• Anton Blanchard's avatar
    [PATCH] Add a prctl to change the endianness of a process. · 651d765d
    Anton Blanchard authored
    This new prctl is intended for changing the execution mode of the
    processor, on processors that support both a little-endian mode and a
    big-endian mode.  It is intended for use by programs such as
    instruction set emulators (for example an x86 emulator on PowerPC),
    which may find it convenient to use the processor in an alternate
    endianness mode when executing translated instructions.
    
    Note that this does not imply the existence of a fully-fledged ABI for
    both endiannesses, or of compatibility code for converting system
    calls done in the non-native endianness mode.  The program is expected
    to arrange for all of its system call arguments to be presented in the
    native endianness.
    
    Switching between big and little-endian mode will require some care in
    constructing the instruction sequence for the switch.  Generally the
    instructions up to the instruction that invokes the prctl system call
    will have to be in the old endianness, and subsequent instructions
    will have to be in the new endianness.
    Signed-off-by: default avatarAnton Blanchard <anton@samba.org>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarPaul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
    651d765d
sys.c 49.4 KB