This is libc.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.3 from libc.texinfo.

INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU libraries
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Libc: (libc).                 C library.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU C library.

   This is Edition 0.10, last updated 2001-07-06, of `The GNU C Library
Reference Manual', for Version 2.2.x.

   Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being "Free Software Needs Free Documentation" and
"GNU Lesser General Public License", the Front-Cover texts being (a)
(see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below).  A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
Documentation License".

   (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:

   A GNU Manual

   (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:

   You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software.  Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.


File: libc.info,  Node: Argp Example 4,  Prev: Argp Example 3,  Up: Argp Examples

A Program Using Multiple Combined Argp Parsers
..............................................

   This program uses the same features as example 3, but has more
options, and presents more structure in the `--help' output.  It also
illustrates how you can `steal' the remainder of the input arguments
past a certain point for programs that accept a list of items.  It also
illustrates the KEY value `ARGP_KEY_NO_ARGS', which is only given if no
non-option arguments were supplied to the program.  *Note Argp Special
Keys::.

   For structuring help output, two features are used: _headers_ and a
two part option string.  The _headers_ are entries in the options
vector.  *Note Argp Option Vectors::.  The first four fields are zero.
The two part documentation string are in the variable `doc', which
allows documentation both before and after the options.  *Note Argp
Parsers::, the two parts of `doc' are separated by a vertical-tab
character (`'\v'', or `'\013'').  By convention, the documentation
before the options is a short string stating what the program does, and
after any options it is longer, describing the behavior in more detail.
All documentation strings are automatically filled for output,
although newlines may be included to force a line break at a particular
point.  In addition, documentation strings are passed to the `gettext'
function, for possible translation into the current locale.

     /* Argp example #4 - a program with somewhat more complicated options */
     
     /* This program uses the same features as example 3, but has more
        options, and somewhat more structure in the -help output.  It
        also shows how you can `steal' the remainder of the input
        arguments past a certain point, for programs that accept a
        list of items.  It also shows the special argp KEY value
        ARGP_KEY_NO_ARGS, which is only given if no non-option
        arguments were supplied to the program.
     
        For structuring the help output, two features are used,
        *headers* which are entries in the options vector with the
        first four fields being zero, and a two part documentation
        string (in the variable DOC), which allows documentation both
        before and after the options; the two parts of DOC are
        separated by a vertical-tab character ('\v', or '\013').  By
        convention, the documentation before the options is just a
        short string saying what the program does, and that afterwards
        is longer, describing the behavior in more detail.  All
        documentation strings are automatically filled for output,
        although newlines may be included to force a line break at a
        particular point.  All documentation strings are also passed to
        the `gettext' function, for possible translation into the
        current locale. */
     
     #include <stdlib.h>
     #include <error.h>
     #include <argp.h>
     
     const char *argp_program_version =
       "argp-ex4 1.0";
     const char *argp_program_bug_address =
       "<bug-gnu-utils@prep.ai.mit.edu>";
     
     /* Program documentation. */
     static char doc[] =
       "Argp example #4 -- a program with somewhat more complicated\
     options\
     \vThis part of the documentation comes *after* the options;\
      note that the text is automatically filled, but it's possible\
      to force a line-break, e.g.\n<-- here.";
     
     /* A description of the arguments we accept. */
     static char args_doc[] = "ARG1 [STRING...]";
     
     /* Keys for options without short-options. */
     #define OPT_ABORT  1            /* -abort */
     
     /* The options we understand. */
     static struct argp_option options[] = {
       {"verbose",  'v', 0,       0, "Produce verbose output" },
       {"quiet",    'q', 0,       0, "Don't produce any output" },
       {"silent",   's', 0,       OPTION_ALIAS },
       {"output",   'o', "FILE",  0,
        "Output to FILE instead of standard output" },
     
       {0,0,0,0, "The following options should be grouped together:" },
       {"repeat",   'r', "COUNT", OPTION_ARG_OPTIONAL,
        "Repeat the output COUNT (default 10) times"},
       {"abort",    OPT_ABORT, 0, 0, "Abort before showing any output"},
     
       { 0 }
     };
     
     /* Used by `main' to communicate with `parse_opt'. */
     struct arguments
     {
       char *arg1;                   /* ARG1 */
       char **strings;               /* [STRING...] */
       int silent, verbose, abort;   /* `-s', `-v', `--abort' */
       char *output_file;            /* FILE arg to `--output' */
       int repeat_count;             /* COUNT arg to `--repeat' */
     };
     
     /* Parse a single option. */
     static error_t
     parse_opt (int key, char *arg, struct argp_state *state)
     {
       /* Get the `input' argument from `argp_parse', which we
          know is a pointer to our arguments structure. */
       struct arguments *arguments = state->input;
     
       switch (key)
         {
         case 'q': case 's':
           arguments->silent = 1;
           break;
         case 'v':
           arguments->verbose = 1;
           break;
         case 'o':
           arguments->output_file = arg;
           break;
         case 'r':
           arguments->repeat_count = arg ? atoi (arg) : 10;
           break;
         case OPT_ABORT:
           arguments->abort = 1;
           break;
     
         case ARGP_KEY_NO_ARGS:
           argp_usage (state);
     
         case ARGP_KEY_ARG:
           /* Here we know that `state->arg_num == 0', since we
              force argument parsing to end before any more arguments can
              get here. */
           arguments->arg1 = arg;
     
           /* Now we consume all the rest of the arguments.
              `state->next' is the index in `state->argv' of the
              next argument to be parsed, which is the first STRING
              we're interested in, so we can just use
              `&state->argv[state->next]' as the value for
              arguments->strings.
     
