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     NOTIFY(2)                                               NOTIFY(2)

     NAME
          notify, noted, atnotify - handle asynchronous process
          notification

     SYNOPSIS
          #include <u.h>
          #include <libc.h>

          int notify(void (*f)(void*, char*))

          int noted(int v)

          int atnotify(int (*f)(void*, char*), int in)

     DESCRIPTION
          When a process raises an exceptional condition such as
          dividing by zero or writing on a closed pipe, a note is
          posted to communicate the exception.  A note may also be
          posted by a write (see read(2)) to the process's
          /proc/n/note file or to the /proc/m/notepg file of a process
          in the same process group (see proc(3)). When the note is
          received the behavior of the process depends on the origin
          of the note.  If the note was posted by an external process,
          the process receiving the note exits; if generated by the
          system the note string, preceded by the name and id of the
          process and the string "suicide: ", is printed on the
          process's standard error file and the process is suspended
          in the Broken state for debugging.

          These default actions may be overridden.  The notify func-
          tion registers a notification handler to be called within
          the process when a note is received.  The argument to notify
          replaces the previous handler, if any.  An argument of zero
          cancels a previous handler, restoring the default action.  A
          fork(2) system call leaves the handler registered in both
          the parent and the child; exec(2) restores the default
          behavior.  Handlers may not perform floating point opera-
          tions.

          After a note is posted, the handler is called with two argu-
          ments: the first is a pointer to a Ureg structure (defined
          in /$objtype/include/ureg.h) giving the current values of
          registers; the second is a pointer to the note itself, a
          null-terminated string with no more than `ERRLEN' characters
          in it including the terminal NUL.  The Ureg argument is usu-
          ally not needed; it is provided to help recover from traps
          such as floating point exceptions.  Its use and layout are
          machine- and system-specific.

          A notification handler must finish either by exiting the

     NOTIFY(2)                                               NOTIFY(2)

          program or by calling noted; if the handler returns the
          behavior is undefined and probably erroneous.  Until the
          program calls noted, any further externally-generated notes
          (e.g., hangup or alarm) will be held off, and any further
          notes generated by erroneous behavior by the program (such
          as divide by zero) will kill the program.  The argument to
          noted defines the action to take: NDFLT instructs the system
          to perform the default action as if the handler had never
          been registered; NCONT instructs the system to resume the
          process at the point it was notified.  In neither case does
          noted return to the handler.  If the note interrupted an
          incomplete system call, that call returns an error (with
          error string interrupted) after the process resumes.  A
          notification handler can also jump out to an environment set
          up with setjmp using the notejmp function (see setjmp(2)),
          which is implemented by modifying the saved state and call-
          ing noted(NCONT).

          Regardless of the origin of the note or the presence of a
          handler, if the process is being debugged (see proc(3)) the
          arrival of a note puts the process in the Stopped state and
          awakens the debugger.

        Atnotify
          Rather than using the system calls notify and noted, most
          programs should use atnotify to register notification han-
          dlers.  The parameter in is non-zero to register the func-
          tion f, and zero to cancel registration.  A handler must
          return a non-zero number if the note was recognized (and
          resolved); otherwise it must return zero.  When the system
          posts a note to the process, each handler registered with
          atnotify is called with arguments as described above until
          one of the handlers returns non-zero.  Then noted is called
          with argument NCONT.  If no registered function returns
          non-zero, atnotify calls noted with argument NDFLT.

        APE
          Noted has two other possible values for its argument.  NSAVE
          returns from the handler and clears the note, enabling the
          receipt of another, but does not return to the program.
          Instead it starts a new handler with the same stack, stack
          pointer, and arguments as the original, at the address
          recorded in the program counter of the Ureg structure.  Typ-
          ically, the program counter will be overridden by the first
          note handler to be the address of a separate function; NSAVE
          is then a `trampoline' to that handler.  That handler may
          executed noted(NRSTR) to return to the original program,
          usually after restoring the original program counter.  NRSTR
          is identical to NCONT except that it can only be executed
          after an NSAVE.  NSAVE and NRSTR are designed to improve the
          emulation of signals by the ANSI C/POSIX environment; their
          use elsewhere is discouraged.

     NOTIFY(2)                                               NOTIFY(2)

        Notes
          The set of notes a process may receive is system-dependent,
          but there is a common set that includes:

             Note                       Meaning
             interrupt                  user interrupt (DEL key)
             hangup                     I/O connection closed
             alarm                      alarm expired
             sys: breakpoint            breakpoint instruction
             sys: bad address           system call address argument out of range
             sys: odd address           system call address argument unaligned
             sys: bad sys call          system call number out of range
             sys: odd stack             system call user stack unaligned
             sys: write on closed pipe  write on closed pipe
             sys: fp: fptrap            floating point exception
             sys: trap: trap            other exception (see below)

          The notes prefixed sys: are generated by the operating sys-
          tem.  They are suffixed by the user program counter in for-
          mat pc=0x1234.  If the note is due to a floating point
          exception, just before the pc is the address of the offend-
          ing instruction in format fppc=0x1234.  Notes are limited to
          ERRLEN bytes; if they would be longer they are truncated but
          the pc is always reported correctly.

          The types and syntax of the trap and fptrap portions of the
          notes are machine-dependent.

     SOURCE
          /sys/src/libc/9syscall
          /sys/src/libc/port/atnotify.c

     SEE ALSO
          intro(2), postnote(2), notejmp in setjmp(2)

     BUGS
          Since exec(2) discards the notification handler, there is a
          window of vulnerability to notes in a new process.