linux man page for arch_prctl

ARCH_PRCTL(2)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						     ARCH_PRCTL(2)

NAME
       arch_prctl - set architecture-specific thread state

SYNOPSIS
       #include <asm/prctl.h>
       #include <sys/prctl.h>

       int arch_prctl(int code, unsigned long addr);
       int arch_prctl(int code, unsigned long *addr);

DESCRIPTION
       The  arch_prctl()  function sets architecture-specific process or thread state.	code selects a subfunction and passes argument addr to it;
       addr is interpreted as either an unsigned long for the "set" operations, or as an unsigned long *, for the "get" operations.

       Sub functions for x86-64 are:

       ARCH_SET_FS
	      Set the 64-bit base for the FS register to addr.

       ARCH_GET_FS
	      Return the 64-bit base value for the FS register of the current thread in the unsigned long pointed to by addr.

       ARCH_SET_GS
	      Set the 64-bit base for the GS register to addr.

       ARCH_GET_GS
	      Return the 64-bit base value for the GS register of the current thread in the unsigned long pointed to by addr.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, arch_prctl() returns 0; on error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
       EFAULT addr points to an unmapped address or is outside the process address space.

       EINVAL code is not a valid subcommand.

       EPERM  addr is outside the process address space.

CONFORMING TO
       arch_prctl() is a Linux/x86-64 extension and should not be used in programs intended to be portable.

NOTES
       arch_prctl() is only supported on Linux/x86-64 for 64-bit programs currently.

       The 64-bit base changes when a new 32-bit segment selector is loaded.

       ARCH_SET_GS is disabled in some kernels.

       Context switches for 64-bit segment bases are rather expensive.	It may be a faster alternative to set a 32-bit base using a segment selec-
       tor  by	setting  up  an  LDT  with modify_ldt(2) or using the set_thread_area(2) system call in kernel 2.5 or later.  arch_prctl() is only
       needed when you want to set bases that are larger than 4GB.  Memory in the first 2GB of address space can be  allocated	by  using  mmap(2)
       with the MAP_32BIT flag.

       As  of  version	2.7,  glibc provides no prototype for arch_prctl().  You have to declare it yourself for now.  This may be fixed in future
       glibc versions.

       FS may be already used by the threading library.

SEE ALSO
       mmap(2), modify_ldt(2), prctl(2), set_thread_area(2)

       AMD X86-64 Programmer's manual

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.27 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux								    2007-12-26							     ARCH_PRCTL(2)