sigaction — examine and change a signal action
#include <signal.h>
int sigaction( |
int signum, |
const struct sigaction *act, | |
struct sigaction *oldact) ; |
Note | |||
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The sigaction
() system call
is used to change the action taken by a process on receipt of
a specific signal. (See signal(7) for an overview
of signals.)
signum
specifies
the signal and can be any valid signal except SIGKILL
and SIGSTOP
.
If act
is
non-NULL, the new action for signal signum
is installed from
act
. If oldact
is non-NULL, the
previous action is saved in oldact
.
The sigaction structure is defined as something like:
struct sigaction { void (* sa_handler
)(int);void (* sa_sigaction
)(int, siginfo_t *, void *);sigset_t sa_mask
;int sa_flags
;void (* sa_restorer
)(void);};
On some architectures a union is involved: do not assign
to both sa_handler
and sa_sigaction
.
The sa_restorer
element is obsolete and should not be used. POSIX does not
specify a sa_restorer
element.
sa_handler
specifies the action to be associated with signum
and may be SIG_DFL
for the default action,
SIG_IGN
to ignore this signal,
or a pointer to a signal handling function. This function
receives the signal number as its only argument.
If SA_SIGINFO
is specified
in sa_flags
, then
sa_sigaction
(instead
of sa_handler
)
specifies the signal-handling function for signum
. This function receives
the signal number as its first argument, a pointer to a
siginfo_t as its second argument
and a pointer to a ucontext_t (cast
to void *) as its
third argument.
sa_mask
specifies
a mask of signals which should be blocked (i.e., added to the
signal mask of the thread in which the signal handler is
invoked) during execution of the signal handler. In addition,
the signal which triggered the handler will be blocked,
unless the SA_NODEFER
flag is
used.
sa_flags
specifies
a set of flags which modify the behavior of the signal. It is
formed by the bitwise OR of zero or more of the
following:
SA_NOCLDSTOP
If
signum
isSIGCHLD
, do not receive notification when child processes stop (i.e., when they receive one ofSIGSTOP
,SIGTSTP
,SIGTTIN
orSIGTTOU
) or resume (i.e., they receiveSIGCONT
) (see wait(2)). This flag is only meaningful when establishing a handler forSIGCHLD
.SA_NOCLDWAIT
(since Linux 2.6)If
signum
isSIGCHLD
, do not transform children into zombies when they terminate. See also waitpid(2). This flag is only meaningful when establishing a handler forSIGCHLD
, or when setting that signal's disposition toSIG_DFL
.If the
SA_NOCLDWAIT
flag is set when establishing a handler forSIGCHLD
, POSIX.1 leaves it unspecified whether aSIGCHLD
signal is generated when a child process terminates. On Linux, aSIGCHLD
signal is generated in this case; on some other implementations, it is not.SA_NODEFER
Do not prevent the signal from being received from within its own signal handler. This flag is only meaningful when establishing a signal handler.
SA_NOMASK
is an obsolete, nonstandard synonym for this flag.SA_ONSTACK
Call the signal handler on an alternate signal stack provided by sigaltstack(2). If an alternate stack is not available, the default stack will be used. This flag is only meaningful when establishing a signal handler.
SA_RESETHAND
Restore the signal action to the default state once the signal handler has been called. This flag is only meaningful when establishing a signal handler.
SA_ONESHOT
is an obsolete, nonstandard synonym for this flag.SA_RESTART
Provide behavior compatible with BSD signal semantics by making certain system calls restartable across signals. This flag is only meaningful when establishing a signal handler. See signal(7) for a discussion of system call restarting.
SA_SIGINFO
(since Linux 2.2)The signal handler takes 3 arguments, not one. In this case,
sa_sigaction
should be set instead ofsa_handler
. This flag is only meaningful when establishing a signal handler.
The siginfo_t argument to
sa_sigaction
is a
struct with the following elements:
siginfo_t { int si_signo; /* Signal number */ int si_errno; /* An errno value */ int si_code; /* Signal code */ int si_trapno; /* Trap number that caused hardware-generated signal (unused on most architectures) */ pid_t si_pid; /* Sending process ID */ uid_t si_uid; /* Real user ID of sending process */ int si_status; /* Exit value or signal */ clock_t si_utime; /* User time consumed */ clock_t si_stime; /* System time consumed */ sigval_t si_value; /* Signal value */ int si_int; /* POSIX.1b signal */ void *si_ptr; /* POSIX.1b signal */ int si_overrun; /* Timer overrun count; POSIX.1b timers */ int si_timerid; /* Timer ID; POSIX.1b timers */ void *si_addr; /* Memory location which caused fault */ long si_band; /* Band event (was int in glibc 2.3.2 and earlier) */ int si_fd; /* File descriptor */ short si_addr_lsb; /* Least significant bit of address (since kernel 2.6.32) */ }
si_signo
,
si_errno
and
si_code
are defined
for all signals. (si_errno
is generally unused
on Linux.) The rest of the struct may be a union, so that one
should only read the fields that are meaningful for the given
signal:
Signals sent with kill(2) and sigqueue(2) fill in
si_pid
and
si_uid
. In
addition, signals sent with sigqueue(2) fill in
si_int
and
si_ptr
with
the values specified by the sender the signal; see
sigqueue(2) for more
details.
