Why does NASM system call number perform 2 different operations despite specifying the same call num-CodePudding

I have the following 'hello world' code written in NASM x86_64 assembly:

section .data
    msg     db "Hello World", 0xa
    msg_L   equ $-msg

section .text
    global _start

_start:
    mov     eax, 4      ; sys_write call
    mov     ebx, 1      ; stdout
    mov     ecx, msg
    mov     edx, msg_L
    int     0x80        ; call kernel

    mov     eax, 1      ; sys_exit call
    int     0x80        ; call kernel

In the first 'function' under the _start: section, mov ebx, 1 is used to specify the standard output for printing. Later, after the first kernel call, mov eax, 1 is used to specify the sys_exit system call. I don't understand how specifying the same system call number yields 2 different results when the kernel is called. This NASM tutorial specifies 1 as the system call number for sys_exit, yet the program does not exit after the first use of that number, and uses it for stdout instead. Can someone explain to me why this is?

CodePudding user response：

You are not specifying the same system call number.

eax, not ebx, is used to specify system call numbers.

mov ebx, 1 sets the value of ebx and doesn't set the value of eax.

The system call number is set to 4 via mov eax, 4 when using the standard output set by mov ebx, 1.