Storing keyboard Input in x64 assembly (Mac OS/X) - macos

Question

I have been trying for some time now to get a number from a keyboard and comparing it with a value on the stack. If it is correct it will print "Hello World!" and if incorrect, it should print out "Nope!". However, what happens now is no matter the input "jne" is called, nope is printed, and segfault. Perhaps one of you could lend a hand.
.section __DATA,__data
str:
.asciz "Hello world!\n"
sto:
.asciz "Nope!\n"
.section __TEXT,__text
.globl _main
_main:
push %rbp
mov %rsp,%rbp
sub $0x20, %rsp
movl $0x0, -0x4(%rbp)
movl $0x2, -0x8(%rbp)
movl $0x2000003, %eax
mov $0, %edi
subq $0x4, %rsi
movq %rsi, %rcx
syscall
cmp -0x8(%rbp), %edx
je L1
jne L2
xor %rbx, %rbx
xor %rax, %rax
movl $0x2000001, %eax
syscall
L1:
xor %rax, %rax
movl $0x2000004, %eax
movl $1, %edi
movq str#GOTPCREL(%rip), %rsi
movq $14, %rdx
syscall
ret
L2:
xor %eax, %eax
movl $0x2000004, %eax
movl $1, %edi
movq sto#GOTPCREL(%rip), %rsi
movq $6, %rdx
syscall
ret

Answer 1

I would start with this OS/X Syscall tutorial (The 64-bit part in your case). It is written for NASM syntax but the important information is the text and links for the SYSCALL calling convention. The SYSCALL table is found on this Apple webpage. Additional information on the standard calling convention for 64-bit OS/X can be found in the System V 64-bit ABI.
Of importance for SYSCALL convention:
arguments are passed in order via these registers rdi, rsi, rdx, r10, r8 and r9
syscall number in the rax register
the call is done via the syscall instruction
what OS X contributes to the mix is that you have to add 0x20000000 to the syscall number (still have to figure out why)
You have many issues with with your sys_read system call. The SYSCALL table says this:
3 AUE_NULL ALL { user_ssize_t read(int fd, user_addr_t cbuf, user_size_t nbyte); }
So given the calling convention, int fd is in RDI, user_addr_t cbuf (pointer to character buffer to hold return data) is in RSI, and user_size_t nbyte (maximum bytes buffer can contain) is in RDX.
Your program seg faulted on the ret because you didn't have proper function epilogue to match the function prologue at the top:
push %rbp #
mov %rsp,%rbp # Function prologue
You need to do the reverse at the bottom, set the result code in RAX and then do the ret. Something like:
mov %rbp,%rsp # \ Function epilogue
pop %rbp # /
xor %eax, %eax # Return value = 0
ret # Return to C runtime which will exit
# gracefully and return to OS
I did other minor cleanup, but tried to keep the structure of the code similar. You will have to learn more assembly to better understand the code that sets up RSI with the address for sys_read SYSCALL . You should try to find a good tutorial/book on x86-64 assembly language programming in general. Writing a primer on that subject is beyond the scope of this answer.
Code that might be closer to what you were looking for that takes the above into account:
.section __DATA,__data
str:
.asciz "Hello world!\n"
sto:
.asciz "Nope!\n"
.section __TEXT,__text
.globl _main
_main:
push %rbp #
mov %rsp,%rbp # Function prologue
sub $0x20, %rsp # Allocate 32 bytes of space on stack
# for temp local variables
movl $0x2, -4(%rbp) # Number for comparison
# 16-bytes from -20(%rbp) to -5(%rbp)
# for char input buffer
movl $0x2000003, %eax
mov $0, %edi # 0 for STDIN
lea -20(%rbp), %rsi # Address of temporary buffer on stack
mov $16, %edx # Read 16 character maximum
syscall
movb (%rsi), %r10b # RSI = pointer to buffer on stack
# get first byte
subb $48, %r10b # Convert first character to number 0-9
cmpb -4(%rbp), %r10b # Did we find magic number (2)?
jne L2 # If No exit with error message
L1: # If the magic number matched print
# Hello World
xor %rax, %rax
movl $0x2000004, %eax
movl $1, %edi
movq str#GOTPCREL(%rip), %rsi
movq $14, %rdx
syscall
jmp L0 # Jump to exit code
L2: # Print "Nope"
xor %eax, %eax
movl $0x2000004, %eax
movl $1, %edi
movq sto#GOTPCREL(%rip), %rsi
movq $6, %rdx
syscall
L0: # Code to exit main
mov %rbp,%rsp # \ Function epilogue
pop %rbp # /
xor %eax, %eax # Return value = 0
ret # Return to C runtime which will exit
# gracefully and return to OS