muster call

n : a call of the names of personnel at a military assembly

system call

The mechanism used by an

{application program} to request service from the {operating

system}. System calls often use a special {machine code}

instruction which causes the processor to change mode (e.g. to

"supervisor mode" or "{protected mode}"). This allows the OS

to perform restricted actions such as accessing hardware

devices or the {memory management unit}.

(1995-03-01)