              _In addition_, by setting `state->next' to the end
              of the arguments, we can force argp to stop parsing here and
              return. */
           arguments->strings = &state->argv[state->next];
           state->next = state->argc;
     
           break;
     
         default:
           return ARGP_ERR_UNKNOWN;
         }
       return 0;
     }
     
     /* Our argp parser. */
     static struct argp argp = { options, parse_opt, args_doc, doc };
     
     int main (int argc, char **argv)
     {
       int i, j;
       struct arguments arguments;
     
       /* Default values. */
       arguments.silent = 0;
       arguments.verbose = 0;
       arguments.output_file = "-";
       arguments.repeat_count = 1;
       arguments.abort = 0;
     
       /* Parse our arguments; every option seen by `parse_opt' will be
          reflected in `arguments'. */
       argp_parse (&argp, argc, argv, 0, 0, &arguments);
     
       if (arguments.abort)
         error (10, 0, "ABORTED");
     
       for (i = 0; i < arguments.repeat_count; i++)
         {
           printf ("ARG1 = %s\n", arguments.arg1);
           printf ("STRINGS = ");
           for (j = 0; arguments.strings[j]; j++)
             printf (j == 0 ? "%s" : ", %s", arguments.strings[j]);
           printf ("\n");
           printf ("OUTPUT_FILE = %s\nVERBOSE = %s\nSILENT = %s\n",
                   arguments.output_file,
                   arguments.verbose ? "yes" : "no",
                   arguments.silent ? "yes" : "no");
         }
     
       exit (0);
     }


File: libc.info,  Node: Argp User Customization,  Prev: Argp Examples,  Up: Argp

Argp User Customization
-----------------------

   The formatting of argp `--help' output may be controlled to some
extent by a program's users, by setting the `ARGP_HELP_FMT' environment
variable to a comma-separated list of tokens.  Whitespace is ignored:

`dup-args'
`no-dup-args'
     These turn "duplicate-argument-mode" on or off.  In duplicate
     argument mode, if an option that accepts an argument has multiple
     names, the argument is shown for each name.  Otherwise, it is only
     shown for the first long option.  A note is subsequently printed
     so the user knows that it applies to other names as well.  The
     default is `no-dup-args', which is less consistent, but prettier.

`dup-args-note'

`no-dup-args-note'
     These will enable or disable the note informing the user of
     suppressed option argument duplication.  The default is
     `dup-args-note'.

`short-opt-col=N'
     This prints the first short option in column N.  The default is 2.

`long-opt-col=N'
     This prints the first long option in column N.  The default is 6.

`doc-opt-col=N'
     This prints `documentation options' (*note Argp Option Flags::) in
     column N.  The default is 2.

`opt-doc-col=N'
     This prints the documentation for options starting in column N.
     The default is 29.

`header-col=N'
     This will indent the group headers that document groups of options
     to column N.  The default is 1.

`usage-indent=N'
     This will indent continuation lines in `Usage:' messages to column
     N.  The default is 12.

`rmargin=N'
     This will word wrap help output at or before column N.  The default
     is 79.


File: libc.info,  Node: Suboptions,  Next: Suboptions Example,  Prev: Argp,  Up: Parsing Program Arguments

Parsing of Suboptions
.....................

   Having a single level of options is sometimes not enough.  There
might be too many options which have to be available or a set of
options is closely related.

   For this case some programs use suboptions.  One of the most
prominent programs is certainly `mount'(8).  The `-o' option take one
argument which itself is a comma separated list of options.  To ease the
programming of code like this the function `getsubopt' is available.

 - Function: int getsubopt (char **OPTIONP, const char* const *TOKENS,
          char **VALUEP)
     The OPTIONP parameter must be a pointer to a variable containing
     the address of the string to process.  When the function returns
     the reference is updated to point to the next suboption or to the
     terminating `\0' character if there is no more suboption available.

     The TOKENS parameter references an array of strings containing the
     known suboptions.  All strings must be `\0' terminated and to mark
     the end a null pointer must be stored.  When `getsubopt' finds a
     possible legal suboption it compares it with all strings available
     in the TOKENS array and returns the index in the string as the
     indicator.

     In case the suboption has an associated value introduced by a `='
     character, a pointer to the value is returned in VALUEP.  The
     string is `\0' terminated.  If no argument is available VALUEP is
     set to the null pointer.  By doing this the caller can check
     whether a necessary value is given or whether no unexpected value
     is present.

