system calls in linux

[kris.c]

I am working on a relational database project that involves tweaking around with the file storage.I need to load a file representing a relation into memory. I thought using mmap() would help but I am not able to interpret the output. This is what I did :

 
int main() 
 {
   int fp;
   int sz=100;
   unsigned char *op;
   
   fp=open("file.c");
   
   op = mmap (NULL, sz, PROT_WRITE, MAP_FILE | MAP_SHARED, fp,0);
    
  printf ("mmap (out) returned %08lx\n", (long)op);
  
  return 0;
 }

Now, the man pages say that the call to mmap() returns the pointer to the location where the mapping was placed. So, my questions are:
1) is this the pointer to the location in main memory? and how do I use this pointer to perform any update operations.


2)I got a seg fault when I tried to read the value stored in the pointer.
3)Is mmap() the appropriate sys call to use here or is there any other call that does the job that I am looking for?

[maxorator]

Platform specific... Linux

[kris.c]

yeah, linux..
should I post it in some linux forum ?
Duh! Its still a C program

[Perspective]

Does your DBMS support "containers". You can map a DBMS relation to physical part of disk (in this case, the file)

[kris.c]

no, we are trying to create a mini-relational database project from the scratch using C to support a set of operations.

[Salem]

> 2)I got a seg fault when I tried to read the value stored in the pointer.
Erm, maybe you need
PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE

> 3)Is mmap() the appropriate sys call to use here or is there any other call that does the job that I am looking for?
Well that depends.
I'd make sure everything worked properly just using fopen / fread / fwrite / fseek.

[kris.c]

>PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE
yeah, I did that too. I still get the seg fault when I try to read the value stored.
now that u have brought this up, fopen() also actually maps the file into memory right?though not in an explicit manner as mmap().
and , a slightly different question, can I implement DMA through a C program? which system call will I be needing for that?

[jim mcnamara]

No, fopen doesn't map the file. stdio usually has a buffer that contains a given number of bytes, normally for Linux it is 4096. It isn't populated until your code calls one of the stdio read functions: fgets fread etc.

You can malloc a buffer, using the filesize (+ 1) you got from a stat call, then call fread to read the whole file into a buffer yourself. fclose() the file. If you plan on writing, malloc more space than the filesize, and keep track of what you add to the buffer. Then fopen & fwrite back to the file when you're done. The disadvantage with this is that if the program bombs you lose changes up to the point where it is written back to disk, plus this is a single process only approach.

mmap and mysync let multiple process play with the memory mapped file - BUT read the man pages because MAP_SHARED comes with a lot of "unspecified" behaviors you need to check out first.

[kris.c]

I am afraid ,that still isnt working.
I have specified PROT_WRITE . Also, with respect to difference in behaviour with different flaovurs, the man pages done elaborate much on that.
And I get the seg-fault whether I specify the MAP_SHARED flag or not.

Is there any restriction on the SIZE parameter? Should I make that equal to the block size?
THis brings me to two more questions :

1) How do I what the block size is for my machine?
and more importantly ,
2) How do I access a particluar block?

[Salem]

> fp=open("file.c");
Maybe because open itself also takes a bunch of other parameters as well.

Meh, checking the return result would be good as well. You probably don't even open the file properly given the lack of correct parameters.

Do you get warnings when you compile, or are you just ignoring them?

[kris.c]

HURRAY!!!! Its working!!!!!

#include	<fcntl.h>

int main() 
 {
   int fp;
   
   unsigned char *op;
   
   fp=open("file.c",O_RDWR);
   
  op = mmap (NULL, sz, PROT_WRITE|PROT_READ, MAP_FILE | MAP_SHARED, fp,0);
    
  printf ("mmap (out) returned %08lx\n", (long)op);
  
  printf("%s \n",op);  
 return 0;
 
}

SALEM,Thanks for identifying the flaw. I have become a bit lazy and have stopped error checking in my programs. I needed that..


Its printing out the entire file now..
I still have a few issues regarding detecting the end of the file, but I think I can handle it from here

Thanks a lot!!!

[kris.c]

I realised that I still havent found the answer to these questions :
what
1) How do I what the block size is for my machine?
2) How do I access a particluar block?

Any idea what I should be doing?

[Salem]

Well having mapped the file, accessing op[pos] is just like seek(pos),getch()

[kris.c]

no, I am not talking about memory here.. I am referring to blocks on my disk. I need a pointer to each block containing my data file for indexing purposes.

[Salem]

op is a pointer to memory

If you want to do
result = memcmp( &op[pos], reference, 100 );
Then just do it.

The disk is irrelevant at this point.