Hello ! I want to know can we access interrupt vector table in Linux. Can we access it directly with the help of pointers like in DOS or we can access IVT through System calls?
Secondly, just want to confirm that is IVT lies in System/ Kernel mode ?

Thanks

In Linux we use drivers and the kernel to handle things like that. They are not accessable in system mode and AFAIK there is no api to access from user land.

Hi,

You could look at '/proc/interrupts'. A good reference is 'Linux Kernel in a Nutshell'.

This link and others are available from 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

I am digressing a little bit. Is it true that we can access and modify the IVT in DOS?

Hi,

With the Linux Kernel we use the 'Interrupt Descriptor Table' as a label for table of Interrupt Vectors. These descriptors (pointers) point to functions that handle a particular interrupt or event exception. These functions are called the interrupt or event handler. Within the table are indices of numbers that do identify events that will be handled by the functions within a area of memory to handle that event.

DOS cannot handle the interrupts in the same way as Linux can. One the shared interrupt cannot be handled by DOS like the single IVT it was designed around. This can get very intense to identify or class interrupts so I refer you to a well documented description; 'Interrupts Exceptions and Traps' tutorial.