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NAME

       posix_spawn, posix_spawnp - spawn a process

SYNOPSIS

       #include <spawn.h>

       int posix_spawn(pid_t *pid, const char *path,
                       const posix_spawn_file_actions_t *file_actions,
                       const posix_spawnattr_t *attrp,
                       char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

       int posix_spawnp(pid_t *pid, const char *file,
                       const posix_spawn_file_actions_t *file_actions,
                       const posix_spawnattr_t *attrp,
                       char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

DESCRIPTION

       The posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions are used to create a new child process that
       executes a specified  file.   These  functions  were  specified  by  POSIX  to  provide  a
       standardized  method  of  creating  new  processes on machines that lack the capability to
       support the fork(2) system call.  These machines are  generally  small,  embedded  systems
       lacking MMU support.

       The  posix_spawn()  and  posix_spawnp()  functions provide the functionality of a combined
       fork(2) and exec(3), with some optional housekeeping steps in the child process before the
       exec(3).  These functions are not meant to replace the fork(2) and execve(2) system calls.
       In fact, they provide only a subset of the functionality that can be achieved by using the
       system calls.

       The  only  difference between posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() is the manner in which they
       specify the file to be executed by the child process.  With posix_spawn(), the  executable
       file is specified as a pathname (which can be absolute or relative).  With posix_spawnp(),
       the executable file is specified as a simple filename; the system searches for  this  file
       in  the list of directories specified by PATH (in the same way as for execvp(3)).  For the
       remainder of this page, the discussion is phrased in  terms  of  posix_spawn(),  with  the
       understanding that posix_spawnp() differs only on the point just described.

       The remaining arguments to these two functions are as follows:

       *  The  pid  argument  points to a buffer that is used to return the process ID of the new
          child process.

       *  The file_actions argument points to a spawn file actions object  that  specifies  file-
          related  actions  to  be  performed in the child between the fork(2) and exec(3) steps.
          This  object  is  initialized  and  populated  before  the  posix_spawn()  call   using
          posix_spawn_file_actions_init(3) and the posix_spawn_file_actions_*() functions.

       *  The attrp argument points to an attributes objects that specifies various attributes of
          the created child process.   This  object  is  initialized  and  populated  before  the
          posix_spawn() call using posix_spawnattr_init(3) and the posix_spawnattr_*() functions.

       *  The  argv  and envp arguments specify the argument list and environment for the program
          that is executed in the child process, as for execve(2).

       Below, the functions are described in terms of a three-step process: the fork() step,  the
       pre-exec() step (executed in the child), and the exec() step (executed in the child).

   fork() step
       The posix_spawn() function commences by calling fork(2), or possibly vfork(2) (see below).

       The  PID  of  the  new  child  process is placed in *pid.  The posix_spawn() function then
       returns control to the parent process.

       Subsequently, the parent can use one of the system calls described in wait(2) to check the
       status  of  the  child  process.   If  the  child  fails  in any of the housekeeping steps
       described below, or fails to execute the desired file, it exits with a status of 127.

       The child process is created  using  vfork(2)  instead  of  fork(2)  when  either  of  the
       following is true:

       *  the  spawn-flags element of the attributes object pointed to by attrp contains the GNU-
          specific flag POSIX_SPAWN_USEVFORK; or

       *  file_actions is NULL and the spawn-flags element of the attributes object pointed to by
          attrp     does     not     contain    POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK,    POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF,
          POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM,    POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER,    POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP,    or
          POSIX_SPAWN_RESETIDS.

       In  other  words,  vfork(2)  is  used if the caller requests it, or if there is no cleanup
       expected in the child before it exec(3)s the requested file.

   pre-exec() step: housekeeping
       In between the fork(2) and the exec(3), a child process may  need  to  perform  a  set  of
       housekeeping  actions.   The  posix_spawn()  and posix_spawnp() functions support a small,
       well-defined set of system tasks that the child process can accomplish before it  executes
       the  executable file.  These operations are controlled by the attributes object pointed to
       by attrp and the file actions object pointed to by file_actions.  In the child, processing
       is done in the following sequence:

       1. Process  attribute  actions: signal mask, signal default handlers, scheduling algorithm
          and parameters, process group,  and  effective  user  and  group  IDs  are  changed  as
          specified by the attributes object pointed to by attrp.

