SIGNAL(3C) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGNAL(3C) NAME signal - simplified software signal facilities SYNOPSIS #include (*signal(sig, func))() int (*func)(); DESCRIPTION _S_i_g_n_a_l is a simplified interface to the more general _s_i_g_v_e_c(2) facility. A signal is generated by some abnormal event, initiated by a user at a terminal (quit, interrupt, stop), by a program error (bus error, etc.), by request of another program (kill), or when a process is stopped because it wishes to access its control terminal while in the background (see _t_t_y(4)). Signals are optionally generated when a process resumes after being stopped, when the status of child processes changes, or when input is ready at the control terminal. Most signals cause termination of the receiving process if no action is taken; some signals instead cause the process receiving them to be stopped, or are simply dis- carded if the process has not requested otherwise. Except for the SIGKILL and SIGSTOP signals, the _s_i_g_n_a_l call allows signals either to be ignored or to cause an interrupt to a specified location. The following is a list of all signals with names as in the include file <_s_i_g_n_a_l._h>: SIGHUP 1 hangup SIGINT 2 interrupt SIGQUIT 3* quit SIGILL 4* illegal instruction SIGTRAP 5* trace trap SIGIOT 6* IOT instruction SIGEMT 7* EMT instruction SIGFPE 8* floating point exception SIGKILL 9 kill (cannot be caught or ignored) SIGBUS 10* bus error SIGSEGV 11* segmentation violation SIGSYS 12* bad argument to system call SIGPIPE 13 write on a pipe with no one to read it SIGALRM 14 alarm clock SIGTERM 15 software termination signal SIGURG 16@ urgent condition present on socket SIGSTOP 17'|+'stop (cannot be caught or ignored) SIGTSTP 18'|+'stop signal generated from keyboard SIGCONT 19@ continue after stop SIGCHLD 20@ child status has changed SIGTTIN 21'|+'background read attempted from control terminal SIGTTOU 22'|+'background write attempted to control terminal Printed 11/26/99 May 20, 1986 1 SIGNAL(3C) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGNAL(3C) SIGIO 23@ i/o is possible on a descriptor (see _f_c_n_t_l(2)) SIGXCPU 24 cpu time limit exceeded (see _s_e_t_r_l_i_m_i_t(2)) SIGXFSZ 25 file size limit exceeded (see _s_e_t_r_l_i_m_i_t(2)) SIGVTALRM 26 virtual time alarm (see _s_e_t_i_t_i_m_e_r(2)) SIGPROF 27 profiling timer alarm (see _s_e_t_i_t_i_m_e_r(2)) SIGWINCH 28@ Window size change SIGUSR1 30 User defined signal 1 SIGUSR2 31 User defined signal 2 The starred signals in the list above cause a core image if not caught or ignored. If _f_u_n_c is SIG_DFL, the default action for signal _s_i_g is reinstated; this default is termination (with a core image for starred signals) except for signals marked with @ or '|+'. Signals marked with @ are discarded if the action is SIG_DFL; signals marked with '|+' cause the process to stop. If _f_u_n_c is SIG_IGN the signal is subsequently ignored and pending instances of the signal are discarded. Otherwise, when the signal occurs further occurrences of the signal are automatically blocked and _f_u_n_c is called. A return from the function unblocks the handled signal and continues the process at the point it was interrupted. Unlike previous signal facilities, the handler _f_u_n_c remains installed after a signal has been delivered. If a caught signal occurs during certain system calls, caus- ing the call to terminate prematurely, the call is automati- cally restarted. In particular this can occur during a _r_e_a_d or _w_r_i_t_e(2) on a slow device (such as a terminal; but not a file) and during a _w_a_i_t(2). The value of _s_i_g_n_a_l is the previous (or initial) value of _f_u_n_c for the particular signal. After a _f_o_r_k(2) or _v_f_o_r_k(2) the child inherits all signals. _E_x_e_c_v_e(2) resets all caught signals to the default action; ignored signals remain ignored. RETURN VALUE The previous action is returned on a successful call. Oth- erwise, -1 is returned and _e_r_r_n_o