Provided by: libsys-sigaction-perl_0.20-1_all 
NAME
Sys::SigAction - Perl extension for Consistent Signal Handling
SYNOPSYS
#do something non-interrupt able
use Sys::SigAction qw( set_sig_handler );
{
my $h = set_sig_handler( 'INT' ,'mysubname' ,{ flags => SA_RESTART } );
... do stuff non-interrupt able
} #signal handler is reset when $h goes out of scope
or
#timeout a system call:
use Sys::SigAction qw( set_sig_handler );
eval {
my $h = set_sig_handler( 'ALRM' ,\&mysubname ,{ mask=>[ 'ALRM' ] ,safe=>1 } );
eval {
alarm(2)
... do something you want to timeout
alarm(0);
};
alarm(0);
die $@ if $@;
}; #signal handler is reset when $h goes out of scope
if ( $@ ) ...
or
use Sys::SigAction;
my $alarm = 0;
eval {
my $h = Sys::SigAction::set_sig_handler( 'ALRM' ,sub { $alarm = 1; } );
eval {
alarm(2)
... do something you want to timeout
alarm(0);
};
alarm(0);
die $@ if $@;
}; #signal handler is reset when $h goes out of scope
if ( $@ or $alarm ) ...
or
use Sys::SigAction;
my $alarm = 0;
Sys::SigAction::set_sig_handler( 'TERM' ,sub { "DUMMY" } );
#code from here on uses new handler.... (old handler is forgotten)
or
use Sys::SigAction qw( timeout_call );
if ( timeout_call( 5 ,sub { $retval = DoSomething( @args ); } )
{
print "DoSomething() timed out\n" ;
}
or
#use a floating point (fractional seconds) in timeout_call
use Sys::SigAction qw( timeout_call );
if ( timeout_call( 0.1 ,sub { $retval = DoSomething( @args ); } )
{
print "DoSomething() timed out\n" ;
}
ABSTRACT
This module implements "set_sig_handler()", which sets up a signal handler and
(optionally) returns an object which causes the signal handler to be reset to the previous
value, when it goes out of scope.
Also implemented is "timeout_call()" which takes a timeout value, a code reference and
optional arguments, and executes the code reference wrapped with an alarm timeout.
timeout_call accepts seconds in floating point format, so you can time out call with a
resolution of 0.000001 seconds. If "Time::HiRes" is not loadable or
"Time::HiRes::ualarm()" does not work, then the factional part of the time value passed to
"timeout_call()" will be raise to the next higher integer with POSIX::ceil(). This means
that the shortest a timeout can be in 1 second.
Finally, two convenience routines are defined which allow one to get the signal name from
the number -- "sig_name()", and get the signal number from the name -- "sig_number()".
DESCRIPTION
Prior to version 5.8.0 perl implemented 'unsafe' signal handling. The reason it is
consider unsafe, is that there is a risk that a signal will arrive, and be handled while
perl is changing internal data structures. This can result in all kinds of subtle and not
so subtle problems. For this reason it has always been recommended that one do as little
as possible in a signal handler, and only variables that already exist be manipulated.
Perl 5.8.0 and later versions implements 'safe' signal handling on platforms which support
the POSIX sigaction() function. This is accomplished by having perl note that a signal
has arrived, but deferring the execution of the signal handler until such time as it is
safe to do so. Unfortunately these changes can break some existing scripts, if they
depended on a system routine being interrupted by the signal's arrival. The perl 5.8.0
implementation was modified further in version 5.8.2.
From the perl 5.8.2 perlvar man page:
The default delivery policy of signals changed in Perl 5.8.0
from immediate (also known as "unsafe") to deferred, also
known as "safe signals".
The implementation of this changed the "sa_flags" with which the signal handler is
installed by perl, and it causes some system routines (like connect()) to return EINTR,
instead of another error when the signal arrives. The problem comes when the code that
made the system call sees the EINTR code and decides it's going to call it again before
returning. Perl doesn't do this but some libraries do, including for instance, the Oracle
OCI library.
