Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
NAME
posix_spawn, posix_spawnp - spawn a process
SYNOPSIS
#include
int posix_spawn(pid_t *restrict pid, const char *restrict path,
const posix_spawn_file_actions_t *file_actions,
const posix_spawnattr_t *restrict attrp,
char *const argv[restrict], char *const envp[restrict]);int posix_spawnp(pid_t *restrict pid, const char *restrict file,
const posix_spawn_file_actions_t *file_actions,
const posix_spawnattr_t *restrict attrp,
char *const argv[restrict], char *const envp[restrict]);DESCRIPTION
The posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions create a new
process (child process) from the specified process image.The new process image is constructed from a regular execut-
able file called the new process image file. When a C program is executed as the result of this call, it is entered as a C language function call as follows: int main(int argc, char *argv[]); where argc is the argument count and argv is an array of character pointers to the arguments themselves. In addition, the following variable extern char **environ; is initialized as a pointer to an array of character pointers to the environment strings. The argument argv is an array of character pointers tonull-terminated strings. The last member of this array is a
null pointer and is not counted in argc. These strings con-
stitute the argument list available to the new process image. The value in argv[0] should point to a filename that is associated with the process image being started by theposix_spawn() or posix_spawnp() function.
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Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
The argument envp is an array of character pointers tonull-terminated strings. These strings constitute the
environment for the new process image. The environment array is terminated by a null pointer.The number of bytes available for the child process's com-
bined argument and environment lists is {ARG_MAX}, counting
all character pointers, the strings they point to, thetrailing null bytes in the strings, and the list-terminating
null pointers. There is no additional system overhead included in this total.The path argument to posix_spawn() is a pathname that iden-
tifies the new process image file to execute.The file parameter to posix_spawnp() is used to construct a
pathname that identifies the new process image file. If thefile parameter contains a slash character, the file parame-
ter is used as the pathname for the new process image file. Otherwise, the path prefix for this file is obtained by a search of the directories passed as the environment variable PATH. If this environment variable is not defined, theresults of the search are implementation-defined.
If file_actions is a null pointer, then file descriptors
open in the calling process remain open in the child pro-
cess, except for those whose close-on-exec flag FD_CLOEXEC
is set (see fcntl(2)). For those file descriptors that remain open, all attributes of the corresponding open file descriptions, including file locks (see fcntl(2)), remain unchanged.If file_actions is not NULL, then the file descriptors open
in the child process are those open in the calling process as modified by the spawn file actions object pointed to byfile_actions and the FD_CLOEXEC flag of each remaining open
file descriptor after the spawn file actions have been pro-
cessed. The effective order of processing the spawn file actions are:1. The set of open file descriptors for the child pro-
cess are initially the same set as is open for thecalling process. All attributes of the correspond-
ing open file descriptions, including file locks (see fcntl(2)), remain unchanged. 2. The signal mask, signal default or ignore actions,SunOS 5.11 Last change: 20 Feb 2009 2
Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
and the effective user and group IDs for the child process are changed as specified in the attributes object referenced by attrp. 3. The file actions specified by the spawn file actions object are performed in the order in which they were added to the spawn file actions object.4. Any file descriptor that has its FD_CLOEXEC flag
set (see fcntl(2)) is closed.The posix_spawnattr_t spawn attributes object type is
defined in. It contains at least the attributes defined below. If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP flag is set in the spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp, and the spawn-
pgroup attribute of the same object is non-zero, then the
child's process group is as specified in the spawn-pgroup
attribute of the object referenced by attrp.As a special case, if the POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP flag is set
in the spawn-flags attribute of the object referenced by
attrp, and the spawn-pgroup attribute of the same object is
set to zero, then the child will be in a new process group with a process group ID equal to its process ID.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP flag is not set in the spawn-
flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp, the new child process inherits the parent's process group.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM flag is set in the spawn-
flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp, butPOSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER is not set, the new process image
initially has the scheduling policy of the calling processwith the scheduling parameters specified in the spawn-
schedparam attribute of the object referenced by attrp.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER flag is set in spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp (regardless ofthe setting of the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM flag), the new
process image initially has the scheduling policy specifiedin the spawn-schedpolicy attribute of the object referenced
by attrp and the scheduling parameters specified in thespawn-schedparam attribute of the same object.
