[rfc] posix.4 signals implementation

Richard Henderson (richard@stommel.tamu.edu)
Wed, 14 May 1997 03:09:43 -0500 (CDT)

I have a functional POSIX.4** signals implementation that I'd like
feedback on. The exact nature of the system call interface should
not be considered fixed until more work is done on the rest of
POSIX.1b (aio, msgq, etc) and we determine bits are done best in
the kernel and what from userspace. Suggestions for interface
changes that would efficiently support either are more than welcome. ;-)

Current status is that it properly runs a system built for the old
system calls on both Alpha and Intel; the "real-time" signals and
new SA_SIGINFO signal handler work on Alpha but has not yet been
tested on Intel.

There are known problems building nfs, lockd, autofs, etc because
they muck with signals in nasty ways and it is not clear to me what
is intended, especially in the presense of queued signals. My first
reaction is why should they have to be mucking with SIGPIPE anyway?

The patch can be found at

ftp://stommel.tamu.edu/pub/richard/rt-signals-6.patch.gz
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/alphabits/rt-signals-6.patch.gz

and the various places that alphabits gets mirrored.

thanks,

r~

----
** Yes, my book is old enough to say POSIX.4 not .1b -- I hope
to rectify that soon, but until then...