SIGALTSTACK(2) BSD System Calls Manual SIGALTSTACK(2)NAMEsigaltstack — set and/or get signal stack context
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <signal.h>
typedef struct sigaltstack {
void *ss_sp;
size_t ss_size;
int ss_flags;
} stack_t;
int
sigaltstack(const stack_t * restrict ss, stack_t * restrict oss);
DESCRIPTIONsigaltstack() allows users to define an alternative stack on which sig‐
nals are to be processed. If ss is non-zero, it specifies a pointer to
and the size of a signal stack on which to deliver signals, and tells the
system if the process is currently executing on that stack. When a sig‐
nal's action indicates its handler should execute on the signal stack
(specified with a sigaction(2) call), the system checks to see if the
process is currently executing on that stack. If the process is not cur‐
rently executing on the signal stack, the system arranges a switch to the
signal stack for the duration of the signal handler's execution.
If SS_DISABLE is set in ss_flags, ss_sp and ss_size are ignored and the
signal stack will be disabled. Trying to disable an active stack will
cause sigaltstack to return -1 with errno set to EINVAL. A disabled
stack will cause all signals to be taken on the regular user stack. If
the stack is later re-enabled then all signals that were specified to be
processed on an alternative stack will resume doing so.
If oss is non-zero, the current signal stack state is returned. The
ss_flags field will contain the value SS_ONSTACK if the process is cur‐
rently on a signal stack and SS_DISABLE if the signal stack is currently
disabled.
NOTES
The value SIGSTKSZ is defined to be the number of bytes/chars that would
be used to cover the usual case when allocating an alternative stack
area. The following code fragment is typically used to allocate an
alternative stack.
if ((sigstk.ss_sp = malloc(SIGSTKSZ)) == NULL)
/* error return */
sigstk.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
sigstk.ss_flags = 0;
if (sigaltstack(&sigstk,0) < 0)
perror("sigaltstack");
An alternative approach is provided for programs with signal handlers
that require a specific amount of stack space other than the default
size. The value MINSIGSTKSZ is defined to be the number of bytes/chars
that is required by the operating system to implement the alternative
stack feature. In computing an alternative stack size, programs should
add MINSIGSTKSZ to their stack requirements to allow for the operating
system overhead.
Signal stacks are automatically adjusted for the direction of stack
growth and alignment requirements. Signal stacks may or may not be pro‐
tected by the hardware and are not ``grown'' automatically as is done for
the normal stack. If the stack overflows and this space is not protected
unpredictable results may occur.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value
of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORSsigaltstack() will fail and the signal stack context will remain
unchanged if one of the following occurs.
[EFAULT] Either ss or oss points to memory that is not a valid
part of the process address space.
[EINVAL] An attempt was made to disable an active stack.
[ENOMEM] Size of alternative stack area is less than
MINSIGSTKSZ.
SEE ALSOsigaction(2), setjmp(3), signal(7)STANDARDS
The sigaltstack() function conforms to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4,
Version 2 (“XPG4.2”).
HISTORY
The predecessor to sigaltstack, the sigstack() system call, appeared in
4.2BSD.
CAVEATS
Due to limitations in the current pthread implementation, sigaltstack
should not be used in programs which link against the pthread(3) library
(whether threads are used or not).
BSD April 16, 2009 BSD
