#include #include #include #include #include /* The printf text serve as further comments. Read it. */ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { pid_t pid; char dummy[16]; if (argc < 2) { printf("You need to specify a program as argument 1.\n"); exit(1); /* Terminate the process with error (1). */ } printf("P | Switch to a differen terminal.\n" "P | Execute the command \"pstree $USER\".\n" "P | It will show a list of processes you are running.\n" "P | You should see the process '%s' once.\n" "P | Press enter when you verified that.\n\n", argv[0]); /* Wait until enter is pressed (gives you time...) */ fgets(dummy, 16, stdin); printf("P | This process will now clone itself with fork.\n" "P | One (almost) identical copy will be started.\n" "P | The only difference is the result of fork()\n\n"); pid = fork(); if (pid == 0) { printf(" C | This is printed by the new process (the CHILD)\n" " C | The child get a 0 return value from fork.\n\n"); printf(" C | Repeat the previous command in the other terminal.\n" " C | You should see the process '%s' twice now.\n" " C | (grep for it if you run many processes)\n" " C | Press enter when you verified that.\n\n", argv[0]); /* Wait until enter is pressed (gives you time...) */ fgets(dummy, 16, stdin); printf(" C | The program specified as first argument (%s) on the \n" " C | command line will now be started by the child process.\n" " C | This will REPLACE the code of the child with the code\n" " C | of the specified program.\n\n", argv[1]); /* specify a terminal as argument 1 and check ptree again ... * you will see that the child is replaced, it have the same * process number, but a new command line */ execv(argv[1], argv + 1); printf(" C | This will never be printed, since after starting the new\n" " C | program by calling exec this old program is replaced by\n" " C | the new. This is only printed if the new program could not\n" " C | be started for some reason.\n\n"); exit(-1); /* Terminate the child with error (-1). */ } else { int ret = 0; /* Used to save the result of the child. */ printf("P | This is printed by the origingal process (the PARENT)\n" "P | It got the number (%d) from fork to identify the child.\n" "P | This process will now work for 5 seconds.\n\n", (int)pid); sleep(5); /* pretend */ printf("P | This is printed by the origingal process (the PARENT)\n" "P | It got the number (%d) from fork to identify the child.\n" "P | It is now used to wait for the result of that child\n\n", (int)pid); /* Wait for the child to finish and get it's status in ret. */ waitpid(pid, &ret, 0); /* Print the exit status of the child. */ if (WIFEXITED(ret)) { printf("P | Child finished with code %d\n\n", WEXITSTATUS(ret)); } else if (WIFSIGNALED(ret)) { printf("P | Child finished due to signal %d\n\n", WTERMSIG(ret)); } } return 0; }