10.5. Creating Portable Code

10.5.1. Dealing with Function Numbers

In many cases the function numbers are the same. However, even when they are not, the problem is easy to deal with: Instead of using numbers in your code, use constants which you have declared differently depending on the target architecture:

%ifdef	LINUX
%define	SYS_execve	11
%else
%define	SYS_execve	59
%endif

10.5.2. Dealing with Conventions

Both, the calling convention, and the return value (the errno problem) can be resolved with macros:

%ifdef	LINUX

%macro	system	0
	call	kernel
%endmacro

align 4
kernel:
	push	ebx
	push	ecx
	push	edx
	push	esi
	push	edi
	push	ebp

	mov	ebx, [esp+32]
	mov	ecx, [esp+36]
	mov	edx, [esp+40]
	mov	esi, [esp+44]
	mov	ebp, [esp+48]
	int	80h

	pop	ebp
	pop	edi
	pop	esi
	pop	edx
	pop	ecx
	pop	ebx

	or	eax, eax
	js	.errno
	clc
	ret

.errno:
	neg	eax
	stc
	ret

%else

%macro	system	0
	int	80h
%endmacro

%endif

10.5.3. Dealing with Other Portability Issues

The above solutions can handle most cases of writing code portable between FreeBSD and Linux. Nevertheless, with some kernel services the differences are deeper.

In that case, you need to write two different handlers for those particular system calls, and use conditional assembly. Luckily, most of your code does something other than calling the kernel, so usually you will only need a few such conditional sections in your code.

10.5.4. Using a Library

You can avoid portability issues in your main code altogether by writing a library of system calls. Create a separate library for FreeBSD, a different one for Linux, and yet other libraries for more operating systems.

In your library, write a separate function (or procedure, if you prefer the traditional assembly language terminology) for each system call. Use the C calling convention of passing parameters. But still use EAX to pass the call number in. In that case, your FreeBSD library can be very simple, as many seemingly different functions can be just labels to the same code:

sys.open:
sys.close:
[etc...]
	int	80h
	ret

Your Linux library will require more different functions. But even here you can group system calls using the same number of parameters:

sys.exit:
sys.close:
[etc... one-parameter functions]
	push	ebx
	mov	ebx, [esp+12]
	int	80h
	pop	ebx
	jmp	sys.return

...

sys.return:
	or	eax, eax
	js	sys.err
	clc
	ret

sys.err:
	neg	eax
	stc
	ret

The library approach may seem inconvenient at first because it requires you to produce a separate file your code depends on. But it has many advantages: For one, you only need to write it once and can use it for all your programs. You can even let other assembly language programmers use it, or perhaps use one written by someone else. But perhaps the greatest advantage of the library is that your code can be ported to other systems, even by other programmers, by simply writing a new library without any changes to your code.

If you do not like the idea of having a library, you can at least place all your system calls in a separate assembly language file and link it with your main program. Here, again, all porters have to do is create a new object file to link with your main program.

10.5.5. Using an Include File

If you are releasing your software as (or with) source code, you can use macros and place them in a separate file, which you include in your code.

Porters of your software will simply write a new include file. No library or external object file is necessary, yet your code is portable without any need to edit the code.

We can start our system.inc by declaring the standard file descriptors:

%define	stdin	0
%define	stdout	1
%define	stderr	2

Next, we create a symbolic name for each system call:

%define	SYS_nosys	0
%define	SYS_exit	1
%define	SYS_fork	2
%define	SYS_read	3
%define	SYS_write	4
; [etc...]

We add a short, non-global procedure with a long name, so we do not accidentally reuse the name in our code:

section	.text
align 4
access.the.bsd.kernel:
	int	80h
	ret

We create a macro which takes one argument, the syscall number:

%macro	system	1
	mov	eax, %1
	call	access.the.bsd.kernel
%endmacro

Finally, we create macros for each syscall. These macros take no arguments.

%macro	sys.exit	0
	system	SYS_exit
%endmacro

%macro	sys.fork	0
	system	SYS_fork
%endmacro

%macro	sys.read	0
	system	SYS_read
%endmacro

%macro	sys.write	0
	system	SYS_write
%endmacro

; [etc...]

Go ahead, enter it into your editor and save it as system.inc. We will add more to it as we discuss more syscalls.