     In case the next suboption in the string is not mentioned in the
     TOKENS array the starting address of the suboption including a
     possible value is returned in VALUEP and the return value of the
     function is `-1'.


File: libc.info,  Node: Suboptions Example,  Prev: Suboptions,  Up: Parsing Program Arguments

Parsing of Suboptions Example
-----------------------------

   The code which might appear in the `mount'(8) program is a perfect
example of the use of `getsubopt':

     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <stdlib.h>
     #include <unistd.h>
     
     int do_all;
     const char *type;
     int read_size;
     int write_size;
     int read_only;
     
     enum
     {
       RO_OPTION = 0,
       RW_OPTION,
       READ_SIZE_OPTION,
       WRITE_SIZE_OPTION,
       THE_END
     };
     
     const char *mount_opts[] =
     {
       [RO_OPTION] = "ro",
       [RW_OPTION] = "rw",
       [READ_SIZE_OPTION] = "rsize",
       [WRITE_SIZE_OPTION] = "wsize",
       [THE_END] = NULL
     };
     
     int
     main (int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       char *subopts, *value;
       int opt;
     
       while ((opt = getopt (argc, argv, "at:o:")) != -1)
         switch (opt)
           {
           case 'a':
             do_all = 1;
             break;
           case 't':
             type = optarg;
             break;
           case 'o':
             subopts = optarg;
             while (*subopts != '\0')
               switch (getsubopt (&subopts, mount_opts, &value))
                 {
                 case RO_OPTION:
                   read_only = 1;
                   break;
                 case RW_OPTION:
                   read_only = 0;
                   break;
                 case READ_SIZE_OPTION:
                   if (value == NULL)
                     abort ();
                   read_size = atoi (value);
                   break;
                 case WRITE_SIZE_OPTION:
                   if (value == NULL)
                     abort ();
                   write_size = atoi (value);
                   break;
                 default:
                   /* Unknown suboption. */
                   printf ("Unknown suboption `%s'\n", value);
                   break;
                 }
             break;
           default:
             abort ();
           }
     
       /* Do the real work. */
     
       return 0;
     }


File: libc.info,  Node: Environment Variables,  Next: System Calls,  Prev: Program Arguments,  Up: Program Basics

Environment Variables
=====================

   When a program is executed, it receives information about the
context in which it was invoked in two ways.  The first mechanism uses
the ARGV and ARGC arguments to its `main' function, and is discussed in
*Note Program Arguments::.  The second mechanism uses "environment
variables" and is discussed in this section.

   The ARGV mechanism is typically used to pass command-line arguments
specific to the particular program being invoked.  The environment, on
the other hand, keeps track of information that is shared by many
programs, changes infrequently, and that is less frequently used.

   The environment variables discussed in this section are the same
environment variables that you set using assignments and the `export'
command in the shell.  Programs executed from the shell inherit all of
the environment variables from the shell.

   Standard environment variables are used for information about the
user's home directory, terminal type, current locale, and so on; you
can define additional variables for other purposes.  The set of all
environment variables that have values is collectively known as the
"environment".

   Names of environment variables are case-sensitive and must not
contain the character `='.  System-defined environment variables are
invariably uppercase.

   The values of environment variables can be anything that can be
represented as a string.  A value must not contain an embedded null
character, since this is assumed to terminate the string.

* Menu:

* Environment Access::          How to get and set the values of
				 environment variables.
* Standard Environment::        These environment variables have
                		 standard interpretations.


File: libc.info,  Node: Environment Access,  Next: Standard Environment,  Up: Environment Variables

Environment Access
------------------

   The value of an environment variable can be accessed with the
`getenv' function.  This is declared in the header file `stdlib.h'.
All of the following functions can be safely used in multi-threaded
programs.  It is made sure that concurrent modifications to the
environment do not lead to errors.

 - Function: char * getenv (const char *NAME)
     This function returns a string that is the value of the environment
     variable NAME.  You must not modify this string.  In some non-Unix
     systems not using the GNU library, it might be overwritten by
     subsequent calls to `getenv' (but not by any other library
     function).  If the environment variable NAME is not defined, the
     value is a null pointer.

 - Function: int putenv (char *STRING)
     The `putenv' function adds or removes definitions from the
     environment.  If the STRING is of the form `NAME=VALUE', the
     definition is added to the environment.  Otherwise, the STRING is
     interpreted as the name of an environment variable, and any
     definition for this variable in the environment is removed.

     The difference to the `setenv' function is that the exact string
     given as the parameter STRING is put into the environment.  If the
     user should change the string after the `putenv' call this will
     reflect in automatically in the environment.  This also requires
     that STRING is no automatic variable which scope is left before the
     variable is removed from the environment.  The same applies of
     course to dynamically allocated variables which are freed later.

     This function is part of the extended Unix interface.  Since it
     was also available in old SVID libraries you should define either
     _XOPEN_SOURCE or _SVID_SOURCE before including any header.

