how was the pipe(2) system call working in “traditional” Unix












0















This is what perldoc -f syscall says:




There's a problem with syscall(SYS_pipe()): it returns the file
number of the read end of the pipe it creates, but there is no way
to retrieve the file number of the other end
. You can avoid this
problem by using pipe instead.




However, that doesn't check out. syscall works with SYS_pipe just like with any other system call, and I'm perfectly able to retrieve both ends:



perl -e '
require "syscall.ph";
my $p = pack "i2";
syscall SYS_pipe(), $p;
print join(",", unpack "i2", $p), "n"
'
3,4


That was on linux, it's the same on openbsd, solaris, provided that you take care of some differences (on solaris, the system call is actually pipe2(2), so syscall 42, $p, 0).



A comment in fs/pipe.c in the linux kernel source says:




/*
* sys_pipe() is the normal C calling standard for creating
* a pipe. It's not the way Unix traditionally does this, though.
*/



So what was that "traditional" way? And are there any modern systems where that's still the case?









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    0















    This is what perldoc -f syscall says:




    There's a problem with syscall(SYS_pipe()): it returns the file
    number of the read end of the pipe it creates, but there is no way
    to retrieve the file number of the other end
    . You can avoid this
    problem by using pipe instead.




    However, that doesn't check out. syscall works with SYS_pipe just like with any other system call, and I'm perfectly able to retrieve both ends:



    perl -e '
    require "syscall.ph";
    my $p = pack "i2";
    syscall SYS_pipe(), $p;
    print join(",", unpack "i2", $p), "n"
    '
    3,4


    That was on linux, it's the same on openbsd, solaris, provided that you take care of some differences (on solaris, the system call is actually pipe2(2), so syscall 42, $p, 0).



    A comment in fs/pipe.c in the linux kernel source says:




    /*
    * sys_pipe() is the normal C calling standard for creating
    * a pipe. It's not the way Unix traditionally does this, though.
    */



    So what was that "traditional" way? And are there any modern systems where that's still the case?









    share







    New contributor




    Căcărău is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      0












      0








      0








      This is what perldoc -f syscall says:




      There's a problem with syscall(SYS_pipe()): it returns the file
      number of the read end of the pipe it creates, but there is no way
      to retrieve the file number of the other end
      . You can avoid this
      problem by using pipe instead.




      However, that doesn't check out. syscall works with SYS_pipe just like with any other system call, and I'm perfectly able to retrieve both ends:



      perl -e '
      require "syscall.ph";
      my $p = pack "i2";
      syscall SYS_pipe(), $p;
      print join(",", unpack "i2", $p), "n"
      '
      3,4


      That was on linux, it's the same on openbsd, solaris, provided that you take care of some differences (on solaris, the system call is actually pipe2(2), so syscall 42, $p, 0).



      A comment in fs/pipe.c in the linux kernel source says:




      /*
      * sys_pipe() is the normal C calling standard for creating
      * a pipe. It's not the way Unix traditionally does this, though.
      */



      So what was that "traditional" way? And are there any modern systems where that's still the case?









      share







      New contributor




      Căcărău is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      This is what perldoc -f syscall says:




      There's a problem with syscall(SYS_pipe()): it returns the file
      number of the read end of the pipe it creates, but there is no way
      to retrieve the file number of the other end
      . You can avoid this
      problem by using pipe instead.




      However, that doesn't check out. syscall works with SYS_pipe just like with any other system call, and I'm perfectly able to retrieve both ends:



      perl -e '
      require "syscall.ph";
      my $p = pack "i2";
      syscall SYS_pipe(), $p;
      print join(",", unpack "i2", $p), "n"
      '
      3,4


      That was on linux, it's the same on openbsd, solaris, provided that you take care of some differences (on solaris, the system call is actually pipe2(2), so syscall 42, $p, 0).



      A comment in fs/pipe.c in the linux kernel source says:




      /*
      * sys_pipe() is the normal C calling standard for creating
      * a pipe. It's not the way Unix traditionally does this, though.
      */



      So what was that "traditional" way? And are there any modern systems where that's still the case?







      pipe history system-calls





      share







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      share







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      share



      share






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      asked 2 mins ago









      CăcărăuCăcărău

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