.\" $OpenBSD: __get_tcb.2,v 1.4 2012/04/12 14:25:57 deraadt Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 2011 Philip Guenther .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. .\" .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: April 12 2012 $ .Dt __GET_TCB 2 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm __get_tcb , .Nm __set_tcb .Nd get and set the address of the thread control block of the current thread .Sh SYNOPSIS .Ft void * .Fn __get_tcb "void" .Ft void .Fn __set_tcb "void *" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn __get_tcb and .Fn __set_tcb functions are for use by librthread and other parts of the system runtime to retrieve and set the address of the current thread's thread control block (TCB). This is used to locate per-thread data such as .Va errno . Each kernel-level thread in a process has a separate value for this address, which can be obtained and changed via these system calls. New threads (including the first thread of a new process) created using .Xr fork 2 , .Xr vfork 2 , or .Xr __tfork 2 , inherit the TCB address of the thread that created them. .Xr execve 2 resets it to zero. .Pp On some platforms, this address is also directly mapped to a CPU register which can be accessed from userspace. .Sh RETURN VALUES .Fn __get_tcb returns the address of the thread control block of the current thread. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr __tfork 2 .Sh HISTORY The .Fn __get_tcb and .Fn __set_tcb system calls appeared in .Ox 5.1 .