HP-UX Reference (11i v2 07/12) - 7 Device (Special) Files, 9 General Information, Index (vol 10)

f
glossary(9) glossary(9)
file times update
Each file has three associated time values that are updated when file data is accessed or modified, or when
the file status is changed. These values are returned in the file characteristics structure, as described in
<sys/stat.h> . For each function in HP-UX that reads or writes file data or changes the file status, the
appropriate time-related files are noted as "marked-for-update". When an update point occurs, any marked
fields are set to the current time and the update marks are cleared. One such update point occurs when
the file is no longer open for any process. Updates are not performed for files on read-only file systems.
filter
A command that reads data from the standard input, performs a transformation on the data, and writes it
to the standard output.
foreground process group
Each session that has established a connection with a controlling terminal has exactly one process group of
the session as a foreground process group of that controlling terminal. The foreground process group has
certain privileges when accessing its controlling terminal that are denied to background process groups.
See read(2) and write(2).
foreground process group ID
The process group ID of the foreground process group.
fork
An HP-UX system call (see fork(2)), which, when invoked by an existing process, causes a new process to be
created. The new process is called the child process; the existing process is called the parent process.
The child process is created by making an exact copy of the parent process. The parent and child processes
are able to identify themselves by the value returned by their corresponding fork call (see fork(2) for
details).
function number
On Series 700 systems, when two or more interfaces reside on a single interface card, each interface is
treated as a separate function and is assigned a corresponding unique function number.
graphic character
A character other than a control character that has a visual representation when hand-written, printed, or
displayed.
group
See group ID.
group ID
Associates zero or more users who must all be permitted to access the same set of files. The members of a
group are defined in the files
/etc/passwd and /etc/logingroup
(if it exists) via a numerical group
ID that must be between zero and
UID_MAX, inclusive. Users with identical group IDs are members of the
same group. An ASCII group name is associated with each group ID in the file
/etc/group . A group ID
is also associated with every file in the file hierarchy, and the mode of each file contains a set of permis-
sion bits that apply only to this group. Thus, if you belong to a group that is associated with a file, and if
the appropriate permissions are granted to your group in the file’s mode, you can access the file. When the
identity of a group is associated with a process, a group ID value is referred to as a real group ID,an
effective group ID,asupplementary group ID,orasaved group ID. See also privileged group and
set-group-ID bit.
group access list
A set of supplementary group IDs used in determining resource accessibility. Access checks are per-
formed as described in file access permissions.
hierarchical directory
A directory (or file system) structure in which each directory can contain other directories as well as files.
home directory
The directory name given by the value of the environment variable
HOME. When you first log in, login(1)
automatically sets HOME to your login directory. You can change its value at any time. This is usually
done in the .profile file contained in your login directory. Setting HOME does not affect your login
248 Hewlett-Packard Company − 9 − HP-UX 11i Version 2: December 2007 Update