Allocate Shared Memory

Call With

AX = 0D00H
ES:(E)DI = selector:offset of shared memory allocation request structure in the following format:

Offset	Length	Contents
00H	4	Requested length of shared memory block (set by client, may be zero)
04H	4	Length actually allocated (set by host)
08H	4	Shared memory handle (set by host)
0CH	4	Linear address of shared memory block (set by host)
10H	6	offset32:selector of ASCIIZ (null-terminated ASCII) name for shared memory block (set by client)
16H	2	Reserved
18H	4	Reserved, must be zero

if function unsuccessful
Carry flag = set
AX = error code

8012H	linear memory unavailable
8013H	physical memory unavailable
8014H	backing store unavailable
8016H	handle unavailable
8021H	invalid value (name for the memory block is too long)

and the request structure fields at offsets 04H, 08H and 0CH unmodified by host

Notes

• For 16-bit programs, the high word of the offset32 for the ASCIIZ name must be zero.

• The maximum length of the shared memory block name is 128 characters, including the terminal null character.The linear address provided by the host is guaranteed to be the same for all clients in all virtual machines using a shared memory block. The client must establish addressability for the block by allocating and initializing a descriptor with separate function calls.

• No assumptions should be made about handle values. Successive allocations of the same shared memory block by the same client may return distinct handles; the client is responsible for tracking and individually deallocating each handle.

• The first client that allocates a shared memory block determines its size; the length requested and the length actually allocated will always be equal, if the allocation succeeds at all. Subsequent allocations by the same or different clients that specify the same or a different size will succeed, but the size of the block will remain unchanged. The actual size of the block is always returned to the client at offset 4 in the shared memory allocation request structure.

• Allocation of zero-length shared memory blocks is explicitly allowed. The handle of a zero-length block can be used with the serialization functions (Int 31H Functions 0D02H and 0D03H) as a semaphore for inter-client communication. The linear address that is returned at offset 0CH in the data structure for zero-length blocks is undefined, and any reference to it may produce a page fault.

• The first paragraph (16 bytes) of the shared memory block (or the entire shared block, if smaller than 16 bytes) will always be initialized to zero on the first allocation and can be used by clients as an "area initialized" indicator. For example, a shared memory block might be used by a suite of cooperating client programs to hold a table of static data or a subroutine library. The first client to allocate the shared memory block can obtain exclusive ownership of the block with Int 31H Function 0D02H, load the necessary data or code into the block from disk, set the first 16 bytes of the block to a nonzero value, and finally release its ownership of the block with Int 31H Function 0D03H. Other clients that allocate the shared memory block can check the "area initialized" indicator and know that the desired code or data is already present in memory.

• Shared memory block allocations and serializations are tracked by the host on a per client basis. All shared memory allocations for a client are freed by the host when the client terminates.