EXEC(2)                                                   EXEC(2)

     NAME
          exec, execl, _privates, _nprivates, _tos - execute a file

     SYNOPSIS
          #include <u.h>
          #include <libc.h>

          int exec(char *name, char* argv[])

          int execl(char *name, ...)

          void **_privates;

          int  _nprivates;

          #include <tos.h>

          typedef struct Tos Tos;
          struct Tos {
              struct { ... } prof;    /* profiling data */
              uvlong  cyclefreq;      /* cycle clock frequency */
              vlong   kcycles;        /* kernel cycles */
              vlong   pcycles;        /* process cycles (kernel + user) */
              ulong   pid;            /* process id */
              ulong   clock;          /* profiling clock */
              /* top of stack is here */
          };

          extern Tos *_tos;

     DESCRIPTION
          Exec and execl overlay the calling process with the named
          file, then transfer to the entry point of the image of the
          file.

          Name points to the name of the file to be executed; it must
          not be a directory, and the permissions must allow the cur-
          rent user to execute it (see stat(2)). It should also be a
          valid binary image, as defined in the a.out(6) for the cur-
          rent machine architecture, or a shell script (see rc(1)).
          The first line of a shell script must begin with `#!'  fol-
          lowed by the name of the program to interpret the file and
          any initial arguments to that program, for example

               #!/bin/rc
               ls | mc

          When a C program is executed, it is called as follows:

               void main(int argc, char *argv[])

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     EXEC(2)                                                   EXEC(2)

          Argv is a copy of the array of argument pointers passed to
          exec; that array must end in a null pointer, and argc is the
          number of elements before the null pointer.  By convention,
          the first argument should be the name of the program to be
          executed.  Execl is like exec except that argv will be an
          array of the parameters that follow name in the call.  The
          last argument to execl must be a null pointer.

          For a file beginning #!, the arguments passed to the program
          (/bin/rc in the example above) will be the name of the file
          being executed, any arguments on the #! line, the name of
          the file again, and finally the second and subsequent argu-
          ments given to the original exec call.  The result honors
          the two conventions of a program accepting as argument a
          file to be interpreted and argv[0] naming the file being
          executed.

          Most attributes of the calling process are carried into the
          result; in particular, files remain open across exec (except
          those opened with OCEXEC OR'd into the open mode; see
          open(2)); and the working directory and environment (see
          env(3)) remain the same.  However, a newly exec'ed process
          has no notification handler (see notify(2)).

          The global cell _privates points to an array of _nprivates
          elements of per-process private data.  This storage is pri-
          vate for each process, even if the processes share data seg-
          ments.

          When the new program begins, the global pointer _tos is set
          to the address of a structure that holds information allow-
          ing accurate time keeping and clock reading in user space.
          These data are updated by the kernel during of the life of
          the process, including across rforks and execs. If there is
          a user-space accessible fast clock (a processor cycle
          counter), cyclefreq will be set to its frequency in Hz.
          Kcycles (pcycles) counts the number of cycles this process
          has spent in kernel mode (kernel and user mode).  Pid is the
          current process's id.  Clock is the user-profiling clock
          (see prof(1)). Its time is measured in milliseconds but is
          updated at a system-dependent lower rate.  This clock is
          typically used by the profiler but is available to all pro-
          grams.

          The above conventions apply to C programs; the raw system
          interface to the new image is as follows: the word pointed
          to by the stack pointer is argc; the words beyond that are
          the zeroth and subsequent elements of argv, followed by a
          terminating null pointer; and the return register (e.g.  R0
          on the 68020) contains the address of the Tos structure.

     SOURCE

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     EXEC(2)                                                   EXEC(2)

          /sys/src/libc/9syscall
          /sys/src/libc/port/execl.c

     SEE ALSO
          prof(1), intro(2), stat(2)

     DIAGNOSTICS
          If these functions fail, they return and set errstr. There
          can be no return to the calling process from a successful
          exec or execl; the calling image is lost.

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