Velocity Reviews - Computer Hardware Reviews

Velocity Reviews > Newsgroups > Programming > C Programming > signal handling in C

Reply
Thread Tools

signal handling in C

 
 
subramanian
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
Consider the following code: segment violation is deliberately
generated to catch the SIGSEGV signal. The handler for this signal,
namely SIGSEGV_handler, is called. However after the handler is
finished, control does not return to the printf statement in main()
which is present after the strcpy statement. Instead Segmentation
violation error message is printed in Redhat Linux and the program is
aborted. In VC++, the SIGSEGV_handler is called and then the program
crashes. Is this the expected behaviour ?

void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);

int main(void)
{
char *str = NULL;

signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
strcpy(str, "TEST");
printf("After signal handling\n");

return 0;
}

void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
{
printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);

return;
}

 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
Richard Heathfield
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
subramanian said:

> Consider the following code: segment violation is deliberately
> generated to catch the SIGSEGV signal. The handler for this signal,
> namely SIGSEGV_handler, is called. However after the handler is
> finished, control does not return to the printf statement in main()
> which is present after the strcpy statement. Instead Segmentation
> violation error message is printed in Redhat Linux and the program is
> aborted. In VC++, the SIGSEGV_handler is called and then the program
> crashes. Is this the expected behaviour ?
>
> void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);
>
> int main(void)
> {
> char *str = NULL;
>
> signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
> strcpy(str, "TEST");
> printf("After signal handling\n");
>
> return 0;
> }
>
> void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
> {
> printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);
>
> return;
> }


foo.c: In function `main':
foo.c:5: `NULL' undeclared (first use in this function)
foo.c:5: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
foo.c:5: for each function it appears in.)
foo.c:7: warning: implicit declaration of function `signal'
foo.c:7: `SIGSEGV' undeclared (first use in this function)
foo.c:9: warning: implicit declaration of function `printf'
make: *** [foo.o] Error 1

If I fix those, I get the behaviour you report. This is not entirely
unexpected from a C language perspective, since the behaviour of the
program is undefined:

"If the signal occurs other than as the result of calling the abort
or raise function, the behavior is undefined if the signal handler
calls any function in the standard library other than the signal
function itself..."

--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at the above domain, - www.
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
subramanian
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
What should be done to catch signals and proceed with execution from
the next statement onwards in the program

On Dec 15, 1:55 am, Richard Heathfield <r...@see.sig.invalid> wrote:
> subramanian said:
>
>
>
> > Consider the following code: segment violation is deliberately
> > generated to catch the SIGSEGV signal. The handler for this signal,
> > namely SIGSEGV_handler, is called. However after the handler is
> > finished, control does not return to the printf statement in main()
> > which is present after the strcpy statement. Instead Segmentation
> > violation error message is printed in Redhat Linux and the program is
> > aborted. In VC++, the SIGSEGV_handler is called and then the program
> > crashes. Is this the expected behaviour ?

>
> > void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);

>
> > int main(void)
> > {
> > char *str = NULL;

>
> > signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
> > strcpy(str, "TEST");
> > printf("After signal handling\n");

>
> > return 0;
> > }

>
> > void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
> > {
> > printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);

>
> > return;
> > }foo.c: In function `main':

> foo.c:5: `NULL' undeclared (first use in this function)
> foo.c:5: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
> foo.c:5: for each function it appears in.)
> foo.c:7: warning: implicit declaration of function `signal'
> foo.c:7: `SIGSEGV' undeclared (first use in this function)
> foo.c:9: warning: implicit declaration of function `printf'
> make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
>
> If I fix those, I get the behaviour you report. This is not entirely
> unexpected from a C language perspective, since the behaviour of the
> program is undefined:
>
> "If the signal occurs other than as the result of calling the abort
> or raise function, the behavior is undefined if the signal handler
> calls any function in the standard library other than the signal
> function itself..."
>
> --
> Richard Heathfield
> "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999http://www.cpax.org.uk
> email: rjh at the above domain, - www.


