Argument buffer

The argument buffer can be used when passing an argument from an exiting process to a process that has not been created yet. More...

Functions
char *	arg_alloc (char size)
	Allocates an argument buffer.
void	arg_free (char *arg)
	Deallocates an argument buffer.

---

Detailed Description

The argument buffer can be used when passing an argument from an exiting process to a process that has not been created yet.

Since the exiting process will have exited when the new process is started, the argument cannot be passed in any of the processes' addres spaces. In such situations, the argument buffer can be used.

The argument buffer is statically allocated in memory and is globally accessible to all processes.

An argument buffer is allocated with the arg_alloc() function and deallocated with the arg_free() function. The arg_free() function is designed so that it can take any pointer, not just an argument buffer pointer. If the pointer to arg_free() is not an argument buffer, the function does nothing.

---

Function Documentation

char* arg_alloc

(

char

size

)

Allocates an argument buffer.

Parameters:

size	The requested size of the buffer, in bytes.

Returns:

Pointer to allocated buffer, or NULL if no buffer could be allocated.

Note:

It currently is not possible to allocate argument buffers of any other size than 128 bytes.

Definition at line 105 of file arg.c.

void arg_free

(

char *

arg

)

Deallocates an argument buffer.

This function deallocates the argument buffer pointed to by the parameter, but only if the buffer actually is an argument buffer and is allocated. It is perfectly safe to call this function with any pointer.

Parameters:

arg	A pointer.

Definition at line 126 of file arg.c.