Dan asks:
> Does uptime _really_ need these capabilities?
> CAPABILITIES   : BA, IA, PM, DS, PH
>
> (PM, PH and DS just to get the system uptime? Gah!)
 
PM...yes, since it is fetching data that many operating systems
consider sensitive.  (I don't, but some systems owners feel that information
about how long a machine has been up, or how many users it has, or what
the performance load is, etc., is (or should be) confidential information...
I learned that years ago, when Unix was a twinkle in the eye of its creator(s).)
Heck...some systems owners don't even let you know the *time of day* to any
significant resolution!  (Those tend to be in *highly* secure installations)
 
DS, PH?  Nah...but those are innocuous capabilities, and I tend to
forget I'm even specifying them.  That's the problem with a rich, robust
operating system: it allows you to *control* access to resources...including
DataSegments and Processes :)
 
BTW, PM is used in only one spot: to fetch 8 bytes from the Timer
Globals data structure.
 
FYI, I'm accessing the "timer_globals_rec" data structure (which is
Known System Object $50), and getting the TMR_SYSTEM_STARTUP_TIME field.
 
Debug/iX shows:
   = kso_pointer ($50)
   LPTR $a.d04fc800
 
   fv kso_pointer ($50) "timer_globals_rec.TMR_SYSTEM_STARTUP_TIME")
   2fbb5553af1c0
        /* # microseconds since 1/1/1970
 
One nice feature about Debug/iX is that it can show you the access rights
required to access a particular virtual address:
 
   = vainfo ($a.d04fc800, "access_rights_fmt")
   Data             pl1 = 2  pl2 = 2
                    -------  -------
                    read,    write  ring levels required
 
I'm *still* waiting for some other operating system to provide this
kind of power and accessibility. :(
 
--
Stan Sieler                                          [log in to unmask]
                                     http://www.allegro.com/sieler.html