4.4BSD/usr/share/man/cat3/signal.0
SIGNAL(3) BSD Programmer's Manual SIGNAL(3)
NNAAMMEE
ssiiggnnaall - simplified software signal facilities
SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
##iinncclluuddee <<ssiiggnnaall..hh>>
_v_o_i_d
**ssiiggnnaall(_s_i_g, _f_u_n_c());
_v_o_i_d
(**ffuunncc)()
DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
This ssiiggnnaall() facility is a simplified interface to the more general
sigaction(2) facility.
Signals allow the manipulation of a process from outside its domain as
well as allowing the process to manipulate itself or copies of itself
(children). There are two general types of signals: those that cause ter-
mination of a process and those that do not. Signals which cause termi-
nation of a program might result from an irrecoverable error or might be
the result of a user at a terminal typing the `interrupt' character.
Signals are used when a process is stopped because it wishes to access
its control terminal while in the background (see tty(4)). Signals are
optionally generated when a process resumes after being stopped, when the
status of child processes changes, or when input is ready at the control
terminal. Most signals result in the termination of the process receiv-
ing them if no action is taken; some signals instead cause the process
receiving them to be stopped, or are simply discarded if the process has
not requested otherwise. Except for the SIGKILL and SIGSTOP signals, the
ssiiggnnaall() function allows for a signal to be caught, to be ignored, or to
generate an interupt. These signals are defined in the file <_s_i_g_n_a_l_._h>:
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SIGHUP terminate process terminal line hangup
SIGINT terminate process interrupt program
SIGQUIT create core image quit program
SIGILL create core image illegal instruction
SIGTRAP create core image trace trap
SIGABRT create core image abort(2) call (formerly SIGIOT)
SIGEMT create core image emulate instruction executed
SIGFPE create core image floating-point exception
SIGKILL terminate process kill program
SIGBUS create core image bus error
SIGSEGV create core image segmentation violation
SIGSYS create core image system call given invalid
argument
SIGPIPE terminate process write on a pipe with no reader
SIGALRM terminate process real-time timer expired
SIGTERM terminate process software termination signal
SIGURG discard signal urgent condition present on
socket
SIGSTOP stop process stop (cannot be caught or
ignored)
SIGTSTP stop process stop signal generated from
keyboard
SIGCONT discard signal continue after stop
SIGCHLD discard signal child status has changed
SIGTTIN stop process background read attempted from
control terminal
SIGTTOU stop process background write attempted to
control terminal
SIGIO discard signal I/O is possible on a descriptor
(see fcntl(2))
SIGXCPU terminate process cpu time limit exceeded (see
setrlimit(2))
SIGXFSZ terminate process file size limit exceeded (see
setrlimit(2))
SIGVTALRM terminate process virtual time alarm (see
setitimer(2))
SIGPROF terminate process profiling timer alarm (see
setitimer(2))
SIGWINCH discard signal Window size change
SIGINFO discard signal status request from keyboard
SIGUSR1 terminate process User defined signal 1
SIGUSR2 terminate process User defined signal 2
The _f_u_n_c procedure allows a user to choose the action upon receipt of a
signal. To set the default action of the signal to occur as listed
above, _f_u_n_c should be SIG_DFL. A SIG_DFL resets the default action. To
ignore the signal _f_u_n_c should be SIG_IGN. This will cause subsequent in-
stances of the signal to be ignored and pending instances to be discard-
ed. If SIG_IGN is not used, further occurrences of the signal are auto-
matically blocked and _f_u_n_c is called.
The handled signal is unblocked with the function returns and the process
continues from where it left off when the signal occured. UUnnlliikkee pprreevvii--
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For some system calls, if a signal is caught while the call is executing
and the call is permaturely terminated, the call is automatically
restarted. (The handler is installed using the SA_RESTART flag with
sigaction(2).) The affected system calls include read(2), write(2),
sendto(2), recvfrom(2), sendmsg(2) and recvmsg(2) on a communications
channel or a low speed device and during a ioctl(2) or wait(2). However,
calls that have already committed are not restarted, but instead return a
partial success (for example, a short read count).
When a process which has installed signal handlers forks, the child pro-
cess inherits the signals. All caught signals may be reset to their de-
fault action by a call to the execve(2) function; ignored signals remain
ignored.
RREETTUURRNN VVAALLUUEESS
The previous action is returned on a successful call. Otherwise, -1 is
returned and the global variable _e_r_r_n_o is set to indicate the error.
EERRRROORRSS
Signal will fail and no action will take place if one of the following
occur:
[EINVAL] _S_i_g is not a valid signal number.
[EINVAL] An attempt is made to ignore or supply a handler for SIGKILL or
SIGSTOP.
SSEEEE AALLSSOO
kill(1), ptrace(2), kill(2), sigaction(2), sigaltstack(2),
sigprocmask(2), sigsuspend(2), setjmp(3), tty(4)
HHIISSTTOORRYY
This ssiiggnnaall facility appeared in 4.0BSD.
4th Berkeley Distribution June 4, 1993 2