VFORK(P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							  VFORK(P)

NAME

       vfork - create a new process; share virtual memory

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       pid_t vfork(void);

DESCRIPTION

       The vfork() function shall be equivalent to fork(), except that the behavior is undefined if the process created by vfork() either modifies
       any data other than a variable of type pid_t used to store the return value from vfork(), or returns from the function in which vfork() was
       called, or calls any other function before successfully calling _exit() or one of the exec family of functions.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon  successful  completion,  vfork()  shall  return  0  to the child process and return the process ID of the child process to the parent
       process. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned to the parent, no child process shall be created, and errno shall be set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The vfork() function shall fail if:

       EAGAIN The system-wide limit on the total number of processes under execution would be exceeded, or the system-imposed limit on	the  total
	      number of processes under execution by a single user would be exceeded.

       ENOMEM There is insufficient swap space for the new process.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       Conforming  applications  are  recommended  not to depend on vfork(), but to use fork() instead. The vfork() function may be withdrawn in a
       future version.

       On some implementations, vfork() is equivalent to fork().

       The vfork() function differs from fork() only in that the child process can share code and data with the calling process (parent  process).
       This speeds cloning activity significantly at a risk to the integrity of the parent process if vfork() is misused.

       The  use  of  vfork()  for  any	purpose except as a prelude to an immediate call to a function from the exec family, or to _exit(), is not
       advised.

       The vfork() function can be used to create new processes without fully copying the address space of the old process. If a forked process is
       simply  going to call exec, the data space copied from the parent to the child by fork() is not used. This is particularly inefficient in a
       paged environment, making vfork() particularly useful. Depending upon the size of the parent's data space, vfork() can give  a  significant
       performance improvement over fork().

       The vfork() function can normally be used just like fork().  It does not work, however, to return while running in the child's context from
       the caller of vfork() since the eventual return from vfork() would then return to a no longer existent stack frame.  Care should be  taken,
       also,  to  call	_exit() rather than exit() if exec cannot be used, since exit() flushes and closes standard I/O channels, thereby damaging
       the parent process' standard I/O data structures. (Even with fork(), it is wrong to call exit(), since buffered data would then be  flushed
       twice.)

       If signal handlers are invoked in the child process after vfork(), they must follow the same rules as other code in the child process.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       This function may be withdrawn in a future version.

SEE ALSO

       exec() , exit() , fork() , wait() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <unistd.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical  and	Electronics  Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
       and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can  be  obtained
       online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								  VFORK(P)