HP-UX Reference (11i v2 03/08) - 5 Miscellaneous Topics, 7 Device (Special) Files, 9 General Information, Index (vol 9)

a
glossary(9) glossary(9)
NAME
glossary - description of common HP-UX terms
DESCRIPTION
HP-UX and other UNIX-like systems use a specialized vocabulary in which certain words and terms have
very specific meanings. This glossary is intended as an aid in promoting exactness in use of these special-
ized terms whose meanings sometimes differ from those that might be encountered in other environ-
ments. References to other HP-UX documentation are included as appropriate.
Entities in italics with a following parenthesized roman number (sometimes with a capital letter), such as
sh(1), wait(2), or fopen(3S) refer to entries in the other sections of this manual. Items in bold face refer
to other entries in this glossary. Items in
computer font (bold face in the online manpages) are
literals, such as file names and environment variables. Any italicized manual names refer to separate
manuals that are either included with your system or available separately.
The definitions specifically reflect the HP-UX operating system, although some terms and definitions are
also derived from those in the emerging IEEE POSIX standards and the X/Open Portability Guide.
Differences in wording exist to more specifically reflect the characteristics of the HP-UX system.
GLOSSARY ENTRIES
. (dot) A special file name that refers to the current directory. It can be used alone or at the
beginning of a directory path name. See also path name resolution. The dot also
functions as a special command in the POSIX, Bourne, and Korn shells, and has special
meaning in text editors and formatters, in parsing regular expressions and in designating
file names.
.. (dot-dot) A special file name that refers to the parent directory. If it begins a path name, dot-
dot refers to the parent of the current directory. If it occurs in a path name, dot-dot
refers to the parent directory of the directory preceding dot-dot in the path name string.
As a special case, dot-dot refers to the current directory in any directory that has no
parent (most often, the root directory). See also path name resolution.
.o (dot-oh) The suffix customarily given to a relocatable object file. The term dot-oh file is some-
times used to refer to a relocatable object file. The format of such files is sometimes
called dot-oh format. See a.out(4).
a.out The name customarily given to an executable object code file on HP-UX. The format is
machine-dependent, and is described in a.out (4) for each implementation. Object code
that is not yet linked has the same format, but is referred to as a
.o (dot-oh) file.
a.out is also the default output file name used by the linker, ld(1).
absolute path name
A path name beginning with a slash (
/). It indicates that the file’s location is given rela-
tive to the root directory (/), and that the search begins there.
access The process of obtaining data from or placing data in storage, or the right to use system
resources. Accessibility is governed by three process characteristics: the effective user
ID, the effective group ID, and the group access list. The access (2) system call deter-
mines accessibility of a file according to the bit pattern contained in its amode parameter,
which is constructed to read, write, execute or check the existence of a file. The access (2)
system call uses the real user ID instead of the effective user ID and the real group
ID instead of the effective group ID.
access groups The group access list is a set of supplementary group IDs used in determining
resource accessibility. Access checks are performed as described below in file access
permissions.
access mode An access mode is a form of access permitted to a file. Each implementation provides
separate read, write, and execute/search access modes.
address A number used in information storage or retrieval to specify and identify memory loca-
tion. An address is used to mark, direct, indicate destination, instruct or otherwise com-
municate with computer elements.
In mail, address is a data structure whose format can be recognized by all elements
involved in transmitting information. On a local system, this might be as simple as the
user’s login name, while in a networked system, address specifies the location of the
resource to the network software.
Section 9−−2 Hewlett-Packard Company − 1 − HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003