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Leopard Technical Q&As
Darwin is the UNIX technology-based foundation of Mac OS X. Darwin integrates several technologies. Among the most important are 4.4BSD-based operating-system services (built on the Mach 3.0 microkernel), the I/O Kit, networking facilities, and support for multiple integrated file systems. Developers can use Darwin to port UNIX/Linux applications and create kernel extensions.

A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to Darwin.   Essential information for developers working in the Darwin environment.   C and Objective-C API references organized by framework.
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Allocating and sharing memory with user space from an I/O Kit driver (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1197: Describes the preferred technique for allocating and sharing buffers in an I/O Kit kernel driver.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2008-10-13
Generating a Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1264: Explains how to generate a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) on modern Macintosh systems.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2008-10-13
Programmatically causing restart, shutdown and/or logout (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1134: Describes how to programmatically cause restart, shutdown, sleep or logout.
Hardware & Drivers 2008-09-24
Retain Counts of io_object_t Objects in IOKit.framework (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1195: Distinguishes between the retain counts of an I/O Kit kernel object and its io_object_t user space proxy.
Hardware & Drivers 2008-09-24
IODeviceTree and the I/O Registry (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1120: Describes the IODeviceTree plane in the Mac OS X I/O Registry.
Hardware & Drivers 2008-09-18
Disabling Processor Cores on a Multi-Core System (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1141: Describes how to disable processor cores on a multi-core system for testing purposes.
Performance 2008-09-16
Mac OS X and root access (HTML)
QA1013: Describes how to enable root access in Mac OS X.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel, Security 2008-09-16
Is dlopen available on all versions of Mac OS X? (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1180: Describes how to dynamically link to libraries and plug-ins, typically done with dlopen.
Porting, Runtime Architecture, Tools 2008-08-19
Registering and unregistering for sleep and wake notifications (HTML)
QA1340: Explains how applications can register and unregister for sleep and wake notifications on Mac OS X.
Hardware & Drivers, Resource Management 2008-08-08
Getting a Packet Trace (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1176: Lists tools available for looking at the network packets on the wire.
Networking 2008-06-03
Determining console user login status (HTML)
QA1133: How to determine whether a user is logged in on the console, and be notified of changes.
Process Management 2008-04-14
Bonjour Printer Subtype for HTTP (HTML)
QA1555: Describes how printer vendors can register their bonjour service such that Safari can see them.
Networking, Printing 2008-03-25
Supported KPIs (HTML)
QA1575: Describes how to check whether a kernel function is part of a supported KPI.
Kernel 2008-03-25
Suppressing the "unexpectedly quit" alert (HTML)
QA1288: Describes how to suppress the "unexpectedly quit" alert.
Security 2008-03-11
Customizing Process Stack Size (HTML)
QA1419: Describes methods for setting the stack size of a process and/or thread.
Process Management, Resource Management 2008-02-20
Kernel's MAC framework (HTML)
QA1574: Cautions that the kernel's MAC framework is currently not support.
Kernel 2008-01-04
Descriptor Passing Problems (HTML)
QA1541: Describes how to work around common problems with descriptor passing.
Kernel, Networking 2007-10-29
ExpressCard Prevents System Sleep (HTML)
QA1517: Describes how some ExpressCard cards can prevent system sleep and how to fix the problem.
Hardware & Drivers 2007-02-28
Developing for VFS (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1242: Describes Apple's position on developing external file systems (VFS plug-ins) for Mac OS X.
File Management, Kernel 2006-12-22
Volumes Not Showing Up On The Desktop (HTML)
QA1491: Describes how to make a volume from a third party VFS plug-in show up on the desktop.
File Management, Kernel 2006-12-20
Integrating With The Connect to Server Dialog (HTML)
QA1387: Describes problems integrating a third-party network file system with Finder's Connect to Server dialog.
File Management, Kernel 2006-11-16
Security Framework Error Codes (HTML)
QA1499: Explains how to interpret errors returned by the Security Framework with an overview of Security error handling.
Security 2006-11-16
The state of mDNSResponder (HTML)
QA1339: Explains how to obtain information regarding the internal state of mDNSResponder.
Networking 2006-10-03
Mixing link-local IP addresses and routable IP addresses (HTML)
QA1357: Explains how to enable communication between devices with link-local addresses and devices with routable addresses.
Networking 2005-07-06
Mach Absolute Time Units (HTML)
QA1398: Describes how to convert Mach absolute time units to real time, and vice versa.
Process Management, Resource Management 2005-01-06
Preventing sleep (HTML)
QA1160: Explains how your application can prevent the system from sleeping.
