Where can I find a good documentation on Mach kernel messaging [closed]

Question

I am looking for something comprehensive to read about

1) Mach messaging (mach_msg function and friends)

2) Mig system (mig_get_reply_port function and friends)

I found following things:

a) Different open source (as example http://opensource.apple.com/source/Libc/Libc-167/threads.subproj/mig_support.c)

b) This article, which gives only brief overview http://hurdextras.nongnu.org/ipc_guide/mach_ipc_basic_concepts.html

c) MacOS X Internals book ( http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Systems-Approach/dp/0321278542). I am thinking to buy it, but all I need from it is literally 10 pages with description of Mach messaging, so I am trying to find alternative sources of info.

Answer 1

First, there's Apple's developer documentation. Start with the Mach Overview and following sections in Kernel Programming Guide (the link may not stay good for long; Apple tends to reorganize often; also, you may prefer to search in Xcode instead of online). From here you can also find links to the reference documentation.

There's also lots of documentation on Mach from academic sources. Start at the CMU Mach tutorial site and the HURD archives, but also try searching for a pair of articles named something with a name like "A Programmer's Guide to Mach", which I was able to find in two different FTP archives in .ps format. Also, I'm assuming you saw that the HURD document you linked to is part of a larger guide (click the "General TOC" link to get there), but it's still not that detailed.

There's also some interesting takes from sources like Phrack (e.g., Developing MacOS X Kernel Rootkits) or Uninformed (e.g., Abusing Mach on Mac OS X) but keep in mind that most of the people writing these prefer to learn everything by reverse engineering even when public docs are readily available, which means they have some strange terminology and some odd gaps in their knowledge. (Not to mention that they don't really care whether something is supposed to do X or happens to do X, as long as X is something they can exploit…)