 
Reply With Quote
 
Chris Torek
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
In article <. com>
subramanian <> wrote:
>void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);
>
>int main(void)
>{
> char *str = NULL;
>
> signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
> strcpy(str, "TEST");
> printf("After signal handling\n");
>
> return 0;
>}
>
>void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
>{
> printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);
>
> return;
>}


This code is full of simple mechanical errors (does not compile
because, e.g., SIGSEGV is not defined at all, since you did not
"#include" the appropriate headers). If you fix those, however,
the code remains undefined by the C Standards, and full of more
important errors even on those systems where the behavior *is*
predictable.

In particular, those systems that (a) somehow catch the invalid
first value in the strcpy() call and (b) actually enter your
SIGSEGV handler in a useful way will generally either:

- reset the SIGSEGV handler to the default ("terminate program
with core dump" behavior), or
- temporarily defer additional SIGSEGVs, keeping the handler
installed and re-enabling it upon return from the handler.

They will also provide -- in a manner that cannot be obtained using
the simple Standard C handler shown above -- additional arguments
pinpointing (or perhaps just "generally getting close to", depending
on the hardware) the instruction pointer at the time the signal
occurred. To get this information you should[%] use a different
call, such as the POSIX sigaction(), to install the handler. Then,
inside the handler, you may be required to modify the provided
machine state -- which is rather naturally machine-dependent, i.e.,
will differ on an Intel vs a PowerPC vs a SPARC vs a MIPS -- if
you intend for the program to do anything useful upon returning
from the handler. If you leave the state unchanged, there is a
significant possibility that returning from the handler will take
you back to the faulting instruction, which will just immediately
fault again, calling the handler again (assuming you have set the
correct options for sigaction() or whatever the correct call may
be), and leading to an endless loop that, aside from the complexities
of signal handling, is effectively identical to:

for (;
;

Hence, the code you really need is OS- and machine-dependent and
cannot be written in portable C. You therefore need some other
newsgroup(s), such as comp.unix.programmer, comp.os.linux.*,
comp.os.ms-windows.*, etc., or (probably better) the documentation
for your hardware, compiler, and/or operating system.

[% It may or may not be possible to get the extra information when
using the Standard C "signal" interface, but it is probably unwise
to attempt this unless the documentation for your system specifically
says to do so. In some cases, the extra information is available
more or less "by accident", and a future version of the system may
move it elsewhere without warning.]
--
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Wind River Systems
Salt Lake City, UT, USA (40°39.22'N, 111°50.29'W) +1 801 277 2603
email: forget about it http://web.torek.net/torek/index.html
Reading email is like searching for food in the garbage, thanks to spammers.
 
Reply With Quote
 
vijay kalkoti
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
Please see the man page "signal" ( manual 7, man 7 signal ).

There is an action associated with each signal handler. And it
specifies the action to be taken. When SIGSEGV is received, the action
taken is "Core" i.e, terminate the process and dump core. Apart from
calling the user defined signal handler. And that is the reason for not
printing the subsequent print() statement.

Thanks & Regards
--vijayck

subramanian wrote:
> Consider the following code: segment violation is deliberately
> generated to catch the SIGSEGV signal. The handler for this signal,
> namely SIGSEGV_handler, is called. However after the handler is
> finished, control does not return to the printf statement in main()
> which is present after the strcpy statement. Instead Segmentation
> violation error message is printed in Redhat Linux and the program is
> aborted. In VC++, the SIGSEGV_handler is called and then the program
> crashes. Is this the expected behaviour ?
>
> void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);
>
> int main(void)
> {
> char *str = NULL;
>
> signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
> strcpy(str, "TEST");
> printf("After signal handling\n");
>
> return 0;
> }
>
> void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
> {
> printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);
>
> return;
> }


 
Reply With Quote
 
Kohn Emil Dan
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006


On Fri, 14 Dec 2006, subramanian wrote:

> What should be done to catch signals and proceed with execution from
> the next statement onwards in the program
>



A possible option can be using the longjmp() and setjmp()
functions/macros, as follows. If your implementation allows calling
printf() from within signal handlers, you can uncomment the printf()
inside the signal handler.

