A most excellent post, thank you Mladen. On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 05:26:08 +0000, Mladen Gogala <gogala@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > Ah, that is the problem! Winduhs architecture is based on threads. =20 > Threads, as opposed to processes, share the same address space. Thing =20 > is done like this: any operating system has a structure that defines a =20 > process. The structure normally contains user credentials, address of =20 > the segment table for the user mode of operation, the segment table for =20 > the kernel mode of operation and the set of registers. Each segment has =20 > a page table and is mapped to a virtual address in the user's kernel =20 > address space. Kernel address space is global within itself. That means =20 > that the each address in kernel space points to the same location in =20 > different processes. Each process has its own segments. In pre-ELF =20 > unixes, they used to be called stack, text, data and BSS. Now it is not =20 > so, each shared library mapped into your process is a segment and has =20 > its own page table. > ... -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l