 - Function: int setenv (const char *NAME, const char *VALUE, int
          REPLACE)
     The `setenv' function can be used to add a new definition to the
     environment.  The entry with the name NAME is replaced by the
     value `NAME=VALUE'.  Please note that this is also true if VALUE
     is the empty string.  To do this a new string is created and the
     strings NAME and VALUE are copied.  A null pointer for the VALUE
     parameter is illegal.  If the environment already contains an
     entry with key NAME the REPLACE parameter controls the action.  If
     replace is zero, nothing happens.  Otherwise the old entry is
     replaced by the new one.

     Please note that you cannot remove an entry completely using this
     function.

     This function was originally part of the BSD library but is now
     part of the Unix standard.

 - Function: int unsetenv (const char *NAME)
     Using this function one can remove an entry completely from the
     environment.  If the environment contains an entry with the key
     NAME this whole entry is removed.  A call to this function is
     equivalent to a call to `putenv' when the VALUE part of the string
     is empty.

     The function return `-1' if NAME is a null pointer, points to an
     empty string, or points to a string containing a `=' character.
     It returns `0' if the call succeeded.

     This function was originally part of the BSD library but is now
     part of the Unix standard.  The BSD version had no return value,
     though.

   There is one more function to modify the whole environment.  This
function is said to be used in the POSIX.9 (POSIX bindings for Fortran
77) and so one should expect it did made it into POSIX.1.  But this
never happened.  But we still provide this function as a GNU extension
to enable writing standard compliant Fortran environments.

 - Function: int clearenv (void)
     The `clearenv' function removes all entries from the environment.
     Using `putenv' and `setenv' new entries can be added again later.

     If the function is successful it returns `0'.  Otherwise the return
     value is nonzero.

   You can deal directly with the underlying representation of
environment objects to add more variables to the environment (for
example, to communicate with another program you are about to execute;
*note Executing a File::).

 - Variable: char ** environ
     The environment is represented as an array of strings.  Each
     string is of the format `NAME=VALUE'.  The order in which strings
     appear in the environment is not significant, but the same NAME
     must not appear more than once.  The last element of the array is
     a null pointer.

     This variable is declared in the header file `unistd.h'.

     If you just want to get the value of an environment variable, use
     `getenv'.

   Unix systems, and the GNU system, pass the initial value of
`environ' as the third argument to `main'.  *Note Program Arguments::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Standard Environment,  Prev: Environment Access,  Up: Environment Variables

Standard Environment Variables
------------------------------

   These environment variables have standard meanings.  This doesn't
mean that they are always present in the environment; but if these
variables _are_ present, they have these meanings.  You shouldn't try
to use these environment variable names for some other purpose.

`HOME'
     This is a string representing the user's "home directory", or
     initial default working directory.

     The user can set `HOME' to any value.  If you need to make sure to
     obtain the proper home directory for a particular user, you should
     not use `HOME'; instead, look up the user's name in the user
     database (*note User Database::).

     For most purposes, it is better to use `HOME', precisely because
     this lets the user specify the value.

`LOGNAME'
     This is the name that the user used to log in.  Since the value in
     the environment can be tweaked arbitrarily, this is not a reliable
     way to identify the user who is running a program; a function like
     `getlogin' (*note Who Logged In::) is better for that purpose.

     For most purposes, it is better to use `LOGNAME', precisely because
     this lets the user specify the value.

`PATH'
     A "path" is a sequence of directory names which is used for
     searching for a file.  The variable `PATH' holds a path used for
     searching for programs to be run.

     The `execlp' and `execvp' functions (*note Executing a File::) use
     this environment variable, as do many shells and other utilities
     which are implemented in terms of those functions.

     The syntax of a path is a sequence of directory names separated by
     colons.  An empty string instead of a directory name stands for the
     current directory (*note Working Directory::).

     A typical value for this environment variable might be a string
     like:

          :/bin:/etc:/usr/bin:/usr/new/X11:/usr/new:/usr/local/bin

     This means that if the user tries to execute a program named `foo',
     the system will look for files named `foo', `/bin/foo',
     `/etc/foo', and so on.  The first of these files that exists is
     the one that is executed.

`TERM'
     This specifies the kind of terminal that is receiving program
     output.  Some programs can make use of this information to take
     advantage of special escape sequences or terminal modes supported
     by particular kinds of terminals.  Many programs which use the
     termcap library (*note Find: (termcap)Finding a Terminal
     Description.) use the `TERM' environment variable, for example.

`TZ'
     This specifies the time zone.  *Note TZ Variable::, for
     information about the format of this string and how it is used.

`LANG'
     This specifies the default locale to use for attribute categories
     where neither `LC_ALL' nor the specific environment variable for
     that category is set.  *Note Locales::, for more information about
     locales.

`LC_ALL'
     If this environment variable is set it overrides the selection for
     all the locales done using the other `LC_*' environment variables.
     The value of the other `LC_*' environment variables is simply
     ignored in this case.

`LC_COLLATE'
     This specifies what locale to use for string sorting.

