/************************************************************************
*Usage
*To start : ./reminder -k start -t "Text to remind" -c "repeat time"
*To stop : ./remnder -k stop
*/
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sysexits.h>
#include <string.h>
void usage(char * const *arg) {
printf ("Usage : %s [OPTIONS]\n",arg[0]);
printf (" -k start/stop\n");
printf (" -t <Reminder text>\n");
printf (" -c <countdown(30-300)>\n");
printf (" -h Help on usage. ");
printf ("\n");
exit(EX_USAGE);
}
void start_routine(char *myname, char *rem, int countdown) {
FILE *fd = NULL;
char *script;
strcpy(script,"./reminder.sh");
char *content = malloc(1000 * sizeof(char));
if ( !(fd = fopen(script,"w+")) ) {
printf("Unable to open/create %s\n",script);
printf("Error code is %d\n",fd);
exit(EX_CANTCREAT);
}
if (chmod(script,S_IXUSR|S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IXGRP)) {
printf("Unable to give execute permission to %s\n",script);
remove(script);
exit(EX_CANTCREAT);
}
sprintf(content,"#/bin/bash\n");
sprintf(content,"%sprintf \'\\033[2J\\033[H\'\n",content);
sprintf(content,"%sprintf '\\033[1m\\033[12;3f%s\\033[0m\\n\\n'\n",content,rem);
sprintf(content,"%ssleep 5\n",content);
sprintf(content,"%sexit 0\n",content);
fwrite(content,sizeof(char),strlen(content),fd);
fclose(fd);
free(content);
while (1) {
system("xterm -e ./reminder.sh &");
sleep(countdown);
}
}
void stop_routine() {
return;
}
int main(int argc,char * const *argv) {
char * myname = argv[0];
int opt;
int kflag = 0;
int tflag = 0;
int cflag = 0;
char *state;
char *text;
int countdown;
int start = 0;
int stop = 0;
pid_t parent_pid,child_pid,pid;
int status;
parent_pid=getpid();
while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv,"hk:t:c:")) != -1 ) {
switch (opt) {
case 'k' :
kflag = 1;
//DEBUG
//printf("optarg : %s\n",optarg);
state = optarg;
break;
case 't' :
tflag = 1;
text = optarg;
break;
case 'c' :
cflag = 1;
countdown = atoi(optarg);
break;
case 'h' :
usage (argv);
break;
/* case '?' :
printf("%s: invalid option.\n",argv[0]);
usage(argv);
break;
*/
}
}
//DEBUG
//printf("%s\n",state);
if (!kflag) {
printf ("%s: missing -k option.\n",myname);
usage(argv);
} else if (strcmp(state,"start") && strcmp(state,"stop")) {
printf ("%s: illegel use -k option.\n",myname);
usage(argv);
}
if (!tflag) {
strcpy(text,"Are you forgetting something?");
}
if (!cflag) {
countdown = 60;
} else if (countdown < 30 || countdown >300) {
countdown = 60;
}
//Check if the program was invoked to start or stop the applicatio.
if ( ! strcmp(state,"start")) // if (state == "start")
start = 1;
else
stop = 1;
printf ("\033[2J\033[H");
if ( start ) {
/* The reminder text and the countdown is printed in
* the main window.
* This will be done by a child process.
* We will fork() off now and let the child do the rest of the
* starting up. So to stop the program we will just kill of the child.
*/
printf("Starting %s with the below inputs\n",myname);
printf ("\nReminder text : %s\n",text);
printf ("Repeat time : %d\n\n",countdown);
printf ("Run %s with -k stop to stop\n",myname);
if (( child_pid = fork() ) == -1) {
perror("fork error");
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
} else {
printf("Stopping %s\n",myname);
stop_routine();
exit(EX_OK);
}
if (! child_pid) { //Child process
start_routine(myname,text,countdown);
} else { //Parent process
if ((pid = wait(&status)) == -1) {
perror("Wait error\n");
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
if (WEXITSTATUS(status)) {
printf("Reminder has finished exectution.\n");
return 0;
} else if (WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
if ( WTERMSIG(status) == 6 ) {
printf("Reminder stopped normally using -k stop option\n");
return 0;
} else {
printf("Reminder terminated abnormally by signale: %d\n",
WTERMSIG(status));
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
}
}
return 0;
}
So here is the problems that I am facing now:
1. How do I stop this? I mean how can I make ./reminder -k stop to work? I thought about writing the pid of the parent to file and then using it to stop the program.
2. How can put the parent to background so that I get my stdin back at prompt? Now what happens is that the parent keeps waiting for the child to end, which never happens. What I did was I just removed the wait(&status) and replace it with return 0;. So now the parent will exit and the child will keep on popping up the reminder texts.
