Inside Macintosh: PowerPC System Software /

Chapter 4 - Exception Manager

This chapter describes the Exception Manager, the part of the Macintosh system software that handles exceptions that occur during the execution of PowerPC applications or other software. The Exception Manager provides a simple way for your application to handle exceptions that occur in its context.

You need the information in this chapter if you need to handle exceptions that occur in native PowerPC code. If your application or other software is written in 680x0 code and therefore executes under the 68LC040 Emulator on PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers, you do not in general need to read this chapter, because the existing 680x0 mechanism for handling exceptions is fully supported by the emulator.

IMPORTANT

The Exception Manager is available only in the system software for PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers. In addition, not all features described here are available in the first version. For example, the Exception Manager in the first version does not return exceptions that arise during floating-point calculations. If your application performs floating-point operations and needs to handle any exceptions that arise during those operations, you should use the exception-
handling mechanisms provided by the PowerPC Numerics library. See Inside Macintosh: PowerPC Numerics for complete information.

To use this chapter, you should already be generally familiar with the Macintosh Operating System. See the books Inside Macintosh: Processes and Inside Macintosh: Memory for information about the run-time architecture of the 680x0 environment. You also need to be familiar with the run-time architecture of PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers, as explained in the chapter "Introduction to PowerPC System Software."

This chapter begins with a description of exceptions and their handling in the PowerPC native environment. Then it shows how to use the Exception Manager to install your own exception handler.

---

Chapter Contents

About the Exception Manager

Exception Contexts

Types of Exceptions

Using the Exception Manager

Installing an Exception Handler

Writing an Exception Handler

Exception Manager Reference

Constants

Exception Kinds

Memory Reference Kinds

Data Structures

Machine Information Records

Register Information Records

Floating-Point Information Records

Memory Exception Records

Exception Information Records

Exception Manager Routines

Application-Defined Routines

Summary of the Exception Manager

C Summary

Constants

Data Types

Exception Manager Routines

Application-Defined Routines