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authorRalf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>1997-01-07 02:33:00 +0000
committer <ralf@linux-mips.org>1997-01-07 02:33:00 +0000
commitbeb116954b9b7f3bb56412b2494b562f02b864b1 (patch)
tree120e997879884e1b9d93b265221b939d2ef1ade1 /Documentation/magic-number.txt
parent908d4681a1dc3792ecafbe64265783a86c4cccb6 (diff)
Import of Linux/MIPS 2.1.14
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+This file is a registry of magic numbers which are in use. When you
+add a magic number to a structure, you should also add it to this
+file, since it is best if the magic numbers used by various structures
+are unique.
+
+It is a *very* good idea to protect kernel data structures with magic
+numbers. This allows you to check at run time whether (a) a structure
+has been clobbered, or (b) you've passed the wrong structure to a
+routine. This last is especially useful --- particularly when you are
+passing pointers to structures via a void * pointer. The tty code,
+for example, does this frequently to pass driver-specific and line
+discipline-specific structures back and forth.
+
+The way to use magic numbers is to declare then at the beginning of
+the structure, like so:
+
+struct tty_ldisc {
+ int magic;
+ ...
+};
+
+Please follow this discipline when you are adding future enhancements
+to the kernel! It has saved me countless hours of debugging,
+especially in the screwy cases where an array has been overrun and
+structures following the array have been overwritten. Using this
+discipline, these cases get detected quickly and safely.
+
+ Theodore Ts'o
+ 31-Mar-94
+
+The magic table is current to Linux 1.3.98.
+
+ Michael Chastain
+ <mec@duracef.shout.net>
+ 6 May 1996
+
+
+
+Magic Name Number Structure File
+===========================================================================
+RISCOM8_MAGIC 0x0907 struct riscom_port drivers/char/riscom8.h
+APM_BIOS_MAGIC 0x4101 struct apm_struct include/linux/apm_bios.h
+CYCLADES_MAGIC 0x4359 struct cyclades_port include/linux/cyclades.h
+FASYNC_MAGIC 0x4601 struct fasync_struct include/linux/fs.h
+PTY_MAGIC 0x5001 struct pty_struct drivers/char/pty.c
+PPP_MAGIC 0x5002 struct ppp_struct include/linux/if_ppp.h
+SERIAL_MAGIC 0x5301 struct async_struct include/linux/serial.h
+SLIP_MAGIC 0x5302 struct slip drivers/net/slip.h
+STRIP_MAGIC 0x5303 struct strip drivers/net/strip.c
+TTY_MAGIC 0x5401 struct tty_struct include/linux/tty.h
+TTY_DRIVER_MAGIC 0x5402 struct tty_driver include/linux/tty_driver.h
+TTY_LDISC_MAGIC 0x5403 struct tty_ldisc include/linux/tty_ldisc.h
+SCC_MAGIC 0x8530 struct scc_channel include/linux/scc.h
+ISDN_ASYNC_MAGIC 0x49344C01 modem_info include/linux/isdn.h
+ISDN_NET_MAGIC 0x49344C02 isdn_net_ndev include/linux/isdn.h
+STLI_BOARDMAGIC 0x4bc6c825 stlibrd_t include/linux/istallion.h
+STLI_PORTMAGIC 0xe671c7a1 stliport_t include/linux/istallion.h
+STL_PANELMAGIC 0x7ef621a1 stlpanel_t include/linux/stallion.h
+STL_BOARDMAGIC 0xa2267f52 stlbrd_t include/linux/stallion.h
+STL_PORTMAGIC 0x5a7182c9 stlport_t include/linux/stallion.h
+PCXX_MAGIC 0x5c6df104 struct channel drivers/char/pcxx.h
+BAYCOM_MAGIC 0x3105bac0 struct baycom_state drivers/char/baycom.c
+