`LC_CTYPE'
     This specifies what locale to use for character sets and character
     classification.

`LC_MESSAGES'
     This specifies what locale to use for printing messages and to
     parse responses.

`LC_MONETARY'
     This specifies what locale to use for formatting monetary values.

`LC_NUMERIC'
     This specifies what locale to use for formatting numbers.

`LC_TIME'
     This specifies what locale to use for formatting date/time values.

`NLSPATH'
     This specifies the directories in which the `catopen' function
     looks for message translation catalogs.

`_POSIX_OPTION_ORDER'
     If this environment variable is defined, it suppresses the usual
     reordering of command line arguments by `getopt' and `argp_parse'.
     *Note Argument Syntax::.


File: libc.info,  Node: System Calls,  Next: Program Termination,  Prev: Environment Variables,  Up: Program Basics

System Calls
============

   A system call is a request for service that a program makes of the
kernel.  The service is generally something that only the kernel has
the privilege to do, such as doing I/O.  Programmers don't normally
need to be concerned with system calls because there are functions in
the GNU C library to do virtually everything that system calls do.
These functions work by making system calls themselves.  For example,
there is a system call that changes the permissions of a file, but you
don't need to know about it because you can just use the GNU C
library's `chmod' function.

   System calls are sometimes called kernel calls.

   However, there are times when you want to make a system call
explicitly, and for that, the GNU C library provides the `syscall'
function.  `syscall' is harder to use and less portable than functions
like `chmod', but easier and more portable than coding the system call
in assembler instructions.

   `syscall' is most useful when you are working with a system call
which is special to your system or is newer than the GNU C library you
are using.  `syscall' is implemented in an entirely generic way; the
function does not know anything about what a particular system call
does or even if it is valid.

   The description of `syscall' in this section assumes a certain
protocol for system calls on the various platforms on which the GNU C
library runs.  That protocol is not defined by any strong authority, but
we won't describe it here either because anyone who is coding `syscall'
probably won't accept anything less than kernel and C library source
code as a specification of the interface between them anyway.

   `syscall' is declared in `unistd.h'.

 - Function: long int syscall (long int SYSNO, ...)
     `syscall' performs a generic system call.

     SYSNO is the system call number.  Each kind of system call is
     identified by a number.  Macros for all the possible system call
     numbers are defined in `sys/syscall.h'

     The remaining arguments are the arguments for the system call, in
     order, and their meanings depend on the kind of system call.  Each
     kind of system call has a definite number of arguments, from zero
     to five.  If you code more arguments than the system call takes,
     the extra ones to the right are ignored.

     The return value is the return value from the system call, unless
     the system call failed.  In that case, `syscall' returns `-1' and
     sets `errno' to an error code that the system call returned.  Note
     that system calls do not return `-1' when they succeed.

     If you specify an invalid SYSNO, `syscall' returns `-1' with
     `errno' = `ENOSYS'.

     Example:


          #include <unistd.h>
          #include <sys/syscall.h>
          #include <errno.h>
          
          ...
          
          int rc;
          
          rc = syscall(SYS_chmod, "/etc/passwd", 0444);
          
          if (rc == -1)
             fprintf(stderr, "chmod failed, errno = %d\n", errno);

     This, if all the compatibility stars are aligned, is equivalent to
     the following preferable code:


          #include <sys/types.h>
          #include <sys/stat.h>
          #include <errno.h>
          
          ...
          
          int rc;
          
          rc = chmod("/etc/passwd", 0444);
          if (rc == -1)
             fprintf(stderr, "chmod failed, errno = %d\n", errno);



File: libc.info,  Node: Program Termination,  Prev: System Calls,  Up: Program Basics

Program Termination
===================

   The usual way for a program to terminate is simply for its `main'
function to return.  The "exit status value" returned from the `main'
function is used to report information back to the process's parent
process or shell.

   A program can also terminate normally by calling the `exit' function.

   In addition, programs can be terminated by signals; this is
discussed in more detail in *Note Signal Handling::.  The `abort'
function causes a signal that kills the program.

* Menu:

* Normal Termination::          If a program calls `exit', a
                                 process terminates normally.
* Exit Status::                 The `exit status' provides information
                                 about why the process terminated.
* Cleanups on Exit::            A process can run its own cleanup
                                 functions upon normal termination.
* Aborting a Program::          The `abort' function causes
                                 abnormal program termination.
* Termination Internals::       What happens when a process terminates.


File: libc.info,  Node: Normal Termination,  Next: Exit Status,  Up: Program Termination

Normal Termination
------------------

   A process terminates normally when its program signals it is done by
calling `exit'.  Returning from `main' is equivalent to calling `exit',
and the value that `main' returns is used as the argument to `exit'.

 - Function: void exit (int STATUS)
     The `exit' function tells the system that the program is done,
     which causes it to terminate the process.

     STATUS is the program's exit status, which becomes part of the
     process' termination status.  This function does not return.