Thus the 'deferred signal' approach (as implemented by default in perl 5.8 and later)
results in some system calls being retried prior to the signal handler being called by
perl. This breaks timeout logic for DBD-Oracle which works with earlier versions of perl.
This can be particularly vexing, when, for instance, the host on which a database resides
is not available: "DBI->connect()" hangs for minutes before returning an error (and
cannot even be interrupted with control-C, even when the intended timeout is only
seconds). This is because SIGINT appears to be deferred as well. The result is that it
is impossible to implement open timeouts with code that looks like this in perl 5.8.0 and
later:
eval {
eval {
local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timeout" };
alarm 2;
$sth = DBI->connect(...);
alarm 0;
};
alarm 0;
die if $@;
};
Or as the author of bug #50628 pointed out, might probably better be written as:
eval {
local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timeout" };
eval {
alarm 2;
$sth = DBI->connect(...);
alarm 0;
};
alarm 0;
die if $@;
};
The solution, if your system has the POSIX sigaction() function, is to use perl's
"POSIX::sigaction()" to install the signal handler. With "sigaction()", one gets control
over both the signal mask, and the "sa_flags" that are used to install the handler.
Further, with perl 5.8.2 and later, a 'safe' switch is provided which can be used to ask
for safe(r) signal handling.
Using sigaction() ensures that the system call won't be resumed after it's interrupted, so
long as die is called within the signal handler. This is no longer the case when one uses
$SIG{name} to set signal handlers in perls >= 5.8.0.
The usage of sigaction() is not well documented however, and in perl versions less than
5.8.0, it does not work at all. (But that's OK, because just setting $SIG does work in
that case.) Using sigaction() requires approximately 4 or 5 lines of code where
previously one only had to set a code reference into the %SIG hash.
Unfortunately, at least with perl 5.8.0, the result is that doing this effectively reverts
to the 'unsafe' signals behavior. It is not clear whether this would be the case in perl
5.8.2, since the safe flag can be used to ask for safe signal handling. I suspect this
separates the logic which uses the "sa_flags" to install the handler, and whether deferred
signal handling is used.
The reader should also note, that the behavior of the 'safe' attribute is not consistent
with what this author expected. Specifically, it appears to disable signal masking. This
can be examined further in the t/safe.t and the t/mask.t regression tests. Never-the-
less, Sys::SigAction provides an easy mechanism for the user to recover the pre-5.8.0
behavior for signal handling, and the mask attribute clearly works. (see t/mask.t) If one
is looking for specific safe signal handling behavior that is considered broken, and the
breakage can be demonstrated, then a patch to t/safe.t would be most welcome.
This module wraps up the POSIX:: routines and objects necessary to call sigaction() in a
way that is as efficient from a coding perspective as just setting a localized
$SIG{SIGNAL} with a code reference. Further, the user has control over the "sa_flags"
passed to sigaction(). By default, if no additional args are passed to sigaction(), then
the signal handler will be called when a signal (such as SIGALRM) is delivered.
Since sigaction() is not fully functional in perl versions less than 5.8, this module
implements equivalent behavior using the standard %SIG array. The version checking and
implementation of the 'right' code is handled by this module, so the user does not have to
write perl version dependent code. The attrs hashref argument to set_sig_handler() is
silently ignored, in perl versions less than 5.8. This module has been tested with perls
as old as 5.005 on solaris.
It is hoped that with the use of this module, your signal handling behavior can be coded
in a way that does not change from one perl version to the next, and that sigaction() will
be easier for you to use.
Note on "Double evals"
CPAN bug #50628 which was filed against Sys::SigAction-0.11 noting that the sample code
was "buggy" because the evals that wrapped the code we wanted to timeout might die for an
unanticipated reason, before the alarm could be cleared. In that case, as the bug writer
noted, if the alarm expires before the final alarm(0) can be called, either the code will
completely die because there is no SIGALRM handler in place to catch the signal, or the
wrong handler (not the local handler) will be called.
