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<title>randcall</title>
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<h2 align=center>randcall</h2>
<h4 align=center>OS/161 Reference Manual</h4>

<h3>Name</h3>
<p>
randcall - make randomized system calls
</p>

<h3>Synopsis</h3>
<p>
<tt>/testbin/randcall</tt> [<tt>-f</tt>] [<tt>-c</tt> <em>count</em>]
[<tt>-r</tt> <em>seed</em>] <em>callset</em>
</p>

<h3>Description</h3>
<p>
<tt>randcall</tt> makes randomized system calls, that is, system calls with
completely random arguments. The <em>callset</em> determines which
list of system calls it uses; it is either "all", which does
everything, or a number that identifies one of the assignments, in
which case it exercises all the system calls that are supposed to be
working when that assignment is complete. (If the lists compiled into
randcall are wrong, contact your course staff.)
</p>

<p>
Ordinarily, in case some of these calls cause process termination,
randcall forks before making each call. This can be slow, so the -f
option can be used to suppress this behavior.
</p>

<p>
The <tt>-c</tt> <em>count</em> option tells randcall to make
<em>count</em> iterations through the list of calls it's using. (It
always goes through the list sequentially.) The default count is 100.
</p>

<p>
The <tt>-r</tt> <em>seed</em> option allows one to set the
pseudorandom seed used by <tt>randcall</tt> to generate the call
arguments. The default seed is 0.
</p>

<p>
<tt>randcall</tt> prints what it's doing, so if it blows up you should
be able to see what happened.
</p>

<p>
The system calls that do not take arguments are not on any of the call
lists. Neither is <A HREF=../syscall/reboot.html>reboot</A>, to prevent
accidental system shutdown.
</p>

<h3>Requirements</h3>
<p>
<tt>randcall</tt> should never under any circumstances crash the
kernel, no matter what call list is in use.
</p>

<h3>Bugs</h3>
<p>
There should be an option to seed the random generator from
<A HREF=../dev/random.html>random:</A>.
</p>

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