Three general methods are used to pass parameters to the operating system. The simplest approach is to pass the parameters in registers. In some cases, however, there may be more parameters than registers. In these cases, the parameters are generally stored in a block, or table, in memory, and the address of the block is passed as a parameter in a register. This is the approach taken by Linux and Solaris. Parameters also can be placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and popped off the stack by the operating system. Some operating systems prefer the block or stack method, because those approaches do not limit the number or length of parameters being passes.

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