2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id="sd_event_add_child" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
9 <title>sd_event_add_child</title>
10 <productname>systemd</productname>
14 <refentrytitle>sd_event_add_child</refentrytitle>
15 <manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
19 <refname>sd_event_add_child</refname>
20 <refname>sd_event_add_child_pidfd</refname>
21 <refname>sd_event_source_get_child_pid</refname>
22 <refname>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd</refname>
23 <refname>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd_own</refname>
24 <refname>sd_event_source_set_child_pidfd_own</refname>
25 <refname>sd_event_source_get_child_process_own</refname>
26 <refname>sd_event_source_set_child_process_own</refname>
27 <refname>sd_event_source_send_child_signal</refname>
28 <refname>sd_event_child_handler_t</refname>
30 <refpurpose>Add a child process state change event source to an event loop</refpurpose>
35 <funcsynopsisinfo>#include <systemd/sd-event.h></funcsynopsisinfo>
37 <funcsynopsisinfo><token>typedef</token> struct sd_event_source sd_event_source;</funcsynopsisinfo>
40 <funcdef>typedef int (*<function>sd_event_child_handler_t</function>)</funcdef>
41 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>s</parameter></paramdef>
42 <paramdef>const siginfo_t *<parameter>si</parameter></paramdef>
43 <paramdef>void *<parameter>userdata</parameter></paramdef>
47 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_add_child</function></funcdef>
48 <paramdef>sd_event *<parameter>event</parameter></paramdef>
49 <paramdef>sd_event_source **<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
50 <paramdef>pid_t <parameter>pid</parameter></paramdef>
51 <paramdef>int <parameter>options</parameter></paramdef>
52 <paramdef>sd_event_child_handler_t <parameter>handler</parameter></paramdef>
53 <paramdef>void *<parameter>userdata</parameter></paramdef>
57 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd</function></funcdef>
58 <paramdef>sd_event *<parameter>event</parameter></paramdef>
59 <paramdef>sd_event_source **<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
60 <paramdef>int <parameter>pidfd</parameter></paramdef>
61 <paramdef>int <parameter>options</parameter></paramdef>
62 <paramdef>sd_event_child_handler_t <parameter>handler</parameter></paramdef>
63 <paramdef>void *<parameter>userdata</parameter></paramdef>
67 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pid</function></funcdef>
68 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
69 <paramdef>pid_t *<parameter>pid</parameter></paramdef>
73 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd</function></funcdef>
74 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
78 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd_own</function></funcdef>
79 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
83 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_set_child_pidfd_own</function></funcdef>
84 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
85 <paramdef>int <parameter>own</parameter></paramdef>
89 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_get_child_process_own</function></funcdef>
90 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
94 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_set_child_process_own</function></funcdef>
95 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
96 <paramdef>int <parameter>own</parameter></paramdef>
100 <funcdef>int <function>sd_event_source_send_child_signal</function></funcdef>
101 <paramdef>sd_event_source *<parameter>source</parameter></paramdef>
102 <paramdef>int <parameter>sig</parameter></paramdef>
103 <paramdef>const siginfo_t *<parameter>info</parameter></paramdef>
104 <paramdef>unsigned <parameter>flags</parameter></paramdef>
111 <title>Description</title>
113 <para><function>sd_event_add_child()</function> adds a new child process state change event source to an
114 event loop. The event loop object is specified in the <parameter>event</parameter> parameter, the event
115 source object is returned in the <parameter>source</parameter> parameter. The <parameter>pid</parameter>
116 parameter specifies the PID of the process to watch, which must be a direct child process of the invoking
117 process. The <parameter>options</parameter> parameter determines which state changes will be watched for.
