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SIGNAL(3C)							      SIGNAL(3C)

NAME
     signal - simplified software signal facilities

SYNOPSIS
     #include <signal.h>

     void (*signal(sig, func))()
     void (*func)();

DESCRIPTION
     Signal is a simplified interface to the more general sigaction(2) facility.

     A signal is generated by some abnormal event, initiated by a user at a ter-
     minal (quit, interrupt, stop), by a program error (bus error, etc.), by re-
     quest  of	another  program (kill), or when a process is stopped because it
     wishes to access its control terminal while in the background (see tty(4)).
     Signals are  optionally  generated  when  a  process  resumes  after  being
     stopped, when the status of child processes changes, or when input is ready
     at  the  control terminal.  Most signals cause termination of the receiving
     process if no action is taken; some signals instead cause the  process  re-
     ceiving  them to be stopped, or are simply discarded if the process has not
     requested otherwise.  Except for the SIGKILL and SIGSTOP signals, the  sig-
     nal  call allows signals either to be ignored or to cause an interrupt to a
     specified location.  The following is a list of all signals with  names  as
     in the include file <signal.h>:

     SIGHUP    1    hangup
     SIGINT    2    interrupt
     SIGQUIT   3*   quit
     SIGILL    4*   illegal instruction
     SIGTRAP   5*   trace trap
     SIGABRT   6*   abort() call (formerly SIGIOT)
     SIGEMT    7*   EMT instruction
     SIGFPE    8*   floating point exception
     SIGKILL   9    kill (cannot be caught or ignored)
     SIGBUS    10*  bus error
     SIGSEGV   11*  segmentation violation
     SIGSYS    12*  bad argument to system call
     SIGPIPE   13   write on a pipe with no one to read it
     SIGALRM   14   alarm clock
     SIGTERM   15   software termination signal
     SIGURG    16@  urgent condition present on socket
     SIGSTOP   17|+'stop (cannot be caught or ignored)
     SIGTSTP   18|+'stop signal generated from keyboard
     SIGCONT   19@  continue after stop
     SIGCHLD   20@  child status has changed
     SIGTTIN   21|+'background read attempted from control terminal
     SIGTTOU   22|+'background write attempted to control terminal
     SIGIO     23@  i/o is possible on a descriptor (see fcntl(2))
     SIGXCPU   24   cpu time limit exceeded (see setrlimit(2))
     SIGXFSZ   25   file size limit exceeded (see setrlimit(2))
     SIGVTALRM 26   virtual time alarm (see setitimer(2))
     SIGPROF   27   profiling timer alarm (see setitimer(2))
     SIGWINCH  28@  Window size change
     SIGINFO   29@  status request from keyboard
     SIGUSR1   30   User defined signal 1
     SIGUSR2   31   User defined signal 2

     The  starred  signals in the list above cause a core image if not caught or
     ignored.

     If func is SIG_DFL, the default action for signal sig is  reinstated;  this
     default  is  termination (with a core image for starred signals) except for
     signals marked with @ or |+'.  Signals marked with @ are discarded  if  the
     action  is  SIG_DFL; signals marked with |+' cause the process to stop.  If
     func is SIG_IGN the signal is subsequently ignored and pending instances of
     the signal are discarded.	Otherwise, when the signal occurs further occur-
     rences of the signal are automatically blocked and func is called.

     A return from the function unblocks the handled signal  and  continues  the
     process  at  the  point it was interrupted.  Unlike previous signal facili-
     ties, the handler func remains installed after a signal has been delivered.

     If a caught signal occurs during certain system calls, causing the call  to
     terminate	prematurely, the call is automatically restarted (the handler is
     installed using the SA_RESTART flag with sigaction(2)).  The affected  sys-
     tem calls include read(2), write(2), sendto(2), recvfrom(2), sendmsg(2) and
     recvmsg(2)  on  a communications channel or a slow device (such as a termi-
     nal, but not a regular file) and during a wait(2)	or  ioctl(2).	However,
     calls  that  have already committed are not restarted, but instead return a
     partial success (for example, a short read count).

     The value of signal is the previous (or initial) value of func for the par-
     ticular signal.

     After a fork(2) or vfork(2) the child inherits all signals.  Execve(2)  re-
     sets  all	caught signals to the default action; ignored signals remain ig-
     nored.

RETURN VALUE
     The previous action is returned on a successful call.  Otherwise, -1 is re-
     turned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     Signal will fail and no action will take place if one of the following  oc-
     cur:

     [EINVAL]	    Sig is not a valid signal number.

     [EINVAL]	    An attempt is made to ignore or supply a handler for SIGKILL
		    or SIGSTOP.

SEE ALSO
     kill(1),  ptrace(2),  kill(2), sigaction(2), sigprocmask(2), sigsuspend(2),
     sigstack(2), setjmp(3), tty(4)

NOTES  (VAX-11)
     The handler routine can be declared:

	 void handler(sig, code, scp)

     Here sig is the signal number, into which the hardware faults and traps are
     mapped as defined below.  Code is a parameter which is either a constant as
     given below or, for compatibility mode faults, the  code  provided  by  the
     hardware.	 Scp is a pointer to the struct sigcontext used by the system to
     restore the process context from before  the  signal.   Compatibility  mode
     faults  are  distinguished from the other SIGILL traps by having PSL_CM set
     in the psl.

     The following defines the mapping of hardware traps to signals  and  codes.
     All of these symbols are defined in <signal.h>:

	Hardware condition		       Signal	    Code

     Arithmetic traps:
	Integer overflow		       SIGFPE	    FPE_INTOVF_TRAP
	Integer division by zero	       SIGFPE	    FPE_INTDIV_TRAP
	Floating overflow trap		       SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTOVF_TRAP
	Floating/decimal division by zero      SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTDIV_TRAP
	Floating underflow trap 	       SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTUND_TRAP
	Decimal overflow trap		       SIGFPE	    FPE_DECOVF_TRAP
	Subscript-range 		       SIGFPE	    FPE_SUBRNG_TRAP
	Floating overflow fault 	       SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTOVF_FAULT
	Floating divide by zero fault	       SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTDIV_FAULT
	Floating underflow fault	       SIGFPE	    FPE_FLTUND_FAULT
     Length access control		    SIGSEGV
     Protection violation		    SIGBUS
     Reserved instruction		    SIGILL	 ILL_RESAD_FAULT
     Customer-reserved instr.		    SIGEMT
     Reserved operand			    SIGILL	 ILL_PRIVIN_FAULT
     Reserved addressing		    SIGILL	 ILL_RESOP_FAULT
     Trace pending			    SIGTRAP
     Bpt instruction			    SIGTRAP
     Compatibility-mode 		    SIGILL	 hardware supplied code
     Chme				    SIGSEGV
     Chms				    SIGSEGV
     Chmu				    SIGSEGV

4th Berkeley Distribution	  July 1, 1990			      SIGNAL(3C)

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