Resource Management 2004-10-22
Bonjour enforces the TXT record format in Panther (HTML)
QA1306: Explains how mDNSResponder enforces the proper TXT record format in Panther.
Networking 2004-07-14
Updating the TXT record of a Bonjour service (HTML)
QA1302: Explains how to update a Bonjour TXT record while running on either Jaguar or Panther.
Networking 2004-07-14
Discovering all advertised Bonjour service types (HTML)
QA1337: Explains how to discover all Bonjour service types being advertised on the local network.
Networking 2004-06-01
Directories Appear as Volume Aliases (HTML)
QA1351: Discusses how VFS plug-ins should handle device numbers to ensure compatibility with Carbon applications.
File Management, Kernel 2004-05-25
Issues with boot time KEXT loading (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1087: Explains how to solve problems with loading KEXTs at boot time.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2004-01-15
X11 FAQ (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1232: Frequently Asked Questions about using Apple's X Window System (X11) implementation.
Tools 2003-11-17
Installing an I/O Kit KEXT Without Rebooting (HTML)
QA1319: Describes the state of the art of installing I/O Kit kernel extensions (KEXTs) without requiring a restart.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2003-10-28
Sleep vs. Doze on Mac OS X (HTML)
QA1309: Discusses and demonstrates sleep versus doze detection on Machintosh Mac OS X
Hardware & Drivers 2003-10-09
PCI/PCI-X slots on the Power Mac G5 (HTML)
QA1307: Discusses installing PCI/PCI-X cards of different speeds in the Power Mac G5.
Hardware & Drivers 2003-09-30
Can't attach during two-machine debugging with GDB (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
Deprecated - QA1019: Describes a workaround for a problem attaching during two-machine debugging on Mac OS X 10.0.x.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2003-06-02
Text Encodings in VFS (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1173: How to handle text encodings correctly when writing a file system (VFS) plug-in for Mac OS X.
File Management 2003-02-10
File Manager Text Encoding Hints (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1223: How to use Text Encoding Hints.
File Management 2003-01-20
Signals and Threads (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1184: Describes how threads and signals interact.
Performance, Tools 2002-08-27
Getting List of All Processes on Mac OS X (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1123: Describes how, using Carbon and BSD respectively, to list all applications and processes.
Kernel, Porting 2002-03-05
The "/.vol" directory and "volfs" (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1113: Describes how the Carbon File Manager interacts with BSD via "volfs" and the "/.vol" directory.
File Management 2002-02-14
IOLog and Interrupt Context (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1100: Describes when IOKit runs at primary (hardware) interrupt context.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2002-02-13
Power Management; Policy Maker vs. Power Controller (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1121: Describes the differences between a Power Management Policy Maker and a Power Management Power Controller.
Hardware & Drivers 2002-02-13
Working with Configuration Variables (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1119: Explains how to delete a specific Open Firmware configuration variable without using Command-Option-P-R.
Hardware & Drivers 2002-02-13
Making sense of IOKit error codes (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1075: Explains how to interpret I/O Kit error codes.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel 2002-02-07
Static linking of user binaries on Mac OS X (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1118: Explains why static linking of user binaries is not supported on Mac OS X, and possible workarounds.
Porting, Runtime Architecture 2002-02-07
Energy Star PCI Device (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1108: Provides useful information for developers of Energy Star-compliant PCI devices.
Kernel 2002-01-15
IOKit Framework Headers (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1107: Describes the differences between the headers in IOKit.framework and the I/O Kit headers in Kernel.framework.
Hardware & Drivers, Kernel, Networking, Tools 2002-01-15
The dreaded "incompatible flag -framework" error (HTML)
QA1096: Explains how to eliminate the incompatible flag -framework error in Project Builder.
Hardware & Drivers 2001-12-05
Setting environment variables for user processes (HTML)
QA1067: Tells how to set environment variables for user processes.
Porting, Tools 2001-10-25
Avoiding Kernel Event Conflicts (HTML)
QA1063: Documents the namespace for the vendor_code field of the kern_event_msg structure.
Kernel 2001-09-14
Open Firmware Memory bus speed (HTML)
HW97: Describes a method to display memory bus speed for G3 or G4 Macintosh in Open Firmware.
Hardware & Drivers 2000-09-22
The "chosen" node in the device tree (HTML)
HW88: Describes how to find the "chosen" node in the Open firmware device tree.
Networking 2000-09-05
Are the Name Registry device tree nodes unique? (HTML)
Deprecated - HW64: Discusses whether Name Registry nodes copied from the Open Firmware device tree are unique.
Hardware & Drivers 1999-10-11