Operating System Concepts

Lecture 7: Signals

Omid Ardakanian
oardakan@ualberta.ca
University of Alberta

MWF 12:00-12:50 VVC 2 215

Today’s class

• Signals
- Generation

- Disposition

- Blocking

• Interprocess communication (IPC)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 2

Signals are software interrupts
• signals provide a way of handling asynchronous events
- they are very short messages, hence can be viewed as a form of IPC

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !3

Signals are software interrupts
• signals provide a way of handling asynchronous events
- they are very short messages, hence can be viewed as a form of IPC

• Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Linux 3.2.0 each support 31 different signals

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !3

Signals are software interrupts
• signals provide a way of handling asynchronous events
- they are very short messages, hence can be viewed as a form of IPC

• Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Linux 3.2.0 each support 31 different signals

• every signal has a name which begins with SIG

- names are defined by positive integer constants in the header <signal.h>

- 9 or SIGKILL: kill; 11 or SIGSEGV: segmentation fault

- use kill -l to get a list of signals (this is architecture dependent)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !3

Signals are software interrupts
• signals provide a way of handling asynchronous events
- they are very short messages, hence can be viewed as a form of IPC

• Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Linux 3.2.0 each support 31 different signals

• every signal has a name which begins with SIG

- names are defined by positive integer constants in the header <signal.h>

- 9 or SIGKILL: kill; 11 or SIGSEGV: segmentation fault

- use kill -l to get a list of signals (this is architecture dependent)

• every signal has a default action associated with it

- (a) terminate, (b) terminate with a core dump, (c) ignore, and (d) stop

‣ definition of core dump: a memory image of the process is left in a file named
core in the current working directory of the corresponding process

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !3

Terminology
• a signal is
- posted/generated/sent if the event that causes the signal has occurred

- delivered/caught if the associated action is taken

‣ this action is referred to as signal disposition

- pending if it has been posted but not yet delivered

‣ the intermediate state between generated and delivered

‣ signals will be pending if the target process blocks them

- blocked if the target process does not want it delivered

‣ the target process asked (using the signal mask) the kernel to block that signal

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !4

Terminology
• a signal is
- posted/generated/sent if the event that causes the signal has occurred

- delivered/caught if the associated action is taken

‣ this action is referred to as signal disposition

- pending if it has been posted but not yet delivered

‣ the intermediate state between generated and delivered

‣ signals will be pending if the target process blocks them

- blocked if the target process does not want it delivered

‣ the target process asked (using the signal mask) the kernel to block that signal

• a signal can be process-directed or thread-directed (such as SIGSEGV

and SIGFPE)
- a process-directed signal may be delivered to any one of the threads that does not
currently have the signal blocked

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !4

Signal generation
• user presses certain terminal keys
- Ctrl-C (or DEL) causes SIGINT to be generated and sent to foreground processes

- Ctrl-Z causes SIGTSTP to be generated (Note SIGSTOP≠SIGTSTP)

- Ctrl-\ causes SIGQUIT to be generated

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !5

Signal generation
• user presses certain terminal keys
- Ctrl-C (or DEL) causes SIGINT to be generated and sent to foreground processes

- Ctrl-Z causes SIGTSTP to be generated (Note SIGSTOP≠SIGTSTP)

- Ctrl-\ causes SIGQUIT to be generated

• the kernel wants to notify a process that its execution has led to a hardware
exception (e.g., divide by zero, floating-point overflow, segmentation fault)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !5

Signal generation
• user presses certain terminal keys
- Ctrl-C (or DEL) causes SIGINT to be generated and sent to foreground processes

- Ctrl-Z causes SIGTSTP to be generated (Note SIGSTOP≠SIGTSTP)

- Ctrl-\ causes SIGQUIT to be generated

• the kernel wants to notify a process that its execution has led to a hardware
exception (e.g., divide by zero, floating-point overflow, segmentation fault)

• the kill command or the kill(pid_t pid, int sig) system call is
used

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !5

Signal generation
• user presses certain terminal keys
- Ctrl-C (or DEL) causes SIGINT to be generated and sent to foreground processes

- Ctrl-Z causes SIGTSTP to be generated (Note SIGSTOP≠SIGTSTP)

- Ctrl-\ causes SIGQUIT to be generated

• the kernel wants to notify a process that its execution has led to a hardware
exception (e.g., divide by zero, floating-point overflow, segmentation fault)