118 It must contain an OR-ed mask of <constant>WEXITED</constant> (watch for the child process terminating),
119 <constant>WSTOPPED</constant> (watch for the child process being stopped by a signal), and
120 <constant>WCONTINUED</constant> (watch for the child process being resumed by a signal). See
121 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>waitid</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
122 for further information.</para>
124 <para>The <parameter>handler</parameter> must be a function to call when the process changes state or
125 <constant>NULL</constant>. The handler function will be passed the <parameter>userdata</parameter>
126 pointer, which may be chosen freely by the caller. The handler also receives a pointer to a
127 <structname>siginfo_t</structname> structure containing information about the child process event. The
128 handler may return negative to signal an error (see below), other return values are ignored. If
129 <parameter>handler</parameter> is <constant>NULL</constant>, a default handler that calls
130 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_exit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> will be
133 <para>Only a single handler may be installed for a specific child process. The handler is enabled for a
134 single event (<constant>SD_EVENT_ONESHOT</constant>), but this may be changed with
135 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_enabled</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
136 If the handler function returns a negative error code, it will either be disabled after the invocation,
137 even if the <constant>SD_EVENT_ON</constant> mode was requested before, or it will cause the loop to
139 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_exit_on_failure</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
142 <para>To destroy an event source object use
143 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_unref</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
144 but note that the event source is only removed from the event loop
145 when all references to the event source are dropped. To make sure
146 an event source does not fire anymore, even when there's still a
147 reference to it kept, consider setting the event source to
148 <constant>SD_EVENT_OFF</constant> with
149 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_enabled</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
151 <para>The <constant>SIGCHLD</constant> signal must be blocked in all threads before this function is
152 called (using <citerefentry
153 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>sigprocmask</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> or
155 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pthread_sigmask</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>).</para>
157 <para>If the second parameter of <function>sd_event_add_child()</function> is passed as
158 <constant>NULL</constant> no reference to the event source object is returned. In this case the event
159 source is considered "floating", and will be destroyed implicitly when the event loop itself is
162 <para>Note that the <parameter>handler</parameter> function is
163 invoked at a time where the child process is not reaped yet (and
164 thus still is exposed as a zombie process by the kernel). However,
165 the child will be reaped automatically after the function
166 returns. Child processes for which no child process state change
167 event sources are installed will not be reaped by the event loop
168 implementation.</para>
170 <para>If the <parameter>handler</parameter> parameter to <function>sd_event_add_child()</function> is
171 <constant>NULL</constant>, and the event source fires, this will be considered a request to exit the
172 event loop. In this case, the <parameter>userdata</parameter> parameter, cast to an integer, is passed as
173 the exit code parameter to
174 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_exit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
176 <para>If both a child process state change event source and a
177 <constant>SIGCHLD</constant> signal event source is installed in
178 the same event loop, the configured event source priorities decide
179 which event source is dispatched first. If the signal handler is
180 processed first, it should leave the child processes for which
181 child process state change event sources are installed unreaped.</para>
183 <para><function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd()</function> is similar to
184 <function>sd_event_add_child()</function> but takes a file descriptor referencing the process ("pidfd")
185 instead of the numeric PID. A suitable file descriptor may be acquired via <citerefentry
186 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pidfd_open</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
187 related calls. The passed file descriptor is not closed when the event source is freed again, unless
188 <function>sd_event_source_set_child_pidfd_own()</function> is used to turn this behaviour on. Note that
189 regardless which of <function>sd_event_add_child()</function> and
190 <function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd()</function> is used for allocating an event source, the watched
191 process has to be a direct child process of the invoking process. Also in both cases
192 <constant>SIGCHLD</constant> has to be blocked in the invoking process.</para>
194 <para><function>sd_event_source_get_child_pid()</function>
195 retrieves the configured PID of a child process state change event
196 source created previously with
197 <function>sd_event_add_child()</function>. It takes the event
198 source object as the <parameter>source</parameter> parameter and a
199 pointer to a <type>pid_t</type> variable to return the process ID
203 <para><function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd()</function> retrieves the file descriptor referencing
204 the watched process ("pidfd") if this functionality is available. On kernels that support the concept the
205 event loop will make use of pidfds to watch child processes, regardless if the individual event sources
206 are allocated via <function>sd_event_add_child()</function> or
207 <function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd()</function>. If the latter call was used to allocate the event
208 source, this function returns the file descriptor used for allocation. On kernels that do not support the
209 pidfd concept this function will fail with <constant>EOPNOTSUPP</constant>. This call takes the event
210 source object as the <parameter>source</parameter> parameter and returns the numeric file descriptor.