is set to indicate the error. ERRORS _S_i_g_n_a_l will fail and no action will take place if one of the following occur: [EINVAL] _S_i_g is not a valid signal number. [EINVAL] An attempt is made to ignore or supply a Printed 11/26/99 May 20, 1986 2 SIGNAL(3C) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGNAL(3C) handler for SIGKILL or SIGSTOP. [EINVAL] An attempt is made to ignore SIGCONT (by default SIGCONT is ignored). SEE ALSO kill(1), ptrace(2), kill(2), sigvec(2), sigblock(2), sigset- mask(2), sigpause(2), sigstack(2), setjmp(3), tty(4) NOTES (VAX-11) The handler routine can be declared: handler(sig, code, scp) Here _s_i_g is the signal number, into which the hardware faults and traps are mapped as defined below. Code is a parameter which is either a constant as given below or, for compatibility mode faults, the code provided by the hardware. _S_c_p is a pointer to the _s_t_r_u_c_t _s_i_g_c_o_n_t_e_x_t used by the system to restore the process context from before the signal. Compatibility mode faults are distinguished from the other SIGILL traps by having PSL_CM set in the psl. The following defines the mapping of hardware traps to sig- nals and codes. All of these symbols are defined in <_s_i_g_n_a_l._h>: Hardware condition Signal Code Arithmetic traps: Integer overflow SIGFPE FPE_INTOVF_TRAP Integer division by zero SIGFPE FPE_INTDIV_TRAP Floating overflow trap SIGFPE FPE_FLTOVF_TRAP Floating/decimal division by zero SIGFPE FPE_FLTDIV_TRAP Floating underflow trap SIGFPE FPE_FLTUND_TRAP Decimal overflow trap SIGFPE FPE_DECOVF_TRAP Subscript-range SIGFPE FPE_SUBRNG_TRAP Floating overflow fault SIGFPE FPE_FLTOVF_FAULT Floating divide by zero fault SIGFPE FPE_FLTDIV_FAULT Floating underflow fault SIGFPE FPE_FLTUND_FAULT Length access control SIGSEGV Protection violation SIGBUS Reserved instruction SIGILL ILL_RESAD_FAULT Customer-reserved instr. SIGEMT Reserved operand SIGILL ILL_PRIVIN_FAULT Reserved addressing SIGILL ILL_RESOP_FAULT Trace pending SIGTRAP Bpt instruction SIGTRAP Compatibility-mode SIGILL hardware supplied code Chme SIGSEGV Chms SIGSEGV Chmu SIGSEGV Printed 11/26/99 May 20, 1986 3 SIGNAL(3C) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGNAL(3C) NOTES (PDP-11) The handler routine can be declared: handler(sig, code, scp) int sig, code; struct sigcontext *scp; Here _s_i_g is the signal number, into which the hardware faults and traps are mapped as defined below. _C_o_d_e is a parameter that is a constant as given below. _S_c_p is a pointer to the _s_i_g_c_o_n_t_e_x_t structure (defined in <_s_i_g_n_a_l._h>), used to restore the context from before the signal. The following defines the mapping of hardware traps to sig- nals and codes. All of these symbols are defined in <_s_i_g_n_a_l._h>: Hardware condition Signal Code Arithmetic traps: Floating overflow trap SIGFPE FPE_FLTOVF_TRAP Floating/decimal division by zero SIGFPE FPE_FLTDIV_TRAP Floating underflow trap SIGFPE FPE_FLTUND_TRAP Decimal overflow trap SIGFPE FPE_DECOVF_TRAP Illegal return code SIGFPE FPE_CRAZY Bad op code SIGFPE FPE_OPCODE_TRAP Bad operand SIGFPE FPE_OPERAND_TRAP Maintenance trap SIGFPE FPE_MAINT_TRAP Length access control SIGSEGV Protection violation (odd address) SIGBUS Reserved instruction SIGILL ILL_RESAD_FAULT Customer-reserved instr. SIGEMT Trace pending SIGTRAP Bpt instruction SIGTRAP The handler routine must save any registers it uses and restore them before returning. On the PDP-11, the kernel saves _r_0 and _r_1 before calling the handler routine, but expect the handler to save any other registers it uses. The standard entry code generated by the C compiler for handler routines written in C automatically saves the remaining gen- eral registers, but floating point registers are _n_o_t saved. As a result there is currently no [standard] method for a handler routine written in C to perform floating point operations without blowing the interrupted program out of the water. Printed 11/26/99 May 20, 1986 4