# privileged functions

**URL:** <https://forums.freertos.org/t/privileged-functions/365>\
**Category:** Kernel\
**Created:** [July 6, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://forums.freertos.org/t/privileged-functions/365 "2015-07-06T06:42:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://d2v6vdsk2p900z.cloudfront.net/original/1X/7fc8fdb729c645aab5b20282bbe34e57cb407be6.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.freertos.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://forums.freertos.org/t/privileged-functions/365/1 "2015-07-06T06:42:07Z")

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**[juhc](https://sourceforge.net/u/juhc/)** wrote on [Monday, July 06, 2015](https://sourceforge.net/p/freertos/discussion/382005/thread/0fc65cb0/#90b0):

Hi,  
I’m studying the source code of FreeRTOS and I see that after the declaration of most functions, there is “PRIVILEGED\_FUNCTION”. What does this mean and what is the difference between a privileged and a non-privileged function ?

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**Author:** ![rtel](https://d3iykfbgfh8zhg.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.freertos.org/rtel/32/31_2.png) [@rtel](https://forums.freertos.org/u/rtel)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://forums.freertos.org/t/privileged-functions/365/2 "2015-07-06T06:50:12Z")

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**[rtel](https://sourceforge.net/u/rtel/)** wrote on [Monday, July 06, 2015](https://sourceforge.net/p/freertos/discussion/382005/thread/0fc65cb0/#7b0b):

The macros are used by FreeRTOS MPU (which is not that well maintained, it has to be said, as so few people use it) to place the functions in specific memory sections. The memory sections are then marked as privileged execution only. There is a similar macro for privileged data. [http://www.freertos.org/FreeRTOS-MPU-memory-protection-unit.html](http://www.freertos.org/FreeRTOS-MPU-memory-protection-unit.html)

The macro can be used to add any qualifier to the functions and/or data though.

Regards.