NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/std/c/579

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-06 | 2.7 KB

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From: Lawrence Kirby <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.std.c
Subject: Re: atexit() internals under Unix
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 96 21:21:58 GMT
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In article <4icqbm$[e-mail]> [e-mail] "David Berg" writes:

>I have a some questions regarding ANSI C in a Unix (or POSIX) context.
>They all relate to exit handling. I don't have a copy of the ANSI C
>standard, nor have I been able to find more than cursory explanations
>in other reference sources.
>
>1. Suppose a process registers an exit handler with atexit().  The exit
>   handler, in turn, calls some application library routines, which call
>   others that are also called from the mainline of the program. Leaving
>   the issue of re-entrancy aside, is there any general way (eg, a system
>   service call) by which the function can determine that it was called
>   in the context of an exit handler?

No, but this is easy to determine using an auxiliary/wrapper function.
Register the wrapper function which sets a status flag or calls the
work function with a suitable argument.

>  Can it access the exit status with which exit() was called?

No.

>2. Same as above, except the process registers a signal handler with
>   sigaction(). Can a lower level function determine that it was called
>   in the context of a signal handler?

Not as far as I am aware. This is a question for comp.unix.programmer.

>What if the signal handler calls exit()?

That is illegal where the signal was generated from an asynchronous
event (i.e. other than through calling raise() or abort()). Where legal
exit() acts just as it does when called outside a signal handler.

>3. Suppose the process now forks. From experimentation, it appears that
>   exit handlers, like signal handlers, are inherited by the child. Is
>   this behavior standard (though beyond the scope of ANSI), or at least
>   conventional?

The handlers are inherited, pending signals are not. Again this is a
topic for comp.unix.programmer.

>4. If an exit handler calls exit(), is the handler called recursively? Or
>   has it been unregistered before it is invoked? (Again, it would appear
>   from experimentation that it is indeed unregistered.)

It is illegal (i.e. results in undefined behaviour) for a program to call
exit() more than once.

--
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Lawrence Kirby | [e-mail]
Wilts, England | [e-mail]
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