• the kill command or the kill(pid_t pid, int sig) system call is
used

• a software condition occurs

- SIGURG (generated when out-of-band data arrives over a network connection)

- SIGPIPE (generated when a process writes to a pipe that has no reader)

- SIGALRM (generated when a timer set by the alarm function expires)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !5

POSIX.1 reliable-signal
• sending a signal
- a process can send a signal to another process or a group of processes

‣ using the kill( ) system call

‣ only if it has permission: the real or effective user ID of the receiver is the same as
that of the sender

- a process can send a signal with accompanying data to another process (just like IPC)

‣ use the sigqueue( ) function

- a process can send itself a signal using the raise( ) function

‣ similar to kill(getpid(), sig)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !6

POSIX.1 reliable-signal
• sending a signal
- a process can send a signal to another process or a group of processes

‣ using the kill( ) system call

‣ only if it has permission: the real or effective user ID of the receiver is the same as
that of the sender

- a process can send a signal with accompanying data to another process (just like IPC)

‣ use the sigqueue( ) function

- a process can send itself a signal using the raise( ) function

‣ similar to kill(getpid(), sig)

• waiting for a signal

- the pause( ) system call puts a process to sleep until any signal is caught; this signal
can be generated by the alarm function

‣ it returns only when a signal was caught and the signal-catching function returned

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !6

POSIX.1 reliable-signal
• signal dispositions
1. SIG_IGN: ignore the signal (except SIGKILL and SIGSTOP which can never
be ignored as they are surefire ways of stopping a process)

2. SIG_DFL: let the default action happens (in most cases terminate process or
terminate process with a core dump; in some cases ignore)

3. address of the user-defined handler: the Kernel catches it by invoking this

function

‣ SIGKILL and SIGSTOP cannot be caught

‣ a signal handler can return or call exit; if it returns the normal sequence of
instructions continues executing

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !7

POSIX.1 reliable-signal
• signal dispositions
1. SIG_IGN: ignore the signal (except SIGKILL and SIGSTOP which can never
be ignored as they are surefire ways of stopping a process)

2. SIG_DFL: let the default action happens (in most cases terminate process or
terminate process with a core dump; in some cases ignore)

3. address of the user-defined handler: the Kernel catches it by invoking this

function

‣ SIGKILL and SIGSTOP cannot be caught

‣ a signal handler can return or call exit; if it returns the normal sequence of
instructions continues executing

• system calls can be interrupted by a signal

- some of them are automatically restarted, e.g.,
ioctl, read, readv, write, writev, wait, and waitpid

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !7

Installing a handler for a signal
sighandler_t signal(int signum, sighandler_t handler);

sets the disposition of the specified signal

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !8

Installing a handler for a signal
sighandler_t signal(int signum, sighandler_t handler);

sets the disposition of the specified signal

• a signal handler is a function that takes a single integer argument and returns nothing

• we can pass SIG_IGN or SIG_DFL instead of a handler

• signal returns a pointer to the previous disposition of signal or SIG_ERR on error

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !8

Installing a handler for a signal
sighandler_t signal(int signum, sighandler_t handler);

sets the disposition of the specified signal

• a signal handler is a function that takes a single integer argument and returns nothing

• we can pass SIG_IGN or SIG_DFL instead of a handler

• signal returns a pointer to the previous disposition of signal or SIG_ERR on error

• portability problem: behaviour varies across UNIX versions (use sigaction instead)

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !8

Installing a handler for a signal
sighandler_t signal(int signum, sighandler_t handler);

sets the disposition of the specified signal

• a signal handler is a function that takes a single integer argument and returns nothing

• we can pass SIG_IGN or SIG_DFL instead of a handler

• signal returns a pointer to the previous disposition of signal or SIG_ERR on error

• portability problem: behaviour varies across UNIX versions (use sigaction instead)
#include <stdio.h>, <unistd.h>, <signal.h>
int i;
void quit(int code) {
fprintf(stderr, "\nInterrupt (code= %d, i= %d)\n", code, i);
}
int main (void) {
if(signal(SIGQUIT, quit) == SIG_ERR)
perror(“can′t catch SIGQUIT”);
for (i= 0; i < 9e7; i++)
if (i % 10000 == 0) putc('.', stderr);
return(0);
} O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !8
POSIX signal environment
• examining or modifying the action associated with a particular signal (except
for SIGKILL and SIGSTOP)
- sigaction( )

