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

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glossary(9) glossary(9)
job control
Job control allows users to selectively stop (suspend) execution of processes and continue (resume) their
execution at a later time.
The user employs this facility via the interactive interface jointly supplied by the system terminal driver
and certain shells (see sh(1)). The terminal driver recognizes a user-defined "suspend character", which
causes the current foreground process group to stop and the user’s job control shell to resume. The job con-
trol shell provides commands that continue stopped process groups in either the foreground or background.
The terminal driver also stops a background process group when any member of the background process
group attempts to read from or write to the user’s terminal. This allows the user to finish or suspend the
foreground process group without interruption and continue the stopped background process group
at a more convenient time.
See stty(1), sh(1), and related shell entries for usage and installation details, and the shell entries plus sig-
nal(2) and termio(7) for implementation details.
kernel
The HP-UX operating system. The kernel is the executable code responsible for managing the computer’s
resources, such as allocating memory, creating processes, and scheduling programs for execution. The ker-
nel resides in RAM (random access memory) whenever HP-UX is running.
LANG
An environment variable used to inform a computer process of the user’s requirements for native
language, local customs, and coded character set.
library
A file containing a set of subroutines and variables that can be accessed by user programs. Libraries can be
either archives or shared libraries. For example,
/usr/lib/libc.a
and /usr/lib/libc.sl are
libraries containings all functions of Section 2 and all functions of Section 3 that are marked (3C) and (3S)
in the HP-UX Reference. Similarly,
/usr/lib/libm.a
and /usr/lib/libm.sl are libraries con-
taining all functions in Section 3 that are marked (3M) in the HP-UX Reference. See intro(2) and intro(3C).
LIF
See Logical Interchange Format.
line
A sequence of text characters consisting of zero or more nonnewline characters plus a terminating newline
character.
link
Link is a synonym for directory entry. It is an object that associates a file name with any type of file.
The information constituting a link includes the name of the file and where the contents of that file can be
found on a mass storage medium. One physical file can have several links to it. Several directory entries
can associate names with a given file. If the links appear in different directories, the file may or may not
have the same name in each. However, if the links appear in one directory, each link must have a unique
name in that directory. Multiple links to directories are not allowed (except as created by a user with
appropriate privileges). See ln(1), link(2), unlink(2), and symbolic link.
Also, to prepare a program for execution; see linker.
link count
The number of directory entries that refer to a particular file.
linker
A program that combines one or more object programs into one program, searches libraries to resolve user
program references, and builds an executable file in
a.out format. This executable file is ready to be exe-
cuted through the program loader, exec(2). The linker is invoked with the ld(1) command. The linker is
often called a link editor.
local customs
The conventions of a geographical area or territory for such things as date, time and currency formats.
250 Hewlett-Packard Company − 11 − HP-UX 11i Version 2: December 2007 Update