       2. File  actions,  as  specified  in the file_actions argument, are performed in the order
          that they were specified using calls to the posix_spawn_file_actions_add*() functions.

       3. File descriptors with the FD_CLOEXEC flag set are closed.

       All process attributes in the child, other than those affected by attributes specified  in
       the  object  pointed  to  by  attrp  and  the  file  actions  in  the object pointed to by
       file_actions, will be affected as though  the  child  was  created  with  fork(2)  and  it
       executed the program with execve(2).

       The  process  attributes actions are defined by the attributes object pointed to by attrp.
       The spawn-flags attribute (set using  posix_spawnattr_setflags(3))  controls  the  general
       actions  that  occur,  and other attributes in the object specify values to be used during
       those actions.

       The effects of the flags that may be specified in spawn-flags are as follows:

       POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK
               Set the signal mask to the signal set specified in the spawn-sigmask attribute  of
               the  object  pointed  to by attrp.  If the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK flag is not set,
               then the child inherits the parent's signal mask.

       POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF
               Reset the disposition of all signals in the set specified in the  spawn-sigdefault
               attribute  of the object pointed to by attrp to the default.  For the treatment of
               the dispositions of signals not specified in the  spawn-sigdefault  attribute,  or
               the treatment when POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGDEF is not specified, see execve(2).

       POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM
               If  this  flag  is set, and the POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER flag is not set, then set
               the scheduling parameters to the  parameters  specified  in  the  spawn-schedparam
               attribute of the object pointed to by attrp.

       POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER
               Set the scheduling policy algorithm and parameters of the child, as follows:

               *  The  scheduling  policy  is set to the value specified in the spawn-schedpolicy
                  attribute of the object pointed to by attrp.

               *  The scheduling parameters  are  set  to  the  value  specified  in  the  spawn-
                  schedparam attribute of the object pointed to by attrp (but see BUGS).

               If  the  POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM  and  POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPOLICY  flags are not
               specified, the child inherits the corresponding  scheduling  attributes  from  the
               parent.

       POSIX_SPAWN_RESETIDS
               If  this  flag  is set, reset the effective UID and GID to the real UID and GID of
               the parent process.  If this flag is not set, then the child retains the effective
               UID  and  GID  of the parent.  In either case, if the set-user-ID and set-group-ID
               permission bits are enabled on the executable file, their effect will override the
               setting of the effective UID and GID (se execve(2)).

       POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP
               Set  the process group to the value specified in the spawn-pgroup attribute of the
               object pointed to by attrp.  If the spawn-pgroup attribute has the  value  0,  the
               child's   process  group  ID  is  made  the  same  as  its  process  ID.   If  the
               POSIX_SPAWN_SETPGROUP flag is not set, the child  inherits  the  parent's  process
               group ID.

       If attrp is NULL, then the default behaviors described above for each flag apply.

       The  file_actions  argument  specifies a sequence of file operations that are performed in
       the child process after the general processing described above, and before it performs the
       exec(3).   If  file_actions is NULL, then no special action is taken, and standard exec(3)
       semantics apply--file descriptors open before the exec remain open  in  the  new  process,
       except those for which the FD_CLOEXEC flag has been set.  File locks remain in place.

       If  file_actions  is  not  NULL,  then  it contains an ordered set of requests to open(2),
       close(2),  and  dup2(2)  files.   These  requests  are  added  to  the   file_actions   by
       posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(3),       posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose(3),       and
       posix_spawn_file_actions_adddup2(3).  The requested operations are performed in the  order
       they were added to file_actions.

       If  any  of  the  housekeeping  actions  fails  (due to bogus values being passed or other
       reasons why signal handling, process scheduling, process  group  ID  functions,  and  file
       descriptor operations might fail), the child process exits with exit value 127.

   exec() step
       Once  the  child  has  successfully forked and performed all requested pre-exec steps, the
       child runs the requested executable.

       The child process takes its environment from the envp argument, which is interpreted as if
       it  had been passed to execve(2).  The arguments to the created process come from the argv
       argument, which is processed as for execve(2).