- this function supersedes the signal( ) function from earlier releases of the UNIX System

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !9

POSIX signal environment
• examining or modifying the action associated with a particular signal (except
for SIGKILL and SIGSTOP)
- sigaction( )

- this function supersedes the signal( ) function from earlier releases of the UNIX System

• blocking signals in a signal set from delivery to a process

- sigprocmask( )

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !9

POSIX signal environment
• examining or modifying the action associated with a particular signal (except
for SIGKILL and SIGSTOP)
- sigaction( )

- this function supersedes the signal( ) function from earlier releases of the UNIX System

• blocking signals in a signal set from delivery to a process

- sigprocmask( )

• manipulating the signal set (a bit vector)

- sigemptyset( ), sigfillset( ) , sigaddset( ) , sigdelset( ),
sigismember( )

- when a signal is caught and the handler is entered, the current signal is automatically added to
the signal mask of the process; this is to prevent subsequent occurrences of that signal from
interrupting the signal handler

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !9

POSIX signal environment
• examining or modifying the action associated with a particular signal (except
for SIGKILL and SIGSTOP)
- sigaction( )

- this function supersedes the signal( ) function from earlier releases of the UNIX System

• blocking signals in a signal set from delivery to a process

- sigprocmask( )

• manipulating the signal set (a bit vector)

- sigemptyset( ), sigfillset( ) , sigaddset( ) , sigdelset( ),
sigismember( )

- when a signal is caught and the handler is entered, the current signal is automatically added to
the signal mask of the process; this is to prevent subsequent occurrences of that signal from
interrupting the signal handler

• returning the set of signals that are blocked from delivery and currently
pending for the calling process
- sigpending( )

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !9

Example of the sigaction( ) system call
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <signal.h>

void signal_callback_handler(int signum) {

printf("Caught signal!\n");

// uncomment the next line to break the loop when signal is received
// exit(1);
}

int main() {
struct sigaction sa;
sa.sa_flags = 0;
sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
sa.sa_handler = signal_callback_handler;
sigaction(SIGINT, &sa, NULL); // we are not interested in the old disposition

// sigaction(SIGTSTP, &sa, NULL);

while (1) {}
}

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !10

Example of the sigaction( ) system call
struct sigaction {
#include <stdlib.h> void (*sa_handler)(int);
#include <stdio.h> void (*sa_sigaction)(int, siginfo_t *, void *);
sigset_t sa_mask;
#include <sys/types.h>
int sa_flags;
#include <unistd.h> void (*sa_restorer)(void);
#include <signal.h> };

void signal_callback_handler(int signum) {

printf("Caught signal!\n");

// uncomment the next line to break the loop when signal is received
// exit(1);
}

int main() {
struct sigaction sa;
sa.sa_flags = 0;
sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
sa.sa_handler = signal_callback_handler;
sigaction(SIGINT, &sa, NULL); // we are not interested in the old disposition

// sigaction(SIGTSTP, &sa, NULL);

while (1) {}
}

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !10

Process creation and signals
• when a process calls fork
- the child inherits the parent’s signal dispositions and signal mask

- the child starts off with a copy of the parent’s memory image, so the
signal-handler is defined in the child

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !11

Process creation and signals
• when a process calls fork
- the child inherits the parent’s signal dispositions and signal mask

- the child starts off with a copy of the parent’s memory image, so the
signal-handler is defined in the child

• when a process calls exec

- the disposition of any signals being caught (not ignored) are changed to
their default action in the new program

- the status of all other signals is left alone

- the signal mask is preserved across the exec system call

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !11

Interprocess Communication

12
Cooperating processes
• any two processes are either independent or cooperating

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !13

Cooperating processes
• any two processes are either independent or cooperating

• cooperating processes work with each other to accomplish

a single task
- improve performance

‣ overlapping activities or performing work in parallel

- improve program structure

‣ each cooperating process is smaller than a single monolithic program

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !13

Cooperating processes
• any two processes are either independent or cooperating

• cooperating processes work with each other to accomplish

a single task
- improve performance

‣ overlapping activities or performing work in parallel

- improve program structure

‣ each cooperating process is smaller than a single monolithic program

• they may need to share information

- OS makes this happen!

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !13

Homework
• See the examples posted on eClass

O. Ardakanian, CMPUT379, Fall 2019 !14