ref: ce72cab0e49c08c71888c57cf616563b90d7497a
dir: /sys/man/2/fork/
.TH FORK 2 .SH NAME fork, rfork \- manipulate process resources .SH SYNOPSIS .B #include <u.h> .br .B #include <libc.h> .PP .nf .B int fork(void) .PP .B int rfork(int flags) .fi .SH DESCRIPTION Forking is the only way new processes are created. The .I flags argument to .I rfork selects which resources of the invoking process (parent) are shared by the new process (child) or initialized to their default values. The resources include the file name space, the open file descriptor table (which, when shared, permits processes to open and close files for other processes), the set of environment variables (see .IR env (3)), the note group (the set of processes that receive notes written to a member's .B notepg file; see .IR proc (3)), the set of rendezvous tags (see .IR rendezvous (2)); and open files. .I Flags is the logical OR of some subset of .TF RFCNAMEG .TP .B RFPROC If set a new process is created; otherwise changes affect the current process. .TP .B RFNOWAIT If set, the child process will be dissociated from the parent. Upon exit the child will leave no .B Waitmsg (see .IR wait (2)) for the parent to collect. .TP .B RFNAMEG If set, the new process inherits a copy of the parent's name space; otherwise the new process shares the parent's name space. Is mutually exclusive with .BR RFCNAMEG . .TP .B RFCNAMEG If set, the new process starts with a clean name space. A new name space must be built from a mount of an open file descriptor. Is mutually exclusive with .BR RFNAMEG . .TP .B RFNOMNT If set, subsequent mounts into the new name space are disallowed. All pathnames starting with .B # besides those used to access .IR pipe (3), .IR dup (3), .IR env (3), .IR cons (3), and .IR proc (3) can not be walked. .TP .B RFENVG If set, the environment variables are copied; otherwise the two processes share environment variables. Is mutually exclusive with .BR RFCENVG . .TP .B RFCENVG If set, the new process starts with an empty environment. Is mutually exclusive with .BR RFENVG . .TP .B RFNOTEG Each process is a member of a group of processes that all receive notes when a note is written to any of their .B notepg files (see .IR proc (3)). The group of a new process is by default the same as its parent, but if .B RFNOTEG is set (regardless of .BR RFPROC ), the process becomes the first in a new group, isolated from previous processes. .TP .B RFFDG If set, the invoker's file descriptor table (see .IR intro (2)) is copied; otherwise the two processes share a single table. .TP .B RFCFDG If set, the new process starts with a clean file descriptor table. Is mutually exclusive with .BR RFFDG . .TP .B RFREND If set, the process will be unable to .IR rendezvous (2) with any of its ancestors; its children will, however, be able to .B rendezvous with it. In effect, .B RFREND makes the process the first in a group of processes that share a space for .B rendezvous tags. .TP .B RFMEM If set, the child and the parent will share .B data and .B bss segments. Otherwise, the child inherits a copy of those segments. Other segment types, in particular stack segments, will be unaffected. May be set only with .BR RFPROC . .PD .PP File descriptors in a shared file descriptor table are kept open until either they are explicitly closed or all processes sharing the table exit. .PP If .B RFPROC is set, the value returned in the parent process is the process id of the child process; the value returned in the child is zero. Without .BR RFPROC , the return value is zero. Process ids range from 1 to the maximum positive integer .RB ( int ) value. .I Rfork may also return -1 if process resources are exhausted. .PP .I Fork is just a call of .BR rfork(RFFDG|RFREND|RFPROC) . .SH SOURCE .B /sys/src/libc/9syscall .br .B /sys/src/libc/9sys/fork.c .SH SEE ALSO .IR intro (2), .IR proc (3), .SH DIAGNOSTICS These functions set .IR errstr .