Hi Thanx everybody for helping me....neways, new problem has popped up..i am calling a function(in rule.c) from main(in main.c). The function is doing whatever reqd.,before returning. But it just stops there. I am not sure whether the return stmt is being executed or not. Howevr, any printf stmts after return r not executed. So i am guessing that the fn is returning to main. But the next statement in main after the fn call is not being executed. What can be the problem??? regds, Paridhi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus – Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/