FORK(2) DOMAIN/IX Reference Manual (SYS5) FORK(2)
NAME
fork - create a new process
USAGE
int fork ()
DESCRIPTION
Fork causes a new process to be created. The new, or child,
process is an exact copy of the calling, or parent, process.
The child process inherits the following attributes from the
parent process:
environment
close-on-exec flag (see exec(2))
signal handling settings (i.e., SIG_DFL, SIG_IGN, func-
tion address)
set-user-ID mode bit
set-group-ID mode bit
nice value (see nice(2))
all attached shared memory segments (see shmop(2))
process group ID
tty group ID (see exit(2) and signal(2))
time left until an alarm clock signal (see alarm(2))
current working directory
root directory
file mode creation mask (see umask(2))
The child process differs from the parent process in
the following ways:
The child process has a unique process ID.
The child process has a different parent process
ID (i.e., the child's parent is not the parent's
parent).
The child process has its own copy of the parent's
file descriptors. Each of the child's file
descriptors shares a common file pointer with the
corresponding file descriptor of the parent.
All semadj values are cleared (see semop(2)).
Process locks, text locks and data locks are not
inherited by the child (see plock(2)).
The child process' utime, stime, cutime, and
cstime are set to zero. The time left until an
alarm clock signal is reset to zero.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, fork returns a value of zero to
the child process and returns the process ID of the child
process to the parent process. Otherwise, it returns -1 to
the parent process, no child process is created, and errno
is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
Fork fails and no child process is created if one or more of
the following is true:
Printed 5/10/85 FORK-1
FORK(2) DOMAIN/IX Reference Manual (SYS5) FORK(2)
[EAGAIN] The system-imposed limit on the total number
of processes under execution would be
exceeded.
[EAGAIN] The system-imposed limit on the total number
of processes under execution by a single user
would be exceeded.
RELATED INFORMATION
exec(2), nice(2), plock(2), semop(2), shmop(2), signal(2),
times(2), umask(2), wait(2)
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