1.\" $NetBSD: sigaltstack.2,v 1.15 2002/02/08 01:28:22 ross Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)sigaltstack.2 8.2 (Berkeley) 5/1/95 35.\" 36.Dd May 1, 1995 37.Dt SIGALTSTACK 2 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm sigaltstack 41.Nd set and/or get signal stack context 42.Sh LIBRARY 43.Lb libc 44.Sh SYNOPSIS 45.Fd #include \*[Lt]signal.h\*[Gt] 46.Pp 47.Bd -literal 48typedef struct sigaltstack { 49 void *ss_sp; 50 size_t ss_size; 51 int ss_flags; 52} stack_t; 53.Ed 54.Ft int 55.Fn sigaltstack "const stack_t *ss" "stack_t *oss" 56.Sh DESCRIPTION 57.Fn sigaltstack 58allows users to define an alternative stack on which signals 59are to be processed. 60If 61.Fa ss 62is non-zero, 63it specifies a pointer to and the size of a 64.Em "signal stack" 65on which to deliver signals, 66and tells the system if the process is currently executing 67on that stack. 68When a signal's action indicates its handler 69should execute on the signal stack (specified with a 70.Xr sigaction 2 71call), the system checks to see 72if the process is currently executing on that stack. 73If the process is not currently executing on the signal stack, 74the system arranges a switch to the signal stack for the 75duration of the signal handler's execution. 76.Pp 77If 78.Dv SS_DISABLE 79is set in 80.Fa ss_flags , 81.Fa ss_sp 82and 83.Fa ss_size 84are ignored and the signal stack will be disabled. 85Trying to disable an active stack will cause 86.Nm 87to return -1 with 88.Va errno 89set to 90.Er EINVAL . 91A disabled stack will cause all signals to be 92taken on the regular user stack. 93If the stack is later re-enabled then all signals that were specified 94to be processed on an alternative stack will resume doing so. 95.Pp 96If 97.Fa oss 98is non-zero, the current signal stack state is returned. 99The 100.Fa ss_flags 101field will contain the value 102.Dv SS_ONSTACK 103if the process is currently on a signal stack and 104.Dv SS_DISABLE 105if the signal stack is currently disabled. 106.Sh NOTES 107The value 108.Dv SIGSTKSZ 109is defined to be the number of bytes/chars that would be used to cover 110the usual case when allocating an alternative stack area. 111The following code fragment is typically used to allocate an alternative stack. 112.Bd -literal -offset indent 113if ((sigstk.ss_sp = malloc(SIGSTKSZ)) == NULL) 114 /* error return */ 115sigstk.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ; 116sigstk.ss_flags = 0; 117if (sigaltstack(\*[Am]sigstk,0) \*[Lt] 0) 118 perror("sigaltstack"); 119.Ed 120.Pp 121An alternative approach is provided for programs with signal handlers 122that require a specific amount of stack space other than the default size. 123The value 124.Dv MINSIGSTKSZ 125is defined to be the number of bytes/chars that is required by 126the operating system to implement the alternative stack feature. 127In computing an alternative stack size, 128programs should add 129.Dv MINSIGSTKSZ 130to their stack requirements to allow for the operating system overhead. 131.Pp 132Signal stacks are automatically adjusted for the direction of stack 133growth and alignment requirements. 134Signal stacks may or may not be protected by the hardware and 135are not ``grown'' automatically as is done for the normal stack. 136If the stack overflows and this space is not protected 137unpredictable results may occur. 138.Sh RETURN VALUES 139Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. 140Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and 141.Va errno 142is set to indicate the error. 143.Sh ERRORS 144.Fn sigaltstack 145will fail and the signal stack context will remain unchanged 146if one of the following occurs. 147.Bl -tag -width Er 148.It Bq Er EFAULT 149Either 150.Fa ss 151or 152.Fa oss 153points to memory that is not a valid part of the process 154address space. 155.It Bq Er EINVAL 156An attempt was made to disable an active stack. 157.It Bq Er ENOMEM 158Size of alternative stack area is less than or equal to 159.Dv MINSIGSTKSZ . 160.El 161.Sh SEE ALSO 162.Xr sigaction 2 , 163.Xr setjmp 3 , 164.Xr signal 7 165.Sh STANDARDS 166The 167.Fn sigaltstack 168function conforms to 169.St -xpg4.2 . 170.Sh HISTORY 171The predecessor to 172.Nm sigaltstack , 173the 174.Fn sigstack 175system call, appeared in 176.Bx 4.2 . 177