The way you're using strcpy is incorrect. Neither char *script nor char *text point to properly allocated memory. Instead, they are uninitialized and pointing to arbitrary locations. You may get lucky, or you may segfault.
char *content points to 1000 bytes, but the code does not prevent a long reminder from overflowing the buffer. In this case, you could get the job done with a single fprintf. Why construct a string in a buffer when you can write the text directly to the stream?
Using atoi in new code is asking for trouble, since it does not perform any type of error checking.
The -k start|stop switch is redundant with the presence of -t. You can set all of the appropriate (int) flags based on the presence or absence of -t.
I did not try to compile the program. I only skimmed the code. There may be other issues lurking. If you haven't done so, enable all of your compilers warnings.
The way you're using strcpy is incorrect. Neither char *script nor char *text point to properly allocated memory. Instead, they are uninitialized and pointing to arbitrary locations. You may get lucky, or you may segfault.
So I need to use malloc first and then do the assign operation. I made the following changes :
char *content points to 1000 bytes, but the code does not prevent a long reminder from overflowing the buffer. In this case, you could get the job done with a single fprintf. Why construct a string in a buffer when you can write the text directly to the stream?
Ok so I will include a check for the size of the text entered by the user and then if its larger than the allowed limit, I will set it to a default value.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alister
Using atoi in new code is asking for trouble, since it does not perform any type of error checking.
Include a validation for this as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alister
The -k start|stop switch is redundant with the presence of -t. You can set all of the appropriate (int) flags based on the presence or absence of -t.
Actually I have made only the -k start/stop option mandatory. The other two are optional. So if the user do not give them, both the reminder text and the countdown will be set to a default value.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alister
I did not try to compile the program. I only skimmed the code. There may be other issues lurking. If you haven't done so, enable all of your compilers warnings.
I enabled all the warnings and I got the below output:
Code:
gcc -Wall -g -o reminder reminder_1.c
reminder_1.c: In function 'start_routine':
reminder_1.c:34: warning: format '%d' expects type 'int', but argument 2 has type 'struct FILE *'
reminder_1.c:34: warning: format '%d' expects type 'int', but argument 2 has type 'struct FILE *'
reminder_1.c: In function 'main':
reminder_1.c:162: warning: implicit declaration of function 'wait'
For the first warning I did a type casting to int.
Code:
if ( !(fd = fopen(script,"w+")) ) {
printf("Unable to open/create %s\n",script);
printf("Error code is %d\n",(int) fd);
exit(EX_CANTCREAT);
}
and for the second one I included the sys/wait.h
But still my question remains. How do i make the program stop?
Now I am doing Ctrl-C from the prompt to end the program.
How can I make it stop when I enter ./reminder -k stop
Thanks
---------- Post updated at 06:33 AM ---------- Previous update was at 05:00 AM ----------
So I have made the changes and this is a working copy. And I found an interesting feature. If I give the reminder text as ';rm a;echo ', the file a actually gets removed. So I can give anything between the semi-colon and the script will execute it. Interesting...
Code:
/************************************************************************
*Usage
*To start : ./reminder -k start -t "Text to remind" -c "repeat time"
*To stop : ./remnder -k stop
*/
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sysexits.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
void usage(char * const *arg) {
printf ("Usage : %s [OPTIONS]\n",arg[0]);
printf (" -k start/stop\n");
printf (" -t <Reminder text>\n");
printf (" -c <countdown(30-300)>\n");
printf (" -h Help on usage. ");
printf ("\n");
exit(EX_USAGE);
}
void start_routine(char *myname, char *rem, int countdown) {
FILE *fd = NULL;
char script[] = "./reminder.sh";
//strcpy(script,"./reminder.sh");
char *content = malloc(1000 * sizeof(char));
if ( !(fd = fopen(script,"w+")) ) {
printf("Unable to open/create %s\n",script);
printf("Error code is %d\n",(int) fd);
exit(EX_CANTCREAT);
}
if (chmod(script,S_IXUSR|S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IXGRP)) {
printf("Unable to give execute permission to %s\n",script);
remove(script);
exit(EX_CANTCREAT);
}
fprintf(fd,"#/bin/bash\n");
fprintf(fd,"printf \'\\033[2J\\033[H\'\n");
fprintf(fd,"printf '\\033[1m\\033[12;3f%s\\033[0m\\n\\n'\n",rem);
fprintf(fd,"sleep 5\n");
fprintf(fd,"exit 0\n");
fclose(fd);
free(content);
while (1) {
system("xterm -e ./reminder.sh &");
sleep(countdown);
}
}
void stop_routine() {
return;
}
int main(int argc,char * const *argv) {
char * myname = argv[0];
int opt;
int kflag = 0;
int tflag = 0;
int cflag = 0;
char *state;
char *text = malloc(100 * sizeof(char));
int countdown;
int start = 0;
int stop = 0;
pid_t parent_pid,child_pid,pid;
int status;
parent_pid=getpid();
while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv,"hk:t:c:")) != -1 ) {
switch (opt) {
case 'k' :
kflag = 1;
//DEBUG
//printf("optarg : %s\n",optarg);
state = optarg;
break;
case 't' :
tflag = 1;
strcpy(text,optarg);
break;
case 'c' :
cflag = 1;
countdown = atoi(optarg);
break;
case 'h' :
usage (argv);
break;
/* case '?' :
printf("%s: invalid option.\n",argv[0]);
usage(argv);
break;
*/
}
}
//DEBUG
//printf("%s\n",state);
if (!kflag) {
printf ("%s: missing -k option.\n",myname);
usage(argv);
} else if (strcmp(state,"start") && strcmp(state,"stop")) {
printf ("%s: illegel use -k option.\n",myname);
usage(argv);
}
if (!tflag) {
strcpy(text,"Are you forgetting something?");
}
if (!cflag) {
countdown = 60;
} else if (countdown < 30 || countdown >300) {
countdown = 60;
}
//Check if the program was invoked to start or stop the applicatio.