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Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
The POSIX_SPAWN_RESETIDS flag in the spawn-flags attribute
of the object referenced by attrp governs the effective user ID of the child process. If this flag is not set, the child process inherits the parent process's effective user ID. If this flag is set, the child process's effective user ID is reset to the parent's real user ID. In either case, if theset-user-ID mode bit of the new process image file is set,
the effective user ID of the child process becomes thatfile's owner ID before the new process image begins execu-
tion. If this flag is set, the child process's effective user ID is reset to the parent's real user ID. In eithercase, if the set-user-ID mode bit of the new process image
file is set, the effective user ID of the child process becomes that file's owner ID before the new process image begins execution.The POSIX_SPAWN_RESETIDS flag in the spawn-flags attribute
of the object referenced by attrp also governs the effective group ID of the child process. If this flag is not set, the child process inherits the parent process's effective group ID. If this flag is set, the child process's effective group ID is reset to the parent's real group ID. In either case,if the set-group-ID mode bit of the new process image file
is set, the effective group ID of the child process becomes that file's group ID before the new process image begins execution.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK flag is set in the spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp, the child pro-
cess initially has the signal mask specified in the spawn-
sigmask attribute of the object referenced by attrp.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF flag is set in the spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp, the signalsspecified in the spawn-sigdefault attribute of the same
object is set to their default actions in the child process.If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGIGN_NP flag is set in the spawn-
flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp, the sig-
nals specified in the spawn-sigignore attribute of the same
object are set to be ignored in the child process.If both POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF and POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGIGN_NP
flags are set in the spawn-flags attribute of the object
referenced by attrp, the actions for POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF
take precedence over the actions forPOSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGIGN_NP.
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Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
If the POSIX_SPAWN_NOSIGCHLD_NP flag is set in the spawn-
flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp, no SIGCHLD signal will be posted to the parent process when the child process terminates, regardless of the disposition of the SIGCHLD signal in the parent. SIGCHLD signals are still possible for job control stop and continue actions if the parent has requested them.If the POSIX_SPAWN_WAITPID_NP flag is set in the spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp, no wait-for-
multiple-pids operation by the parent, as in wait(),
waitid(P_ALL), or waitid(P_PGID), will succeed in reaping
the child, and the child will not be reaped automatically due the disposition of the SIGCHLD signal being set to be ignored in the parent. Only a specific wait for the child,as in waitid(P_PID, pid), is allowed and it is required,
else when the child exits it will remain a zombie until the parent exits.If the POSIX_SPAWN_NOEXECERR_NP flag is set in the spawn-
flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp, and if the specified process image file cannot be executed, thenthe posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions do not fail
with one of the exec(2) error codes, as is normal, but rather return successfully having created a child processthat exits immediately with exit status 127. This flag per-
mits system(3C) and popen(3C) to be implemented withposix_spawn() and still conform strictly to their POSIX
specifications. Signals set to be caught or set to the default action in the calling process are set to the default action in the childprocess, unless the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGIGN_NP flag is set in
the spawn-flags attribute of the object referenced by attrp
and the signals are specified in the spawn-sigignore attri-
bute of the same object. Except for SIGCHLD, signals set to be ignored by the calling process image are set to be ignored by the child process,unless otherwise specified by the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF flag
being set in the spawn-flags attribute of the object refer-
enced by attrp and the signals being indicated in thespawn-sigdefault attribute of the object referenced by
attrp. If the SIGCHLD signal is set to be ignored by the calling process, it is unspecified whether the SIGCHLD signal is setSunOS 5.11 Last change: 20 Feb 2009 5
Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
to be ignored or to the default action in the child process,unless otherwise specified by the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF flag
being set in the spawn-flags attribute of the object refer-
enced by attrp and the SIGCHLD signal being indicated in thespawn-sigdefault attribute of the object referenced by
attrp. If the value of the attrp pointer is NULL, then the default values are used. All process attributes, other than those influenced by theattributes set in the object referenced by attrp as speci-
fied above or by the file descriptor manipulations specifiedin file_actions appear in the new process image as though
fork() had been called to create a child process and then a member of the exec family of functions had been called by the child process to execute the new process image.The fork handlers are not run when posix_spawn() or
posix_spawnp() is called.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp()
return the process ID of the child process to the parentprocess in the variable pointed to by a non-null pid argu-
ment, and return zero as the function return value. Other-
wise, no child process is created, the value stored into thevariable pointed to by a non-null pid is unspecified, and an
error number is returned as the function return value to indicate the error. If the pid argument is a null pointer, the process ID of the child is not returned to the caller.ERRORS
The posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions will fail if:
EINVAL The value specified by file_actions or attrp is
invalid.If posix_spawn() or posix_spawnp() fails for any of the rea-
sons that would cause fork() or one of the exec family of functions to fail, an error value is returned as described by fork(2) and exec(2), respectivelyIf POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP is set in the spawn-flags attribute
of the object referenced by attrp, and posix_spawn() or
posix_spawnp() fails while changing the child's process
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Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
group, an error value is returned as described by setpgid(2).If POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM is set and
POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER is not set in the spawn-flags
attribute of the object referenced by attrp, then ifposix_spawn() or posix_spawnp() fails for any of the reasons
that would cause sched_setparam() to fail, an error value is
returned as described by sched_setparam(3C).
If POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER is set in the spawn-flags attri-
bute of the object referenced by attrp, and if posix_spawn()
or posix_spawnp() fails for any of the reasons that would
cause sched_setscheduler() to fail, an error value is
returned as described by sched_setscheduler(3C).
If the file_actions argument is not NULL and specifies any
close(), dup2(), or open() actions to be performed, and ifposix_spawn() or posix_spawnp() fails for any of the reasons
that would cause close(), dup2(), or open() to fail, an error value is returned as described by close(2), dup2(3C), or open(2), respectively. An open file action might, by itself, result in any of the errors described by close() or dup2(), in addition to those described by open(). If a close(2) operation is specified to be performed for a file descriptor that is not open at the time of the call toposix_spawn() or posix_spawnp(), the action does not cause
posix_spawn() or posix_spawnp() to fail.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 20 Feb 2009 7
Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Committed ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
| MT-Level | MT-Safe |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Standard | See standards(5). ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
alarm(2), chmod(2), close(2), dup(2), exec(2), exit(2), fcntl(2), fork(2), kill(2), open(2), setpgid(2), setuid(2), stat(2), times(2), dup2(3C), popen(3C),posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose(3C),
posix_spawn_file_actions_adddup2(3C),
posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(3C),
posix_spawn_file_actions_destroy(3C),
posix_spawn_file_actions_init(3C),
posix_spawnattr_destroy(3C), posix_spawnattr_getflags(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getpgroup(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getschedparam(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getschedpolicy(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getsigdefault(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getsigignore_np(3C),
posix_spawnattr_getsigmask(3C), posix_spawnattr_init(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setflags(3C), posix_spawnattr_setpgroup(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setschedparam(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setschedpolicy(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setsigdefault(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setsigignore_np(3C),
posix_spawnattr_setsigmask(3C), sched_setparam(3C),
sched_setscheduler(3C), system(3C), wait(3C), attributes(5),
standards(5) NOTES The SUSv3 POSIX standard (The Open Group Base SpecificationsIssue 6, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001) permits the posix_spawn() and
posix_spawnp() functions to return successfully before some
of the above-described errors are detected, allowing the
child process to fail instead: ... if the error occurs after the calling process successfully returns, the child process exits with exit status 127.With the one exception of when the POSIX_SPAWN_NOEXECERR_NP
flag is passed in the attributes structure, this behavior is not present in the Solaris implementation. Any error thatSunOS 5.11 Last change: 20 Feb 2009 8
Standard C Library Functions posix_spawn(3C)
occurs before the new process image is successfully con-
structed causes the posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() func-
tions to return the corresponding non-zero error value
without creating a child process.The POSIX_SPAWN_NOSIGCHLD_NP, POSIX_SPAWN_WAITPID_NP,
POSIX_SPAWN_NOEXECERR_NP, and POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGIGN_NP flags
and the posix_spawnattr_getsigignore_np() and
posix_spawnattr_setsigignore_np() functions are non-portable
Solaris extensions to the posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp()
interfaces.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 20 Feb 2009 9