Re: Unix syscall under the Hurd

[Brent Fulgham <bfulgham@debian.org>]

On Sun, Sep 24, 2000 at 09:48:16PM -0600, Gordon Matzigkeit wrote:
> >>>>> Brent Fulgham writes:
> 
>  BF> The MzScheme software package makes use of the UNIX "syscall"
>  BF> function.
> [...]
>  BF> But under the Hurd, these defines are not available.  I assume
>  BF> they probably map 1:1 with the Linux variety, but the fact that
>  BF> they are not present makes me somewhat concerned that there may
>  BF> be more going on than I am aware of.
> 
>  BF> Can someone comment on the availability of these syscall
>  BF> mappings?
> 
> ``Syscall'' is another name for ``kernel trap.''  The syscalls for
> Mach are completely different than the ones for Linux or other
> unices.
> 
> The only portability provided by the Hurd is the Posix interfaces
> defined by the GNU C Library.  You should see if MzScheme has been
> ported to Posix, and if not, suggest that they define a port that uses
> `read (...)' rather than `syscall (... read ...)'.
> 
> That's a basic Unix portability guideline: don't use syscalls.
> 

I'm being unfair to MzScheme.  They are simply using the Boehm garbage
collector, which uses the "syscall" function I mentioned above.

I thought someone had spent some time looking at porting Boehm to
the Hurd -- was this successful?  Or should I put my debugging hat
on and try to come up with a patch?

Thanks,

-Brent