   Normal termination causes the following actions:

  1. Functions that were registered with the `atexit' or `on_exit'
     functions are called in the reverse order of their registration.
     This mechanism allows your application to specify its own
     "cleanup" actions to be performed at program termination.
     Typically, this is used to do things like saving program state
     information in a file, or unlocking locks in shared data bases.

  2. All open streams are closed, writing out any buffered output data.
     See *Note Closing Streams::.  In addition, temporary files opened
     with the `tmpfile' function are removed; see *Note Temporary
     Files::.

  3. `_exit' is called, terminating the program.  *Note Termination
     Internals::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Exit Status,  Next: Cleanups on Exit,  Prev: Normal Termination,  Up: Program Termination

Exit Status
-----------

   When a program exits, it can return to the parent process a small
amount of information about the cause of termination, using the "exit
status".  This is a value between 0 and 255 that the exiting process
passes as an argument to `exit'.

   Normally you should use the exit status to report very broad
information about success or failure.  You can't provide a lot of
detail about the reasons for the failure, and most parent processes
would not want much detail anyway.

   There are conventions for what sorts of status values certain
programs should return.  The most common convention is simply 0 for
success and 1 for failure.  Programs that perform comparison use a
different convention: they use status 1 to indicate a mismatch, and
status 2 to indicate an inability to compare.  Your program should
follow an existing convention if an existing convention makes sense for
it.

   A general convention reserves status values 128 and up for special
purposes.  In particular, the value 128 is used to indicate failure to
execute another program in a subprocess.  This convention is not
universally obeyed, but it is a good idea to follow it in your programs.

   *Warning:* Don't try to use the number of errors as the exit status.
This is actually not very useful; a parent process would generally not
care how many errors occurred.  Worse than that, it does not work,
because the status value is truncated to eight bits.  Thus, if the
program tried to report 256 errors, the parent would receive a report
of 0 errors--that is, success.

   For the same reason, it does not work to use the value of `errno' as
the exit status--these can exceed 255.

   *Portability note:* Some non-POSIX systems use different conventions
for exit status values.  For greater portability, you can use the
macros `EXIT_SUCCESS' and `EXIT_FAILURE' for the conventional status
value for success and failure, respectively.  They are declared in the
file `stdlib.h'.

 - Macro: int EXIT_SUCCESS
     This macro can be used with the `exit' function to indicate
     successful program completion.

     On POSIX systems, the value of this macro is `0'.  On other
     systems, the value might be some other (possibly non-constant)
     integer expression.

 - Macro: int EXIT_FAILURE
     This macro can be used with the `exit' function to indicate
     unsuccessful program completion in a general sense.

     On POSIX systems, the value of this macro is `1'.  On other
     systems, the value might be some other (possibly non-constant)
     integer expression.  Other nonzero status values also indicate
     failures.  Certain programs use different nonzero status values to
     indicate particular kinds of "non-success".  For example, `diff'
     uses status value `1' to mean that the files are different, and
     `2' or more to mean that there was difficulty in opening the files.

   Don't confuse a program's exit status with a process' termination
status.  There are lots of ways a process can terminate besides having
it's program finish.  In the event that the process termination _is_
caused by program termination (i.e. `exit'), though, the program's exit
status becomes part of the process' termination status.


File: libc.info,  Node: Cleanups on Exit,  Next: Aborting a Program,  Prev: Exit Status,  Up: Program Termination

Cleanups on Exit
----------------

   Your program can arrange to run its own cleanup functions if normal
termination happens.  If you are writing a library for use in various
application programs, then it is unreliable to insist that all
applications call the library's cleanup functions explicitly before
exiting.  It is much more robust to make the cleanup invisible to the
application, by setting up a cleanup function in the library itself
using `atexit' or `on_exit'.

 - Function: int atexit (void (*FUNCTION) (void))
     The `atexit' function registers the function FUNCTION to be called
     at normal program termination.  The FUNCTION is called with no
     arguments.

     The return value from `atexit' is zero on success and nonzero if
     the function cannot be registered.

 - Function: int on_exit (void (*FUNCTION)(int STATUS, void *ARG), void
          *ARG)
     This function is a somewhat more powerful variant of `atexit'.  It
     accepts two arguments, a function FUNCTION and an arbitrary
     pointer ARG.  At normal program termination, the FUNCTION is
     called with two arguments:  the STATUS value passed to `exit', and
     the ARG.

     This function is included in the GNU C library only for
     compatibility for SunOS, and may not be supported by other
     implementations.

   Here's a trivial program that illustrates the use of `exit' and
`atexit':

     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <stdlib.h>
     
     void
     bye (void)
     {
       puts ("Goodbye, cruel world....");
     }
     
     int
     main (void)
     {
       atexit (bye);
       exit (EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }

When this program is executed, it just prints the message and exits.


File: libc.info,  Node: Aborting a Program,  Next: Termination Internals,  Prev: Cleanups on Exit,  Up: Program Termination

Aborting a Program
------------------

   You can abort your program using the `abort' function.  The prototype
for this function is in `stdlib.h'.