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() place the PID  of  the  child
       process  in pid, and return 0.  If there is an error before or during the fork(2), then no
       child is created, the contents of *pid are unspecified,  and  these  functions  return  an
       error number as described below.

       Even  when these functions return a success status, the child process may still fail for a
       plethora of reasons related to its pre-exec() initialization.  In  addition,  the  exec(3)
       may fail.  In all of these cases, the child process will exit with the exit value of 127.

ERRORS

       The  posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions fail only in the case where the underlying
       fork(2) or vfork(2) call fails;  in these cases, these functions return an  error  number,
       which will be one of the errors described for fork(2) or vfork(2).

       In addition, these functions fail if:

       ENOSYS Function not supported on this system.

VERSIONS

       The posix_spawn() and posix_spawnp() functions are available since glibc 2.2.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES

       The housekeeping activities in the child are controlled by the objects pointed to by attrp
       (for non-file actions) and file_actions  In  POSIX  parlance,  the  posix_spawnattr_t  and
       posix_spawn_file_actions_t  data  types are referred to as objects, and their elements are
       not specified by name.  Portable programs should initialize these objects using  only  the
       POSIX-specified  functions.  (In other words, although these objects may be implemented as
       structures  containing  fields,  portable  programs  must   avoid   dependence   on   such
       implementation details.)

       According   to   POSIX,   it   unspecified   whether   fork   handlers   established  with
       pthread_atfork(3) are called when posix_spawn() is invoked.  On glibc, fork  handlers  are
       called only if the child is created using fork(2).

       There  is  no  "posix_fspawn"  function  (i.e.,  a  function  that  is to posix_spawn() as
       fexecve(3) is to execve(2)).  However, this functionality can be  obtained  by  specifying
       the path argument as one of the files in the caller's /proc/self/fd directory.

BUGS

       POSIX.1  says  that  when  POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER  is specified in spawn-flags, then the
       POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM (if present) is ignored.  However, before glibc 2.14,  calls  to
       posix_spawn()  failed with an error if POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDULER was specified without also
       specifying POSIX_SPAWN_SETSCHEDPARAM.

EXAMPLE

       The program below demonstrates the use of various functions in the POSIX spawn  API.   The
       program  accepts  command-line  attributes  that  can  be  used to create file actions and
       attributes objects.  The remaining command-line arguments are used as the executable  name
       and command-line arguments of the program that is executed in the child.

       In the first run, the date(1) command is executed in the child, and the posix_spawn() call
       employs no file actions or attributes objects.

           $ ./a.out date
           PID of child: 7634
           Tue Feb  1 19:47:50 CEST 2011
           Child status: exited, status=0

       In the next run, the -c command-line option is used to create a file actions  object  that
       closes  standard  output in the child.  Consequently, date(1) fails when trying to perform
       output and exits with a status of 1.

           $ ./a.out -c date
           PID of child: 7636
           date: write error: Bad file descriptor
           Child status: exited, status=1

       In the next run, the -s command-line option is used to create an  attributes  object  that
       specifies  that  all  (blockable)  signals  in the child should be blocked.  Consequently,
       trying to kill child with the default  signal  sent  by  kill(1)  (i.e.,  SIGTERM)  fails,
       because  that  signal  is  blocked.   Therefore,  to  kill the child, SIGKILL is necessary
       (SIGKILL can't be blocked).

           $ ./a.out -s sleep 60 &
           [1] 7637
           $ PID of child: 7638

           $ kill 7638
           $ kill -KILL 7638
           $ Child status: killed by signal 9
           [1]+  Done                    ./a.out -s sleep 60

       When we try to execute a nonexistent command in the child, the exec(3) fails and the child
       exits with a status of 127.

