xref: /freebsd/lib/libsys/pdfork.2 (revision 1edb7116)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 2009-2010, 2012-2013 Robert N. M. Watson
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33.Dd October 14, 2018
34.Dt PDFORK 2
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm pdfork ,
38.Nm pdgetpid ,
39.Nm pdkill
40.Nd System calls to manage process descriptors
41.Sh LIBRARY
42.Lb libc
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In sys/procdesc.h
45.Ft pid_t
46.Fn pdfork "int *fdp" "int flags"
47.Ft int
48.Fn pdgetpid "int fd" "pid_t *pidp"
49.Ft int
50.Fn pdkill "int fd" "int signum"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52Process descriptors are special file descriptors that represent processes,
53and are created using
54.Fn pdfork ,
55a variant of
56.Xr fork 2 ,
57which, if successful, returns a process descriptor in the integer pointed to
58by
59.Fa fdp .
60Processes created via
61.Fn pdfork
62will not cause
63.Dv SIGCHLD
64on termination.
65.Fn pdfork
66can accept the flags:
67.Bl -tag -width ".Dv PD_DAEMON"
68.It Dv PD_DAEMON
69Instead of the default terminate-on-close behaviour, allow the process to
70live until it is explicitly killed with
71.Xr kill 2 .
72.Pp
73This option is not permitted in
74.Xr capsicum 4
75capability mode (see
76.Xr cap_enter 2 ) .
77.El
78.Bl -tag -width ".Dv PD_DAEMON"
79.It Dv PD_CLOEXEC
80Set close-on-exec on process descriptor.
81.El
82.Pp
83.Fn pdgetpid
84queries the process ID (PID) in the process descriptor
85.Fa fd .
86.Pp
87.Fn pdkill
88is functionally identical to
89.Xr kill 2 ,
90except that it accepts a process descriptor,
91.Fa fd ,
92rather than a PID.
93.Pp
94The following system calls also have effects specific to process descriptors:
95.Pp
96.Xr fstat 2
97queries status of a process descriptor; currently only the
98.Fa st_mode ,
99.Fa st_birthtime ,
100.Fa st_atime ,
101.Fa st_ctime
102and
103.Fa st_mtime
104fields are defined.
105If the owner read, write, and execute bits are set then the
106process represented by the process descriptor is still alive.
107.Pp
108.Xr poll 2
109and
110.Xr select 2
111allow waiting for process state transitions; currently only
112.Dv POLLHUP
113is defined, and will be raised when the process dies.
114Process state transitions can also be monitored using
115.Xr kqueue 2
116filter
117.Dv EVFILT_PROCDESC ;
118currently only
119.Dv NOTE_EXIT
120is implemented.
121.Pp
122.Xr close 2
123will close the process descriptor unless
124.Dv PD_DAEMON
125is set; if the process is still alive and this is
126the last reference to the process descriptor, the process will be terminated
127with the signal
128.Dv SIGKILL .
129.Sh RETURN VALUES
130.Fn pdfork
131returns a PID, 0 or -1, as
132.Xr fork 2
133does.
134.Pp
135.Fn pdgetpid
136and
137.Fn pdkill
138return 0 on success and -1 on failure.
139.Sh ERRORS
140These functions may return the same error numbers as their PID-based equivalents
141(e.g.
142.Fn pdfork
143may return the same error numbers as
144.Xr fork 2 ) ,
145with the following additions:
146.Bl -tag -width Er
147.It Bq Er EINVAL
148The signal number given to
149.Fn pdkill
150is invalid.
151.It Bq Er ENOTCAPABLE
152The process descriptor being operated on has insufficient rights (e.g.
153.Dv CAP_PDKILL
154for
155.Fn pdkill ) .
156.El
157.Sh SEE ALSO
158.Xr close 2 ,
159.Xr fork 2 ,
160.Xr fstat 2 ,
161.Xr kill 2 ,
162.Xr kqueue 2 ,
163.Xr poll 2 ,
164.Xr wait4 2 ,
165.Xr capsicum 4 ,
166.Xr procdesc 4
167.Sh HISTORY
168The
169.Fn pdfork ,
170.Fn pdgetpid ,
171and
172.Fn pdkill
173system calls first appeared in
174.Fx 9.0 .
175.Pp
176Support for process descriptors mode was developed as part of the
177.Tn TrustedBSD
178Project.
179.Sh AUTHORS
180.An -nosplit
181These functions and the capability facility were created by
182.An Robert N. M. Watson Aq Mt rwatson@FreeBSD.org
183and
184.An Jonathan Anderson Aq Mt jonathan@FreeBSD.org
185at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory with support from a grant
186from Google, Inc.
187