Under Linux gs is used for thread-local storage (TLS).
But "as a typical programmer" indeed you only have to worry about the internal details of this if you are an OS developer, otherwise you can simply use the appropriate segment override prefix and otherwise don't care about it.
Under Windows gs (under x86-32 fs) points to the Thread Information Block (TIB):
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32_Thread_Information_Block
Under Linux gs is used for thread-local storage (TLS).
But "as a typical programmer" indeed you only have to worry about the internal details of this if you are an OS developer, otherwise you can simply use the appropriate segment override prefix and otherwise don't care about it.