Signals sent by POSIX.1b timers (since Linux 2.6)
fill in si_overrun
and
si_timerid
.
The si_timerid
field is an
internal ID used by the kernel to identify the timer;
it is not the same as the timer ID returned by
timer_create(2). The
si_overrun
field is the timer overrun count; this is the same
information as is obtained by a call to timer_getoverrun(2).
These fields are nonstandard Linux extensions.
Signals sent for message queue notification (see the
description of SIGEV_SIGNAL
in mq_notify(3)) fill in
si_int
/si_ptr
, with the
sigev_value
supplied to mq_notify(3);
si_pid
, with
the process ID of the message sender; and si_uid
, with the real
user ID of the message sender.
SIGCHLD
fills in
si_pid
,
si_uid
,
si_status
,
si_utime
and
si_stime
,
providing information about the child. The si_pid
field is the
process ID of the child; si_uid
is the child's
real user ID. The si_status
field
contains the exit status of the child (if si_code
is CLD_EXITED
), or the signal number
that caused the process to change state. The si_utime
and si_stime
contain the
user and system CPU time used by the child process;
these fields do not include the times used by
waited-for children (unlike getrusage(2) and
time(2)). In kernels
up to 2.6, and since 2.6.27, these fields report CPU
time in units of sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK)
.
In 2.6 kernels before 2.6.27, a bug meant that these
fields reported time in units of the (configurable)
system jiffy (see time(7)).
SIGILL
, SIGFPE
, SIGSEGV
, SIGBUS
, and SIGTRAP
fill in si_addr
with the
address of the fault. On some architectures, these
signals also fill in the si_trapno
filed. Some
suberrors of SIGBUS
, in
particular BUS_MCEERR_AO
and BUS_MCEERR_AR
, also
fill in si_addr_lsb
. This field
indicates the least significant bit of the reported
address and therefore the extent of the corruption. For
example, if a full page was corrupted, si_addr_lsb
contains
log2(sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE))
.
BUS_MCERR_*
and si_addr_lsb
are
Linux-specific extensions.
SIGPOLL
/SIGIO
fills in si_band
and si_fd
. The si_band
event is a bit
mask containing the same values as are filled in the
revents
field
by poll(2). The
si_fd
field
indicates the file descriptor for which the I/O event
occurred.
si_code
is a
value (not a bit mask) indicating why this signal was sent.
The following list shows the values which can be placed in
si_code
for any
signal, along with reason that the signal was generated.
SI_USER
SI_KERNEL
Sent by the kernel.
SI_QUEUE
SI_TIMER
POSIX timer expired
SI_MESGQ
POSIX message queue state changed (since Linux 2.6.6); see mq_notify(3)
SI_ASYNCIO
AIO completed
SI_SIGIO
queued SIGIO
SI_TKILL
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGILL
signal:
ILL_ILLOPC
illegal opcode
ILL_ILLOPN
illegal operand
ILL_ILLADR
illegal addressing mode
ILL_ILLTRP
illegal trap
ILL_PRVOPC
privileged opcode
ILL_PRVREG
privileged register
ILL_COPROC
coprocessor error
ILL_BADSTK
internal stack error
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGFPE
signal:
FPE_INTDIV
integer divide by zero
FPE_INTOVF
integer overflow
FPE_FLTDIV
floating-point divide by zero
FPE_FLTOVF
floating-point overflow
FPE_FLTUND
floating-point underflow
FPE_FLTRES
floating-point inexact result
FPE_FLTINV
floating-point invalid operation
FPE_FLTSUB
subscript out of range
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGSEGV
signal:
SEGV_MAPERR
address not mapped to object
SEGV_ACCERR
invalid permissions for mapped object
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGBUS
signal:
BUS_ADRALN
invalid address alignment
BUS_ADRERR
nonexistent physical address
BUS_OBJERR
object-specific hardware error
BUS_MCEERR_AR
(since Linux 2.6.32)Hardware memory error consumed on a machine check; action required.
BUS_MCEERR_AO
(since Linux 2.6.32)Hardware memory error detected in process but not consumed; action optional.
