break() migh be used to allocate memory. There was a break() routine used
for low level memory allocation. The ancient code or even the MINIX code
may help you understand it. Look for break or brk.
lock().. are you sure it is for file locking? If so, it may have been
mimic'ed from XENIX file locking mechanisms. Otherwise it might implement
a low level lock to avoid CPU contention as the machine you describe needs
to coordinate work among more than one CPU.
j
--
These opinions are mine and only mine. Hey man, I saw them first!
José R. Valverde
De nada sirve la Inteligencia Artificial cuando falta la Natural