Re^2: Perl Signals

there is no need for "$SIG{"INT"} = "interrupt";" within interrupt() subroutine.

Interesting, because perlipc documents it this way:

or better still:

use POSIX ":sys_wait_h";
sub REAPER {
    my $child;
    # If a second child dies while in the signal handler caused by the
    # first death, we won't get another signal. So must loop here else
    # we will leave the unreaped child as a zombie. And the next time
    # two children die we get another zombie. And so on.
    while (($child = waitpid(-1, WNOHANG)) > 0) {
        $Kid_Status{$child} = $?;
    }
    $SIG{CHLD} = \&REAPER; # still loathe SysV
}
$SIG{CHLD} = \&REAPER;
# do something that forks...
[download]

So, has perl's behaviour changed (when?), is one of SIGINT, SIGCHLD special for perl, or is perlipc simply out-of-date?

Alexander

--
Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)

Comment on Re^2: Perl Signals Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: Perl Signals by Marshall (Canon) on Nov 14, 2011 at 22:23 UTC
Starting with 4.3BSD and System V Release 3, signal handlers remain installed after a signal occurs. So, yes, the requirement to re-install a signal handler is some super ancient (many decades ago) stuff. No modern system and no POSIX compliant system will cause an installed signal handler to be affected. I would think that the Perl docs should be updated. Now, this while() loop in the reaper is definitely needed! Signals are not "queued" for delivery. When a signal occurs, always interpret that to mean "at least one and maybe more than one of this signal has occurred". Update: Wiki ATT releases SVR3, SVR4. SVR3 was GA'ed in 1986. I figure after 25 years, we don't have to worry much about R2 any more!	[reply]
Re^4: Perl Signals by afoken (Chancellor) on Nov 17, 2011 at 16:51 UTC
[...] the requirement to re-install a signal handler is some super ancient (many decades ago) stuff. [...] I would think that the Perl docs should be updated. So do I. this while() loop in the reaper is definitely needed I have no problem with the while loop in the reaper, it is properly explained in perlipc. On the other hand, so is the problem with old SysV behaviour: But that will be problematic for the more complicated handlers that need to reinstall themselves. Because Perl's signal mechanism is currently based on the signal(3) function from the C library, you may sometimes be so unfortunate as to run on systems where that function is "broken"; that is, it behaves in the old unreliable SysV way rather than the newer, more reasonable BSD and POSIX fashion. So you'll see defensive people writing signal handlers like this: I think the paragraph cited above and the two examples following it should be moved into a new section "Signal Handlers on Ancient Systems" ("pre-POSIX systems"?), and be replaced with text and examples that concentrate on handling SIGCHLD / wait / waitpid instead of working around ancient API problems. Alexander -- Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Signals by ikegami (Patriarch) on Nov 14, 2011 at 19:30 UTC
Nothing to do with Perl. Some system remove the handler once it has caught a signal. If you want your program to handle more than one instance of the signal on those platforms, you need to set the handler again in the handler. I don't know what those systems are. Not your everyday systems. I think it's "SysV" systems, whatever that means.	[reply]