macosoperating-systemsystem-calls

List of and documentation for system calls for XNU kernel in OSX

I'm trying to figure out how to get a list of and documentation for the system calls available in the XNU kernel in OSX. I've googled around quite a bit, but haven't been able to find anything of use. As I understand the calling conventions match BSD, is that correct?

Thanks

Solution

  • The "official" list is at Darwin page at Apple. Specifically, see the file syscalls.master in the XNU distribution. (If something you expect is missing, try a newer XNU version.)

    The BSD part of the system calls comes from BSD, but there're mach calls which follow quite different conventions.

    You'll definitely want to read Amit Singh's OS X kernel book, see the book's website. It's rewritten for 10.4 and mainly for PPC, but still is the greatest detailed info you can get on the kernel.