glossary.9 (2010 09)

a
glossary(9) glossary(9)
address
A number used in information storage or retrieval to specify and identify memory location. An address
is used to mark, direct, indicate destination, instruct or otherwise communicate with computer elements.
In mail, address is a data structure whose format can be recognized by all elements involved in transmit-
ting information. On a local system, this might be as simple as the user’s login name, while in a
networked system, address specifies the location of the resource to the network software.
In a text editor (such as
vi,
ex, ed,orsed), an address locates the line in a file on which a given
instruction is intended.
For
adb, the address specifies at what assembly-language instruction to execute a given command.
In disk utilities such as
fsdb, address might refer to a raw or block special file, the inode number,
volume header, or other file attribute.
In the context of peripheral devices, address refers to a set of values that specify the location of an I/O
device to the computer. The exact details of the formation of an address differ between systems.
address space
The range of memory locations to which a process can refer.
affiliation
See terminal affiliation.
agile addressing
An addressing scheme where an address or path to a logical unit that is independent of the physical path.
See intro (7) for more information.
appropriate privileges
Each implementation provides a means of associating privileges with a process for function calls and
function call options requiring special privileges. In the HP-UX system, appropriate privileges refers
either to superuser status or to a privilege associated with privilege groups (see setprivgrp (1M)).
archive
A file comprised of the contents of other files, such as a group of object files (that is,
.o) used by the
linker, ld(1)). An archive file is created and maintained by ar (1) or similar programs, such as tar(1) or
cpio (1). An archive is often called a library.
ASCII
An acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII is the traditional System V
coded character set and defines 128 characters, including both control characters and graphic characters,
each of which is represented by 7-bit binary values ranging from 0 through 127 decimal.
background process group
Any process group that is a member of a session which has established a connection with a controlling
terminal that is not in the foreground process group.
backup
The process of making a copy of all or part of the file system in order to preserve it, in case a system crash
occurs (usually due to a power failure, hardware error, etc.). This is a highly recommended practice.
block
(1) The fundamental unit of information HP-UX uses for access and storage allocation on a mass
storage medium. The size of a block varies between implementations and between file systems. In
order to present a more uniform interface to the user, most system calls and utilities use block to
mean 512 bytes, independent of the actual block size of the medium. This is the meaning of block
unless otherwise specified in the manual entry.
(2) On media such as 9-track tape that write variable length strings of data, the size of those strings.
Block is often used to distinguish from record; a block contains several records, whereas the
number of records denotes the blocking factor.
block special file
A special file associated with a mass storage device (such as a hard disk or tape cartridge drive) that
transfers data in multiple-byte blocks, rather than by series of individual bytes (see character special
2 Hewlett-Packard Company − 2 − HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010