All the code samples in this module have been modified to account for this. Additionally
we have made the same change in timeout_call() which could have exhibited this behavior,
though the AUTHOR never knowing experienced it.
FUNCTIONS
set_sig_handler()
$sig ,$handler ,$attrs
Install a new signal handler and (if not called in a void context) returning a
Sys::SigAction object containing the old signal handler, which will be restored on object
destruction.
$sig is a signal name (without the 'SIG') or number.
$handler is either the name (string) of a signal handler
function or a subroutine CODE reference.
$attrs if defined is a hash reference containing the
following keys:
flags => the flags the passed sigaction
ex: SA_RESTART (defined in your signal.h)
mask => the array reference: signals you
do not want delivered while the signal
handler is executing
ex: [ SIGINT SIGUSR1 ] or
ex: [ qw( INT USR1 ]
safe => A boolean value requesting 'safe' signal
handling (only in 5.8.2 and greater)
earlier versions will issue a warning if
you use this
NOTE: This breaks the signal masking
timeout_call()
$timeout, $coderef, @args
Given a code reference, and a timeout value (in seconds), timeout_call() will (in an eval)
setup a signal handler for SIGALRM (which will die), set an alarm clock, and execute the
code reference with optional arguments @args. $timeout (seconds) may be expressed as a
floating point number.
If Time::HiRes is present and useable, timeout_call() can be used with a timer resolution
of 0.000001 seconds. If HiRes is not loadable, Sys::SigAction will "do the right thing"
and convert the factional seconds to the next higher integer value using the posix ceil()
function.
If the alarm goes off the code will be interrupted. The alarm is canceled if the code
returns before the alarm is fired. The routine returns true if the code being executed
timed out. (was interrupted). Exceptions thrown by the code executed are propagated out.
The original signal handler is restored, prior to returning to the caller.
sig_alarm()
ex:
sig_alarm( 1.2 );
sig_alarm() is a drop in replacement for the standard alarm() function. The argument may
be expressed as a floating point number.
If Time::HiRes is present and useable, the alarm timers will be set to the floating point
value with a resolution of 0.000001 seconds. If Time::HiRes is not available then the a
fractional value in the argument will be raised to the next higher integer value.
sig_name()
Return the signal name (string) from a signal number.
ex:
sig_name( SIGINT ) returns 'INT'
sig_number()
Return the signal number (integer) from a signal name (minus the SIG part).
ex:
sig_number( 'INT' ) returns the integer value of SIGINT;
MULTITHREADED PERL
Sys::SigAction works just fine on perls built with multithread support in single threaded
perl applications. However, please note that using Signals in a multi-thread perl
application is unsupported.
Read the following from perldoc perlthrtut:
... mixing signals and threads may be problematic.
Implementations are platform-dependent, and even the POSIX semantics
may not be what you expect (and Perl doesn't even give you the full
POSIX API). For example, there is no way to guarantee that a signal
sent to a multi-threaded Perl application will get intercepted by
any particular thread.
That said, perl documentation for perl threading discusses a a way of emulating signals in
multi-threaded applications, when safe signals is in effect. See perldoc threads and
search for THREAD SIGNALLING. I have no test of multithreading and this module. If you
thing they could used compatibly, and would provide value, patches are welcome.
AUTHOR
Lincoln A. Baxter <lab-at-lincolnbaxter-dot-com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2004-2013 Lincoln A. Baxter
All rights reserved.
You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file,
SEE ALSO
perldoc perlvar
perldoc POSIX
NOTE
Recent versions of DBD::Oracle no longer reference this module in the POD, so DBD::Oracle
may now have solved the connection timeout problem internally. For older versions, the
dbd-oracle-timeout.pod file provides a DBD-Oracle test script, which illustrates the use
of this module with the DBD-Oracle driver.