 - Function: void abort (void)
     The `abort' function causes abnormal program termination.  This
     does not execute cleanup functions registered with `atexit' or
     `on_exit'.

     This function actually terminates the process by raising a
     `SIGABRT' signal, and your program can include a handler to
     intercept this signal; see *Note Signal Handling::.

   *Future Change Warning:* Proposed Federal censorship regulations may
prohibit us from giving you information about the possibility of
calling this function.  We would be required to say that this is not an
acceptable way of terminating a program.


File: libc.info,  Node: Termination Internals,  Prev: Aborting a Program,  Up: Program Termination

Termination Internals
---------------------

   The `_exit' function is the primitive used for process termination
by `exit'.  It is declared in the header file `unistd.h'.

 - Function: void _exit (int STATUS)
     The `_exit' function is the primitive for causing a process to
     terminate with status STATUS.  Calling this function does not
     execute cleanup functions registered with `atexit' or `on_exit'.

 - Function: void _Exit (int STATUS)
     The `_Exit' function is the ISO C equivalent to `_exit'.  The
     ISO C committee members were not sure whether the definitions of
     `_exit' and `_Exit' were compatible so they have not used the
     POSIX name.

     This function was introduced in ISO C99 and is declared in
     `stdlib.h'.

   When a process terminates for any reason--either because the program
terminates, or as a result of a signal--the following things happen:

   * All open file descriptors in the process are closed.  *Note
     Low-Level I/O::.  Note that streams are not flushed automatically
     when the process terminates; see *Note I/O on Streams::.

   * A process exit status is saved to be reported back to the parent
     process via `wait' or `waitpid'; see *Note Process Completion::.
     If the program exited, this status includes as its low-order 8
     bits the program exit status.

   * Any child processes of the process being terminated are assigned a
     new parent process.  (On most systems, including GNU, this is the
     `init' process, with process ID 1.)

   * A `SIGCHLD' signal is sent to the parent process.

   * If the process is a session leader that has a controlling
     terminal, then a `SIGHUP' signal is sent to each process in the
     foreground job, and the controlling terminal is disassociated from
     that session.  *Note Job Control::.

   * If termination of a process causes a process group to become
     orphaned, and any member of that process group is stopped, then a
     `SIGHUP' signal and a `SIGCONT' signal are sent to each process in
     the group.  *Note Job Control::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Processes,  Next: Job Control,  Prev: Program Basics,  Up: Top

Processes
*********

   "Processes" are the primitive units for allocation of system
resources.  Each process has its own address space and (usually) one
thread of control.  A process executes a program; you can have multiple
processes executing the same program, but each process has its own copy
of the program within its own address space and executes it
independently of the other copies.

   Processes are organized hierarchically.  Each process has a "parent
process" which explicitly arranged to create it.  The processes created
by a given parent are called its "child processes".  A child inherits
many of its attributes from the parent process.

   This chapter describes how a program can create, terminate, and
control child processes.  Actually, there are three distinct operations
involved: creating a new child process, causing the new process to
execute a program, and coordinating the completion of the child process
with the original program.

   The `system' function provides a simple, portable mechanism for
running another program; it does all three steps automatically.  If you
need more control over the details of how this is done, you can use the
primitive functions to do each step individually instead.

* Menu:

* Running a Command::           The easy way to run another program.
* Process Creation Concepts::   An overview of the hard way to do it.
* Process Identification::      How to get the process ID of a process.
* Creating a Process::          How to fork a child process.
* Executing a File::            How to make a process execute another program.
* Process Completion::          How to tell when a child process has completed.
* Process Completion Status::   How to interpret the status value
                                 returned from a child process.
* BSD Wait Functions::  	More functions, for backward compatibility.
* Process Creation Example::    A complete example program.


File: libc.info,  Node: Running a Command,  Next: Process Creation Concepts,  Up: Processes

Running a Command
=================

   The easy way to run another program is to use the `system' function.
This function does all the work of running a subprogram, but it
doesn't give you much control over the details: you have to wait until
the subprogram terminates before you can do anything else.

 - Function: int system (const char *COMMAND)
     This function executes COMMAND as a shell command.  In the GNU C
     library, it always uses the default shell `sh' to run the command.
     In particular, it searches the directories in `PATH' to find
     programs to execute.  The return value is `-1' if it wasn't
     possible to create the shell process, and otherwise is the status
     of the shell process.  *Note Process Completion::, for details on
     how this status code can be interpreted.

     If the COMMAND argument is a null pointer, a return value of zero
     indicates that no command processor is available.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `system' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this calls to
     `system' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The `system' function is declared in the header file `stdlib.h'.

   *Portability Note:* Some C implementations may not have any notion
of a command processor that can execute other programs.  You can
determine whether a command processor exists by executing
`system (NULL)'; if the return value is nonzero, a command processor is
available.

   The `popen' and `pclose' functions (*note Pipe to a Subprocess::)
are closely related to the `system' function.  They allow the parent
process to communicate with the standard input and output channels of
the command being executed.


