender
focal length in millimeters,pinhole diameter in microns,F-number,normalized F-number,F-5.6 multiplier,stops from F-5.6
80,358,224,256,1562,11
30,219,137,128,586,9
40,253,158,181,781,10
50,283,177,181,977,10
60,310,194,181,1172,10
70,335,209,181,1367,10
100,400,250,256,1953,11
120,438,274,256,2344,11
140,473,296,256,2734,11
%

11.14.1 UNIX Is Protected

For one thing, it may simply not be possible. UNIX runs in protected mode. Only the kernel and device drivers are allowed to access hardware directly. Perhaps a particular UNIX clone will let you read the keyboard scan codes, but chances are a real UNIX operating system will not. And even if one version may let you do it, the next one may not, so your carefully crafted software may become a dinosaur overnight.

11.14.2 UNIX Is an Abstraction

But there is a much more important reason not to try accessing the hardware directly (unless, of course, you are writing a device driver), even on the UNIX like systems that let you do it:

UNIX is an abstraction!

There is a major difference in the philosophy of design between MS-DOS and UNIX. MS-DOS was designed as a single-user system. It is run on a computer with a keyboard and a video screen attached directly to that computer. User input is almost guaranteed to come from that keyboard. Your program's output virtually always ends up on that screen.

This is NEVER guaranteed under UNIX. It is quite common for a UNIX user to pipe and redirect program input and output:

% program1 | program2 | program3 > file1

If you have written program2, your input does not come from the keyboard but from the output of program1. Similarly, your output does not go to the screen but becomes the input for program3 whose output, in turn, goes to file1.

But there is more! Even if you made sure that your input comes from, and your output goes to, the terminal, there is no guarantee the terminal is a PC: It may not have its video memory where you expect it, nor may its keyboard be producing PC-style scan codes. It may be a Macintosh, or any other computer.

Now you may be shaking your head: My software is in PC assembly language, how can it run on a Macintosh? But I did not say your software would be running on a Macintosh, only that its terminal may be a Macintosh.

Under UNIX, the terminal does not have to be directly attached to the computer that runs your software, it can even be on another continent, or, for that matter, on another planet. It is perfectly possible that a Macintosh user in Australia connects to a UNIX system in North America (or anywhere else) via telnet. The software then runs on one computer, while the terminal is on a different computer: If you try to read the scan codes, you will get the wrong input!

Same holds true about any other hardware: A file you are reading may be on a disk you have no direct access to. A camera you are reading images from may be on a space shuttle, connected to you via satellites.

That is why under UNIX you must never make any assumptions about where your data is coming from and going to. Always let the system handle the physical access to the hardware.