213 <para><function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd_own()</function> may be used to query whether the pidfd
214 the event source encapsulates shall be closed when the event source is freed. This function returns zero
215 if the pidfd shall be left open, and positive if it shall be closed automatically. By default this
216 setting defaults to on if the event source was allocated via <function>sd_event_add_child()</function>
217 and off if it was allocated via <function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd()</function>. The
218 <function>sd_event_source_set_child_pidfd_own()</function> function may be used to change the setting and
219 takes a boolean parameter with the new setting.</para>
221 <para><function>sd_event_source_get_child_process_own()</function> may be used to query whether the
222 process the event source watches shall be killed (with <constant>SIGKILL</constant>) and reaped when the
223 event source is freed. This function returns zero if the process shell be left running, and positive if
224 it shall be killed and reaped automatically. By default this setting defaults to off. The
225 <function>sd_event_source_set_child_process_own()</function> function may be used to change the setting
226 and takes a boolean parameter with the new setting. Note that currently if the calling process is
227 terminated abnormally the watched process might survive even thought the event source ceases to
228 exist. This behaviour might change eventually.</para>
230 <para><function>sd_event_source_send_child_signal()</function> may be used to send a UNIX signal to the
231 watched process. If the pidfd concept is supported in the kernel, this is implemented via <citerefentry
232 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pidfd_send_signal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
233 and otherwise via <citerefentry
234 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>rt_sigqueueinfo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
235 (or via <citerefentry
236 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> in case
237 <parameter>info</parameter> is <constant>NULL</constant>). The specified parameters match those of these
238 underlying system calls, except that the <parameter>info</parameter> is never modified (and is thus
239 declared constant). Like for the underlying system calls, the <parameter>flags</parameter> parameter
240 currently must be zero.</para>
244 <title>Return Value</title>
246 <para>On success, these functions return 0 or a positive
247 integer. On failure, they return a negative errno-style error
251 <title>Errors</title>
253 <para>Returned errors may indicate the following problems:</para>
257 <term><constant>-ENOMEM</constant></term>
259 <listitem><para>Not enough memory to allocate an object.</para></listitem>
263 <term><constant>-EINVAL</constant></term>
265 <listitem><para>An invalid argument has been passed. This includes
266 specifying an empty mask in <parameter>options</parameter> or a mask
267 which contains values different than a combination of
268 <constant>WEXITED</constant>, <constant>WSTOPPED</constant>, and
269 <constant>WCONTINUED</constant>.
275 <term><constant>-EBUSY</constant></term>
277 <listitem><para>A handler is already installed for this child process, or
278 <constant>SIGCHLD</constant> is not blocked.</para></listitem>
283 <term><constant>-ESTALE</constant></term>
285 <listitem><para>The event loop is already terminated.</para></listitem>
290 <term><constant>-ECHILD</constant></term>
292 <listitem><para>The event loop has been created in a different process, library or module instance.</para></listitem>
297 <term><constant>-EDOM</constant></term>
299 <listitem><para>The passed event source is not a child process event source.</para></listitem>
303 <term><constant>-EOPNOTSUPP</constant></term>
305 <listitem><para>A pidfd was requested but the kernel does not support this concept.</para>
307 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
314 <xi:include href="libsystemd-pkgconfig.xml" />
317 <title>Example</title>
320 <title>Exit loop when the child terminates</title>
322 <programlisting><xi:include href="event-quick-child.c" parse="text" /></programlisting>
327 <title>History</title>
328 <para><function>sd_event_add_child()</function>,
329 <function>sd_event_child_handler_t()</function>, and
330 <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pid()</function> were added in version 217.</para>
331 <para><function>sd_event_add_child_pidfd()</function>,
332 <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd()</function>,
333 <function>sd_event_source_get_child_pidfd_own()</function>,
334 <function>sd_event_source_set_child_pidfd_own()</function>,
335 <function>sd_event_source_get_child_process_own()</function>,
336 <function>sd_event_source_set_child_process_own()</function>, and
337 <function>sd_event_source_send_child_signal()</function> were added in version 245.</para>
341 <title>See Also</title>
344 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
345 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-event</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
346 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_new</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
347 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_now</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
348 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_add_io</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
349 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_add_time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
350 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_add_signal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
351 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_add_inotify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
352 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_add_defer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
353 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_enabled</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
354 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_priority</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
355 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_userdata</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
356 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_description</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
357 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_source_set_floating</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
358 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>waitid</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
359 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>sigprocmask</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
360 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pthread_sigmask</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
361 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pidfd_open</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
362 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>pidfd_send_signal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
363 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>rt_sigqueueinfo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
364 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>