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGTRAP
signal:
TRAP_BRKPT
process breakpoint
TRAP_TRACE
process trace trap
TRAP_BRANCH
(since Linux 2.4)process taken branch trap
TRAP_HWBKPT
(since Linux 2.4)hardware breakpoint/watchpoint
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGCHLD
signal:
CLD_EXITED
child has exited
CLD_KILLED
child was killed
CLD_DUMPED
child terminated abnormally
CLD_TRAPPED
traced child has trapped
CLD_STOPPED
child has stopped
CLD_CONTINUED
stopped child has continued (since Linux 2.6.9)
The following values can be placed in si_code
for a SIGPOLL
signal:
POLL_IN
data input available
POLL_OUT
output buffers available
POLL_MSG
input message available
POLL_ERR
I/O error
POLL_PRI
high priority input available
POLL_HUP
device disconnected
act
or
oldact
points
to memory which is not a valid part of the process
address space.
An invalid signal was specified. This will also be
generated if an attempt is made to change the action
for SIGKILL
or
SIGSTOP
, which cannot be
caught or ignored.
A child created via fork(2) inherits a copy of its parent's signal dispositions. During an execve(2), the dispositions of handled signals are reset to the default; the dispositions of ignored signals are left unchanged.
According to POSIX, the behavior of a process is undefined
after it ignores a SIGFPE
,
SIGILL
, or SIGSEGV
signal that was not generated by
kill(2) or raise(3). Integer division
by zero has undefined result. On some architectures it will
generate a SIGFPE
signal. (Also
dividing the most negative integer by −1 may generate
SIGFPE
.) Ignoring this signal
might lead to an endless loop.
POSIX.1-1990 disallowed setting the action for
SIGCHLD
to SIG_IGN
. POSIX.1-2001 allows this
possibility, so that ignoring SIGCHLD
can be used to prevent the creation
of zombies (see wait(2)). Nevertheless, the
historical BSD and System V behaviors for ignoring
SIGCHLD
differ, so that the
only completely portable method of ensuring that terminated
children do not become zombies is to catch the SIGCHLD
signal and perform a wait(2) or similar.
POSIX.1-1990 only specified SA_NOCLDSTOP
. POSIX.1-2001 added
SA_NOCLDWAIT
, SA_RESETHAND
, SA_NODEFER
, and SA_SIGINFO
. Use of these latter values in
sa_flags
may be less
portable in applications intended for older Unix
implementations.
The SA_RESETHAND
flag is
compatible with the SVr4 flag of the same name.
The SA_NODEFER
flag is
compatible with the SVr4 flag of the same name under kernels
1.3.9 and newer. On older kernels the Linux implementation
allowed the receipt of any signal, not just the one we are
installing (effectively overriding any sa_mask
settings).
sigaction
() can be called
with a null second argument to query the current signal
handler. It can also be used to check whether a given signal
is valid for the current machine by calling it with null
second and third arguments.
It is not possible to block SIGKILL
or SIGSTOP
(by specifying them in sa_mask
). Attempts to do so are
silently ignored.
See sigsetops(3) for details on manipulating signal sets.
See signal(7) for a list of the async-signal-safe functions that can be safely called inside from inside a signal handler.
In kernels up to and including 2.6.13, specifying
SA_NODEFER
in sa_flags
prevents not only the
delivered signal from being masked during execution of the
handler, but also the signals specified in sa_mask
. This bug was fixed in
kernel 2.6.14.
kill(1), kill(2), killpg(2), pause(2), sigaltstack(2), signal(2), signalfd(2), sigpending(2), sigprocmask(2), sigqueue(2), sigsuspend(2), wait(2), raise(3), siginterrupt(3), sigsetops(3), sigvec(3), core(5), signal(7)
This page is part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages
project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting
bugs, can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
t Copyright (c) 1994,1995 Mike Battersby <mibdeakin.edu.au> and Copyright 2004, 2005 Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com> based on work by faithcs.unc.edu Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date. The author(s) assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. The author(s) may not have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual, which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working professionally. Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work. Modified, aeb, 960424 Modified Fri Jan 31 17:31:20 1997 by Eric S. Raymond <esrthyrsus.com> Modified Thu Nov 26 02:12:45 1998 by aeb - add SIGCHLD stuff. Modified Sat May 8 17:40:19 1999 by Matthew Wilcox add POSIX.1b signals Modified Sat Dec 29 01:44:52 2001 by Evan Jones <ejonesuwaterloo.ca> SA_ONSTACK Modified 2004-11-11 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com> Added mention of SIGCONT under SA_NOCLDSTOP Added SA_NOCLDWAIT Modified 2004-11-17 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com> Updated discussion for POSIX.1-2001 and SIGCHLD and sa_flags. Formatting fixes 2004-12-09, mtk, added SI_TKILL + other minor changes 2005-09-15, mtk, split sigpending(), sigprocmask(), sigsuspend() out of this page into separate pages. 2010-06-11 Andi Kleen, add hwpoison signal extensions 2010-06-11 mtk, improvements to discussion of various siginfo_t fields. |