if ( ! strcmp(state,"start")) // if (state == "start")
start = 1;
else
stop = 1;
printf ("\033[2J\033[H");
if ( start ) {
/* The reminder text and the countdown is printed in
* the main window.
* This will be done by a child process.
* We will fork() off now and let the child do the rest of the
* starting up. So to stop the program we will just kill of the child.
*/
printf("Starting %s with the below inputs\n",myname);
printf ("\nReminder text : %s\n",text);
printf ("Repeat time : %d\n\n",countdown);
printf ("Run %s with -k stop to stop\n",myname);
if (( child_pid = fork() ) == -1) {
perror("fork error");
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
} else {
printf("Stopping %s\n",myname);
stop_routine();
exit(EX_OK);
}
if (! child_pid) { //Child process
start_routine(myname,text,countdown);
} else { //Parent process
if ((pid = wait(&status)) == -1) {
perror("Wait error\n");
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
if (WEXITSTATUS(status)) {
printf("Reminder has finished exectution.\n");
return 0;
} else if (WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
if ( WTERMSIG(status) == 6 ) {
printf("Reminder stopped normally using -k stop option\n");
return 0;
} else {
printf("Reminder terminated abnormally by signale: %d\n",
WTERMSIG(status));
exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
}
}
}
return 0;
}
As before, I did not compile or test the code. There may be other issues.
content is allocated and freed but never used.
fd will never contain an error code; it's always a pointer value. When that pointer is NULL, it indicates an error and the error code is in errno. That's what you should be inspecting during error handling. To convert the integer errno into a useful message, something like strerror() will help.
As you discovered, inserting arbitrary text into a script can present serious issues. The simplest solution is to write the reminder's text to a separate file.
strcpy of optarg to text is unsafe and can overflow. You can use strncpy, but then must be careful to ensure that the string is always null-terminated. strlcpy is a simpler alternative, if available. However, the simplest alternative in this case is to not copy at all.
Not only do you not need to copy, you don't need to allocate either. The reminder's text has already been allocated storage during startup. It's in argv. The only thing you need to do is pass around the pointer. The default value has also been stored away in the executable's image and it's location can also be passed around.
You implied that you are no longer waiting in the parent, but since the code is still there, a couple of notes about it.
You should always check WIFEXITED before using WEXITSTATUS (as you did with WIFSIGNALED before using WTERMSIG). An implementation is not forbidden from overloading bits for signal and status information (though I don't know if any implementation actually does so).
For portability and readability (especially for readability), it's a far better choice to use the macros in signal.h. Instead of 6, use SIGABRT. As far as I know, even though the kill(1) utility is required to recognize -6 as SIGABRT, nothing requires the kill(2) system call implementation to equate 6 with SIGABRT (although it almost certainly does).
Regarding your interprocess communication question, your pid file idea seems perfectly reasonable.
To answer 2, to put the process in background, you will have to
1. fork from the parent.
2. terminate the parent so the child is owned by init.
3. and dissociate the tty by setting session (setsid)
So at this point using the pid file, sounds like a good solution to stop it, since the parent process is dead.
This User Gave Thanks to linuxpenguin For This Post:
I have tried to fix as many as issues I can that has been pointed out by @alister. In this version of the reminder program the parent will exit after fork. The pid of the child that calls the xterm is written into a file which is used to kill the child when needed. And the best thing I got no warnings!! Happly with that
Now I will try and implement the second approach in which I put the process in background and try to kill the child using it. i have no idea how I am going to do that. First off I will just try to make the parent a background process. Will figure out the rest along the way.
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03-25-2014