           $ ./a.out xxxxx
           PID of child: 10190
           Child status: exited, status=127

   Program source

       #include <spawn.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <unistd.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <string.h>
       #include <wait.h>
       #include <errno.h>

       #define errExit(msg)    do { perror(msg); \
                                    exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (0)

       #define errExitEN(en, msg) \
                               do { errno = en; perror(msg); \
                                    exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (0)

       char **environ;

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
           pid_t child_pid;
           int s, opt, status;
           sigset_t mask;
           posix_spawnattr_t attr;
           posix_spawnattr_t *attrp;
           posix_spawn_file_actions_t file_actions;
           posix_spawn_file_actions_t *file_actionsp;

           /* Parse command-line options, which can be used to specify an
              attributes object and file actions object for the child. */

           attrp = NULL;
           file_actionsp = NULL;

           while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "sc")) != -1) {
               switch (opt) {
               case 'c':       /* -c: close standard output in child */

                   /* Create a file actions object and add a "close"
                      action to it */

                   s = posix_spawn_file_actions_init(&file_actions);
                   if (s != 0)
                       errExitEN(s, "posix_spawn_file_actions_init");

                   s = posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose(&file_actions,
                                                         STDOUT_FILENO);
                   if (s != 0)
                       errExitEN(s, "posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose");

                   file_actionsp = &file_actions;
                   break;

               case 's':       /* -s: block all signals in child */

                   /* Create an attributes object and add a "set signal mask"
                      action to it */

                   s = posix_spawnattr_init(&attr);
                   if (s != 0)
                       errExitEN(s, "posix_spawnattr_init");
                   s = posix_spawnattr_setflags(&attr, POSIX_SPAWN_SETSIGMASK);
                   if (s != 0)
                       errExitEN(s, "posix_spawnattr_setflags");

                   sigfillset(&mask);
                   s = posix_spawnattr_setsigmask(&attr, &mask);
                   if (s != 0)
                       errExitEN(s, "posix_spawnattr_setsigmask");

                   attrp = &attr;
                   break;
               }
           }

           /* Spawn the child. The name of the program to execute and the
              command-line arguments are taken from the command-line arguments
              of this program. The environment of the program execed in the
              child is made the same as the parent's environment. */

           s = posix_spawnp(&child_pid, argv[optind], file_actionsp, attrp,
                            &argv[optind], environ);
           if (s != 0)
               errExitEN(s, "posix_spawn");

           /* Destroy any objects that we created earlier */

           if (attrp != NULL) {
               s = posix_spawnattr_destroy(attrp);
               if (s != 0)
                   errExitEN(s, "posix_spawnattr_destroy");
           }

           if (file_actionsp != NULL) {
               s = posix_spawn_file_actions_destroy(file_actionsp);
               if (s != 0)
                   errExitEN(s, "posix_spawn_file_actions_destroy");
           }

           printf("PID of child: %ld\n", (long) child_pid);

           /* Monitor status of the child until it terminates */

           do {
               s = waitpid(child_pid, &status, WUNTRACED | WCONTINUED);
               if (s == -1)
                   errExit("waitpid");

               printf("Child status: ");
               if (WIFEXITED(status)) {
                   printf("exited, status=%d\n", WEXITSTATUS(status));
               } else if (WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
                   printf("killed by signal %d\n", WTERMSIG(status));
               } else if (WIFSTOPPED(status)) {
                   printf("stopped by signal %d\n", WSTOPSIG(status));
               } else if (WIFCONTINUED(status)) {
                   printf("continued\n");
               }
           } while (!WIFEXITED(status) && !WIFSIGNALED(status));

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       close(2), dup2(2), execl(2), execlp(2), fork(2), open(2), sched_setparam(2),
       sched_setscheduler(2), setpgid(2), setuid(2), sigaction(2), sigprocmask(2),
       posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose(3), posix_spawn_file_actions_adddup2(3),
       posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(3), posix_spawn_file_actions_destroy(3),
       posix_spawn_file_actions_init(3), posix_spawnattr_destroy(3), posix_spawnattr_getflags(3),
       posix_spawnattr_getpgroup(3), posix_spawnattr_getschedparam(3),
       posix_spawnattr_getschedpolicy(3), posix_spawnattr_getsigdefault(3),
       posix_spawnattr_getsigmask(3), posix_spawnattr_init(3), posix_spawnattr_setflags(3),
       posix_spawnattr_setpgroup(3), posix_spawnattr_setschedparam(3),
       posix_spawnattr_setschedpolicy(3), posix_spawnattr_setsigdefault(3),
       posix_spawnattr_setsigmask(3), pthread_atfork(3), <spawn.h>, Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1-2001, http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html

COLOPHON

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