alarm(2)                                                 alarm(2)



     NAME
          alarm - set a process's alarm clock

     SYNOPSIS
          unsigned alarm(sec)
          unsigned sec;

     DESCRIPTION
          alarm instructs the calling process's alarm clock to send
          the signal SIGALRM to the calling process after the number
          of real time seconds specified by sec have elapsed; see sig-
          nal(3).

          alarm requests are not stacked; successive calls reset the
          calling process's alarm clock.  If the argument is 0, any
          alarm request is canceled.  Because the clock has a 1-second
          resolution, the signal may occur up to one second early; be-
          cause of scheduling delays, resumption of execution of when
          the signal is caught may be delayed an arbitrary amount.
          The longest specifiable delay time is 4,294,967,295 (2**32-
          1) seconds, or 136 years.

     RETURN VALUE
          alarm returns the amount of time previously remaining in the
          calling process's alarm clock.

     SEE ALSO
          pause(2), setitimer(2), signal(3).



























     April, 1990                                                     1