libk  readme.md at [5f66b55640]

File arch/readme.md artifact 51b8ad36cd part of check-in 5f66b55640


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.posix.sh <target> <ABI>: generates the C headers for a particular target based on the system_calls.h and error_table.h files in its directory. the ABI parameter controls which syscalls are included; the ABI is the second column in the kernel system calls table.
  • mktbl.linux.errno.sh <target> <ABI>: generates the errno table for a given architecture and ABI. requires the kernel source tree to be installed on the host system.
  • mktbl.linux.syscall.sh <target> <ABI>: generates the syscall table for a given architecture and ABI. requires the kernel source tree to be installed on the host system. note that some architectures like x86 have separate, architecture-specific tables. this script is not meant to be used with these architectures.

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).