NAME

libslack(coproc) - coprocess module


SYNOPSIS

    #include <slack/std.h>
    #include <slack/coproc.h>
    pid_t coproc_open(int *to, int *from, int *err, const char *cmd, char * const *argv, char * const *envv, void (*action)(void *data), void *data);
    int coproc_close(pid_t pid, int *to, int *from, int *err);
    pid_t coproc_pty_open(int *masterfd, char *slavename, size_t slavenamesize, const struct termios *slave_termios, const struct winsize *slave_winsize, const char *cmd, char * const *argv, char * const *envv, void (*action)(void *data), void *data);
    int coproc_pty_close(pid_t pid, int *masterfd, const char *slavename);


DESCRIPTION

This module contains functions for creating coprocesses that use either pipes or pseudo terminals for communication.

pid_t coproc_open(int *to, int *from, int *err, const char *cmd, char * const *argv, char * const *envv, void (*action)(void *data), void *data)
Starts a coprocess. cmd is the name of the process or a shell command. argv is the command line argument vector to be passed to execve(2). envv is the environment variable vector to be passed to execve(2). If envv is null, the current environment is used. If cmd is the name of a program, argv must not be null. If cmd contains shell metacharacters, it will executed by sh -c and argv must be null. This provides some protection from unintentionally invoking sh -c. If cmd does not contain any shell metacharacters, but does contain a slash character (/), it is passed directly to execve(2). If it doesn't contain a slash character, we search for the executable in the directories specified by the PATH variable. If the PATH variable is not set, a default path is used: /bin:/usr/bin for root; :/bin:/usr/bin for other users. If permission is denied for a file (execve(2) returns EACCES), then searching continues. If the header of a file isn't recognised (execve(2) returns ENOEXEC), then /bin/sh will be executed with cmd as its first argument. This is done so that shell scripts without a #! line can be used. If this attempt fails, no further searching is done. Communication with the coprocess occurs over pipes. Data written to *to can be read from the standard input of the coprocess. Data written to the standard output or standard error of the coprocess may be read from *from and *err respectively. If the function pointer action is not null, it is invoked in the child process between the calls to fork(2) and execve(2). Specifically, it is invoked before the pipes are duplicated onto stdin, stdout and stderr. data is passed as the argument to action. This is useful when you need to prevent the coprocess from inheriting certain process attributes. It can be used to ignore signals, set default signal handlers, modify the signal mask and close files. On success, returns the process id of the coprocess. On error, returns -1 with errno set appropriately.

Note: That this can only be used with coprocesses that do not buffer I/O or that explicitly set line buffering (or no buffering) with setbuf(3) or setvbuf(3). If a potential coprocess uses standard I/O and you don't have access to the source code, you will need to use coproc_pty_open(3) instead.

Note: If cmd does contain shell metacharacters, make sure that the application provides the command to execute. If the command comes from outside the application, do not trust it. Verify that it is safe to execute.

int coproc_close(pid_t pid, int *to, int *from, int *err)
Closes the coprocess referred to by pid which must have been obtained from coproc_open(3). *to, *from and *err will be closed and set to -1 if they are not already -1. The current process will then wait for the coprocess to terminate by calling waitpid(2). On success, returns the status of the child process as determined by waitpid(2). On error, returns -1 with errno set appropriately. Note: If waitpid(2) is interrupted by a signal, coproc_close(3) will return -1 with errno set to EINTR. The caller has to call coproc_close(3) (or just waitpid(2)) again until it succeeds (or a real error occurs).

pid_t coproc_pty_open(int *masterfd, char *slavename, size_t slavenamesize, const struct termios *slave_termios, const struct winsize *slave_winsize, const char *cmd, char * const *argv, char * const *envv, void (*action)(void *data), void *data)
Equivalent to coproc_open(3) except that communication with the coprocess occurs over a pseudo terminal. This is useful when the coprocess uses standard I/O and you don't have the source code. Standard I/O is fully buffered unless connected to a terminal. *masterfd is set to the master side of a pseudo terminal. Data written to *masterfd can be read from the standard input of the coprocess. Data written to the standard output or error of the coprocess can be read from *masterfd. The device name of the slave side of the pseudo terminal is stored in the buffer pointed to by slavename which must be able to store at least 64 bytes. slavenamesize is the size of the buffer pointed to by slavename. No more than slavenamesize bytes will be written into the buffer pointed to by slavename including the terminating nul byte. If slave_termios is not null, it is passed to tcsetattr(3) with the command TCSANOW to set the terminal attributes of the slave device. If slave_winsize is not null, it is passed to ioctl(2) with the command TIOCSWINSZ to set the window size of the slave device. On success, returns 0. On error, returns -1 with errno set appropriately.

int coproc_pty_close(pid_t pid, int *masterfd, const char *slavename)
Closes the coprocess referred to by pid which must have been obtained from coproc_pty_open(3). The slave side of the pseudo terminal is released with pty_release(3) and *masterfd is closed and set to -1 if it is not already -1. The current process will then wait for the coprocess to terminate by calling waitpid(2). On success, returns the status of the child process as determined by waitpid(2). On error, returns -1 with errno set appropriately. Note: If waitpid(2) is interrupted by a signal, coproc_close(3) will return -1 with errno set to EINTR. The caller has to call coproc_close(3) (or just waitpid(2)) again until it succeeds (or a real error occurs).


ERRORS

Additional errors may be generated and returned from the underlying system calls. See their manual pages.

EINVAL
Invalid arguments were passed to coproc_open(3), coproc_close(3), coproc_pty_open(3) or coproc_pty_close(3).


MT-Level

MT-Safe (coproc_pty_open(3) is MT-Safe iff the pseudo(3) module is MT-Safe).


SEE ALSO

libslack(3), execve(2), system(3), popen(3), waitpid(2), sh(1), pseudo(3)>


AUTHOR

20020916 raf <raf@raf.org>