END(III) 4/28/75 END(III)





END(III)                     4/28/75                     END(III)







NAME

     end, etext, edata - last locations in program



SYNOPSIS

     extern  end;

     extern  etext;

     extern  edata;



DESCRIPTION

     These names refer neither to routines nor to locations  with

     interesting  contents.   Instead,  their  addresses coincide

     with  the  first  address  above  the  program  text  region

     (etext),  above  the  initialized  data  region  (edata), or

     uninitialized data region (end).  The last is  the  same  as

     the program break.  Values are given to these symbols by the

     link editor ld (I) when, and only when, they are referred to

     but not defined in the set of programs loaded.



     The usage of these symbols is rather  specialized,  but  one

     plausible possibility is



             extern end;

             ...

             ... = brk(&end+...);



     (see break (II)).  The problem with this is that it  ignores

     any  other  subroutines  which  may  want to extend core for

     their purposes; these include sbrk (see break  (II)),  alloc

     (III),  and  also  secret subroutines invoked by the profile

     (-p) option of cc.  Of course it was for the benefit of such

     systems  that  the symbols were invented, and user programs,

     unless they are in firm control of  their  environment,  are

     wise not to refer to the absolute symbols directly.



     One technique sometimes useful is  to  call  sbrk(0),  which

     returns  the  value of the current program break, instead of

     referring to &end, which yields the  program  break  at  the

     instant execution started.



     These symbols are accessible from assembly language if it is

     remembered that they should be prefixed by `_'



SEE ALSO

     break (II), alloc (III)



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