Re: uClibc - waitid()

["Sue Alfano" <smalfano@gmail.com>]

Well, I'm back.  I didn't get any help from the uClibc folks, but I eventually
figured out how to get to the waitid function in the kernel using the _syscall4
macro and the right header file.  waitid worked great, but then I started
having problems when more than one child needed to be reaped.

Basically, the parent process registers a SIGCHLD signal handler via sigaction()
with the SA_RESTART option and then sits on a timed select().  All the signal
handler does is set a flag - the waitid processing takes place when the parent
drops out of the select because of the signal or a timeout.  When the waitid
succeeds, the pid is used to do some processing and then is used to call
waitpid to clean up the mess.  This is all in a while loop, so when the waitid
is called again, 0 is returned with si_pid = 0 indicating that there are no
more children to reap.  That's all great.  The problem occurs when there's 2
or more children to reap.  When this occurs, the 2nd waitid call returns -1
and si_pid = 0.  The waitid continues to fail in this manner until the parent
receives another SIGCHLD signal, then it works for the next zombie child in
the waiting line, but only one.  I can send SIGCHLD kills to the parent from
the console and eventually get everything cleaned up.  Sending the kill from
the parent isn't enough - I suppose it wants to be blocking on the select.

I tried registering the signal handler without SA_RESRART and also via signal(),
since there was a posting about SA_RESTART, but that made no difference.  I
also tried not having a signal handler at all, but then I couldn't reap any
children on the timeout.

So, are there known issues with waitid when there are multiple children piled
up waiting to be reaped?  If so, is there a patch or a workaround?

The product that I'm working on is using Linux version 2.6.12-2.0.0-258

Thanks for any help,
Sue

On 1/18/07, James Chapman <jchapman@katalix.com> wrote:
> You're asking the wrong list. Try the uClibc list at uclibc.org.
>
> glibc and uClibc provide C APIs to kernel system calls. uClibc doesn't
> implement all features that glibc supports - there are several kernel
> APIs that uClibc doesn't expose. Ask the uClibc folk for advice.
>
> --
> James Chapman
> Katalix Systems Ltd
> http://www.katalix.com
> Catalysts for your Embedded Linux software development
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