Go provides a package called “syscall” that allows calling low-level system functions directly from Go code. This package exposes the underlying system calls of the operating system, which can be used to implement functionality not available in higher-level Go libraries.
The “syscall” package is platform-specific and provides access to the following categories of system calls:
- File operations: create, open, read, write, close, seek, etc.
- Networking: socket, connect, bind, listen, accept, etc.
- Process management: fork, exec, wait, kill, etc.
- Signal handling: signal, sigaction, sigprocmask, etc.
- User and group management: getuid, setgid, getgroups, etc.
- Memory management: mmap, munmap, mprotect, etc.
Using the “syscall” package requires careful consideration of platform-specific details such as byte ordering, pointer sizes, and calling conventions. As such, it is generally recommended to use higher-level libraries whenever possible. However, in situations where greater control and performance are required, the “syscall” package can be a powerful tool.