posix_spawn

POSIX_SPAWN(3)             Linux Programmer's Manual            POSIX_SPAWN(3)

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  functional-
       ity  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  us-
       ing 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 popu-
          lated  before  the  posix_spawn()  call  using  posix_spawn_file_ac-
          tions_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 environ-
          ment 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 ei-
       ther 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_RE-
          SETIDS.

       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 exe-
       cutable file.  These operations are controlled by the attributes object
       pointed  to by attrp and the file actions object pointed to by file_ac-
       tions.  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 per-
          formed 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 at-
       tributes specified in the object pointed to by attrp and the  file  ac-
       tions  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_spaw-
       nattr_setflags(3))  controls  the general actions that occur, and other
       attributes in the object specify values to be  used  during  those  ac-
       tions.

       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  at-
               trp  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 ex-
               ecve(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 at-
                  trp.

               *  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  ef-
               fect 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 de-
       scribed 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  re-
       quests  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_ad-
       ddup2(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 de-
       scribed 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() ini-
       tialization.  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  function-
       ality  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  at-
       tributes  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 sig-
       nal 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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       description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest version of this page, can be found at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

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