File: libc.info,  Node: Process Creation Concepts,  Next: Process Identification,  Prev: Running a Command,  Up: Processes

Process Creation Concepts
=========================

   This section gives an overview of processes and of the steps
involved in creating a process and making it run another program.

   Each process is named by a "process ID" number.  A unique process ID
is allocated to each process when it is created.  The "lifetime" of a
process ends when its termination is reported to its parent process; at
that time, all of the process resources, including its process ID, are
freed.

   Processes are created with the `fork' system call (so the operation
of creating a new process is sometimes called "forking" a process).
The "child process" created by `fork' is a copy of the original "parent
process", except that it has its own process ID.

   After forking a child process, both the parent and child processes
continue to execute normally.  If you want your program to wait for a
child process to finish executing before continuing, you must do this
explicitly after the fork operation, by calling `wait' or `waitpid'
(*note Process Completion::).  These functions give you limited
information about why the child terminated--for example, its exit
status code.

   A newly forked child process continues to execute the same program as
its parent process, at the point where the `fork' call returns.  You
can use the return value from `fork' to tell whether the program is
running in the parent process or the child.

   Having several processes run the same program is only occasionally
useful.  But the child can execute another program using one of the
`exec' functions; see *Note Executing a File::.  The program that the
process is executing is called its "process image".  Starting execution
of a new program causes the process to forget all about its previous
process image; when the new program exits, the process exits too,
instead of returning to the previous process image.


File: libc.info,  Node: Process Identification,  Next: Creating a Process,  Prev: Process Creation Concepts,  Up: Processes

Process Identification
======================

   The `pid_t' data type represents process IDs.  You can get the
process ID of a process by calling `getpid'.  The function `getppid'
returns the process ID of the parent of the current process (this is
also known as the "parent process ID").  Your program should include
the header files `unistd.h' and `sys/types.h' to use these functions.

 - Data Type: pid_t
     The `pid_t' data type is a signed integer type which is capable of
     representing a process ID.  In the GNU library, this is an `int'.

 - Function: pid_t getpid (void)
     The `getpid' function returns the process ID of the current
     process.

 - Function: pid_t getppid (void)
     The `getppid' function returns the process ID of the parent of the
     current process.


File: libc.info,  Node: Creating a Process,  Next: Executing a File,  Prev: Process Identification,  Up: Processes

Creating a Process
==================

   The `fork' function is the primitive for creating a process.  It is
declared in the header file `unistd.h'.

 - Function: pid_t fork (void)
     The `fork' function creates a new process.

     If the operation is successful, there are then both parent and
     child processes and both see `fork' return, but with different
     values: it returns a value of `0' in the child process and returns
     the child's process ID in the parent process.

     If process creation failed, `fork' returns a value of `-1' in the
     parent process.  The following `errno' error conditions are
     defined for `fork':

    `EAGAIN'
          There aren't enough system resources to create another
          process, or the user already has too many processes running.
          This means exceeding the `RLIMIT_NPROC' resource limit, which
          can usually be increased; *note Limits on Resources::.

    `ENOMEM'
          The process requires more space than the system can supply.

   The specific attributes of the child process that differ from the
parent process are:

   * The child process has its own unique process ID.

   * The parent process ID of the child process is the process ID of its
     parent process.

   * The child process gets its own copies of the parent process's open
     file descriptors.  Subsequently changing attributes of the file
     descriptors in the parent process won't affect the file
     descriptors in the child, and vice versa.  *Note Control
     Operations::.  However, the file position associated with each
     descriptor is shared by both processes; *note File Position::.

   * The elapsed processor times for the child process are set to zero;
     see *Note Processor Time::.

   * The child doesn't inherit file locks set by the parent process.
     *Note Control Operations::.

   * The child doesn't inherit alarms set by the parent process.  *Note
     Setting an Alarm::.

   * The set of pending signals (*note Delivery of Signal::) for the
     child process is cleared.  (The child process inherits its mask of
     blocked signals and signal actions from the parent process.)

 - Function: pid_t vfork (void)
     The `vfork' function is similar to `fork' but on some systems it
     is more efficient; however, there are restrictions you must follow
     to use it safely.

     While `fork' makes a complete copy of the calling process's address
     space and allows both the parent and child to execute
     independently, `vfork' does not make this copy.  Instead, the
     child process created with `vfork' shares its parent's address
     space until it calls `_exit' or one of the `exec' functions.  In
     the meantime, the parent process suspends execution.

     You must be very careful not to allow the child process created
     with `vfork' to modify any global data or even local variables
     shared with the parent.  Furthermore, the child process cannot
     return from (or do a long jump out of) the function that called
     `vfork'!  This would leave the parent process's control
     information very confused.  If in doubt, use `fork' instead.

     Some operating systems don't really implement `vfork'.  The GNU C
     library permits you to use `vfork' on all systems, but actually
     executes `fork' if `vfork' isn't available.  If you follow the
     proper precautions for using `vfork', your program will still work
     even if the system uses `fork' instead.