Emil


#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <setjmp.h>

jmp_buf jbuf;

void SIGSEGV_handler(int num);

int main(void)
{
char *str = NULL;

signal(SIGSEGV, SIGSEGV_handler);
if (!setjmp(jbuf))
strcpy(str, "TEST");
printf("After signal handling\n");

return 0;
}

void SIGSEGV_handler(int num)
{
/*printf("SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument %d\n", num);*/
longjmp(jbuf,1);
}
 
Reply With Quote
 
loic-dev@gmx.net
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
Hello,

> Consider the following code: segment violation is deliberately
> generated to catch the SIGSEGV signal. The handler for this signal,
> namely SIGSEGV_handler, is called. However after the handler is
> finished, control does not return to the printf statement in main()
> which is present after the strcpy statement. Instead Segmentation
> violation error message is printed in Redhat Linux and the program is
> aborted. In VC++, the SIGSEGV_handler is called and then the program
> crashes. Is this the expected behaviour ?


The problem you are facing can't be answered within the C standard.
This is OS dependent. For instance, on UNIX/Linux, the following apply:

<quote SUSv3>
If and when the function [signal handler] returns, if the value of sig
was SIGFPE, SIGILL, or SIGSEGV or or any other implementation-defined
value corresponding to a computational exception, the behavior is
undefined.
</quote SUSv3>

That means, everything can happen... On some UNIX, the message
"SIGSEGV_handler called with the argument 11" will be repeated forever,
because the PC or the
effective address that took the SIGSEGV isn't modified, causing the
SIGSEGV to be repeated... This makes a really nice infinite loop,
actually.

HTH,
Loic.

 
Reply With Quote
 
Chris Dollin
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
Kohn Emil Dan wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Dec 2006, subramanian wrote:
>
>> What should be done to catch signals and proceed with execution from
>> the next statement onwards in the program

>
> A possible option can be using the longjmp() and setjmp()
> functions/macros, as follows. If your implementation allows calling
> printf() from within signal handlers, you can uncomment the printf()
> inside the signal handler.


Using `longjmp` inside a signal handler in Standard C gives you
undefined behaviour (unless the signal was provoked by `abort`
or `raise`).

The OP will need implementation-dependant signal handling code.
(Maybe he can rely on some other standard to make it less
implementation-dependant that it could be.)

--
Chris "to heavy to even shortjmp" Dollin
"We did not have time to find out everything we wanted to know."
- James Blish, /A Clash of Cymbals/

 
Reply With Quote
 
Default User
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-15-2006
vijay kalkoti wrote:

> Please see the man page "signal" ( manual 7, man 7 signal ).



Please don't top-post. Your replies belong following or interspersed
with properly trimmed quotes. See the majority of other posts in the
newsgroup, or:
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
 
Reply With Quote
 
Kohn Emil Dan
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      12-16-2006


On Fri, 15 Dec 2006, Chris Dollin wrote:

> Kohn Emil Dan wrote:

<snipped>
>>

<snipped>
> Using `longjmp` inside a signal handler in Standard C gives you
> undefined behaviour (unless the signal was provoked by `abort`
> or `raise`).



Can you point me where the standard mentions this?

>
> The OP will need implementation-dependant signal handling code.
> (Maybe he can rely on some other standard to make it less
> implementation-dependant that it could be.)
>



In my opinion any non-trivial C program needs some implementation
dependent features, so I agree with you.


Emil

> --
> Chris "to heavy to even shortjmp" Dollin
> "We did not have time to find out everything we wanted to know."
> - James Blish, /A Clash of Cymbals/
>
>

 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
signal handling and (structured) exception handling Peter C++ 34 10-17-2009 10:03 AM
Re: How to make an internal signal embedded deep in hierarchy to a gloal output signal Weng Tianxiang VHDL 2 01-30-2007 12:58 PM
Aside from delta cycles and/or resolution functions, how can the effective value of a signal differ from a driving signal of its? Colin Paul Gloster VHDL 0 01-11-2007 01:31 PM
threading.Thread vs. signal.signal Jack Orenstein Python 0 09-17-2005 11:24 PM
Async-signal safe functions in signal handlers (unix) Michael Pronath Python 1 01-03-2005 01:10 PM



Advertisments