libk  readme.md at [6aeac330ce]

File arch/readme.md artifact 45fed8e393 part of check-in 6aeac330ce


libk/arch

the arch directory of the libk repository contains system-specific definitions and headers, such as error codes and system call tables. none of the files in arch are compiled, but are included from compiled files.

whenever a file is passed to the assembler or C compiler, an include directory is selected based on the chosen target tuple (see /libk.md). thus, when compiling a file that contains the line #include <system_calls.h> on an x86-32 freebsd system, the compiler will be instructed search (among other directories) the /arch/x86.fbsd.32 directory for headers.

structure

each subdirectory should be named for a specific target tuple. the top level is reserved for development tools and files of relevance to more than one architecture; for instance, the standardized x86-64 SysV syscall ABI is kept at /arch/x86.syscall.64.s. these files should not be included directly from any files under the /mod directory; rather, they should be included from stub files in the appropriate target directory. this provides a consistent header selection mechanism.

scripts

arch contains a number of shell scripts. unlike the shell scripts in /global, the shell scripts in /arch are not part of the build process; they are simply developer tools, usually for generating syscall tables for new architectures. the output of the scripts is written directly to the appropriate target directory; these files should be added to the source tree and committed.

  • mktbl.linux.sh <target> <arch> <ABI>: generates the Linux errno and syscall tables for a given architecture and ABI. requires the kernel source tree to be installed on the host system.

sources

the arch directory also contains C sources for programs that need to be compiled and executed during the build process.

  • typesize.c: calculates type metadata for the system it is compiled on, producing macros needed for the creation of <k/type.h> (mod/kcore/type.h.m).