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)
environment. Run levels are table driven, and are specified by init(1M), which sets the run level by looking
at the file
/etc/inittab . Do not confuse the multiuser system with the multiuser state. A multiuser
system is a system which can have more than one user actively communicating with the system when it is
in the multiuser state. The multiuser state removes the single-user restriction imposed by the single-user
state (see single-user state, inittab(4)).
native language
A computer user’s spoken or written language, such as Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek,
Italian, Katakana, Korean, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, etc.
Native Language Support (NLS)
A feature of HP-UX that provides the user with internationalized software and the application programmer
with tools to develop this software.
newline character
The character with an ASCII value of 10 (line feed) used to separate lines of characters. It is represented
by \n in the C language and in various utilities. The terminal driver normally interprets a carriage-
return/line-feed sequence sent by a terminal as a single newline character (but see tty(7) for full details)
NLS
See Native Language Support.
NLSPATH
An environment variable used to indicate the search path for message catalogs (see message catalog).
node name
A string of up to 31 characters, not including control characters or spaces, that uniquely identifies a node on
a Local Area Network (LAN). The node name for each system is set by the
npowerup
command, which
is one of the commands supplied with optional LAN/9000 products. Do not confuse a node name with a
host name, which is a string that uniquely identifies an HP-UX system on a UUCP network. Your node
and host names can be identical, but they are used and set by totally different software. See host name,
LAN/9000 User’s Guide, and LAN/9000 Node Manager’s Guide.
nonspacing characters
Characters, such as a diacritical mark or accents, that are used in combination with other characters to
form composite graphic symbols commonly found in non-English languages.
open file
A file that is currently associated with a file descriptor.
open file description
A record of how a process or a group of processes is accessing a file. Each file descriptor refers to exactly
one open file description, but an open file description can be referred to by more than one file descrip-
tor. The file offset, file status flags, and file access modes are attributes of an open file description.
ordinary file
A type of HP-UX file containing ASCII text (for example, program source), binary data (for example, exe-
cutable code), etc. Ordinary files can be created by the user through I/O redirection, editors, or HP-UX
commands.
orphan process
A child process that is left behind when a parent process terminates for any reason. The
init process
(see init(1M)) inherits (that is, becomes the effective parent of) all orphan processes.
orphaned process group
A process group in which the parent of every member is either itself a member of the group or is not a
member of the group’s session.
owner
The owner of a file is usually the creator of that file. However, the ownership of a file can be changed by
the superuser or the current owner with the chown(1) command or the chown(2) system call. The file
owner is able to do whatever he wants with his files, including remove them, copy them, move them,
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