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Operating Systems Linux pthread_atfork
# 1  
Old 11-06-2005
pthread_atfork
Hi,
I had a doubt regarding the ordering of function calls that are registered using
pthread_atfork( void (*prepare)(void), void (*parent)(void), void (*child)(void)) .

Posix standard requires that when pthread_atfork is called several times, the prepare handlers are executed in reverse order as they were registered, and child and parent handlers are executed in the same order as they were registered.

Why is this ordering important and why are prepare handlers called in the reversed order ?

Thanks in advance,
-Girish
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LEARN ABOUT NETBSD

pthread_atfork

PTHREAD_ATFORK(3)					   BSD Library Functions Manual 					 PTHREAD_ATFORK(3)

NAME

     pthread_atfork -- register handlers to be called when process forks

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <pthread.h>

     int
     pthread_atfork(void (*prepare)(void), void (*parent)(void), void (*child)(void));

DESCRIPTION

     The pthread_atfork() function registers the provided handler functions to be called when the fork(2) function is called.  Each of the three
     handlers is called at a different place in the fork(2) sequence.  The prepare handler is called in the parent process before the fork hap-
     pens, the parent handler is called in the parent process after the fork has happened, and the child handler is called in the child process
     after the fork has happened.  The parent and child handlers are called in the order in which they were registered, while the prepare handlers
     are called in reverse of the order in which they were registered.

     Any of the handlers given may be NULL.

     The intended use of pthread_atfork() is to provide a consistent state to a child process from a multithreaded parent process where locks may
     be acquired and released asynchronously with respect to the fork(2) call.	Each subsystem with locks that are used in a child process should
     register handlers with pthread_atfork() that acquires those locks in the prepare handler and releases them in the parent handler.

RETURN VALUES

     The pthread_atfork() function returns 0 on success and an error number on failure.

ERRORS

     The following error code may be returned:

     [ENOMEM]		Insufficient memory exists to register the fork handlers.

SEE ALSO

     fork(2)

STANDARDS

     The pthread_atfork() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1c-1995 (``POSIX.1'').

HISTORY

     The pthread_atfork() function first appeared in NetBSD 2.0.

CAVEATS

     After calling fork(2) from a multithreaded process, it is only safe to call async-signal-safe functions until calling one of the exec(3)
     functions.  The pthread_*() functions are not async-signal-safe, so it is not safe to use such functions in the child handler.

BUGS

     There is no way to unregister a handler registered with pthread_atfork().

BSD
								 February 12, 2003							       BSD