xref: /freebsd/lib/libsys/sigfastblock.2 (revision f126890ac5386406dadf7c4cfa9566cbb56537c5)
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28.Dd December 13, 2019
29.Dt SIGFASTBLOCK 2
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm sigfastblock
33.Nd controls signals blocking with a simple memory write
34.Sh LIBRARY
35.Lb libc
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.In sys/signalvar.h
38.Ft int
39.Fn sigfastblock "int cmd" "void *ptr"
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41.Bf -symbolic
42This function is not intended for a direct usage by applications.
43The functionality is provided for implementing some optimizations in
44.Xr ld-elf.so.1 8
45and
46.Lb libthr .
47.Ef
48.Pp
49The function configures the kernel facility that allows a thread to
50block asynchronous signals delivery with a single write to userspace
51memory, avoiding overhead of system calls like
52.Xr sigprocmask 2
53for establishing critical sections.
54The C runtime uses it to optimize implementation of async-signal-safe
55functionality.
56.Pp
57A thread might register a
58.Dv sigblock
59variable of type
60.Vt int
61as a location which is consulted by kernel when calculating the
62blocked signal mask for delivery of asynchronous signals.
63If the variable indicates that blocking is requested, then the kernel
64effectively operates as if the mask containing all blockable signals was
65supplied to
66.Xr sigprocmask 2 .
67.Pp
68The variable is supposed to be modified only from the owning thread,
69there is no way to guarantee visibility of update from other thread
70to kernel when signals are delivered.
71.Pp
72Lower bits of the sigblock variable are reserved as flags,
73which might be set or cleared by kernel at arbitrary moments.
74Userspace code should use
75.Xr atomic 9
76operations of incrementing and decrementing by
77.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_INC
78quantity to recursively block or unblock signals delivery.
79.Pp
80If a signal would be delivered when unmasked, kernel might set the
81.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_PEND
82.Dq pending signal
83flag in the sigblock variable.
84Userspace should perform
85.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_UNBLOCK
86operation when clearing the variable if it notes the pending signal
87bit is set, which would deliver the pending signals immediately.
88Otherwise, signals delivery might be postponed.
89.Pp
90The
91.Fa cmd
92argument specifies one of the following operations:
93.Bl -tag -width SIGFASTBLOCK_UNSETPTR
94.It Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_SETPTR
95Register the variable of type
96.Vt int
97at location pointed to by the
98.Fa ptr
99argument as sigblock variable for the calling thread.
100.It Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_UNSETPTR
101Unregister the currently registered sigblock location.
102Kernel stops inferring the blocked mask from non-zero value of its
103blocked count.
104New location can be registered after previous one is deregistered.
105.It Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_UNBLOCK
106If there are pending signals which should be delivered to the calling
107thread, they are delivered before returning from the call.
108The sigblock variable should have zero blocking count, and indicate
109that the pending signal exists.
110Effectively this means that the variable should have the value
111.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_PEND .
112.El
113.Sh RETURN VALUES
114.Rv -std
115.Sh ERRORS
116The operation may fail with the following errors:
117.Bl -tag -width Er
118.It Bq Er EBUSY
119The
120.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_SETPTR
121attempted while the sigblock address was already registered.
122The
123.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_UNBLOCK
124was called while sigblock variable value is not equal to
125.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_PEND .
126.It Bq Er EINVAL
127The variable address passed to
128.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_SETPTR
129is not aligned naturally.
130The
131.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_UNSETPTR
132operation was attempted without prior successful call to
133.Dv SIGFASTBLOCK_SETPTR .
134.It Bq Er EFAULT
135Attempt to read or write to the sigblock variable failed.
136Note that kernel generates the
137.Dv SIGSEGV
138signal if an attempt to read from the sigblock variable faulted
139during implicit accesses from syscall entry.
140.El
141.Sh SEE ALSO
142.Xr kill 2 ,
143.Xr signal 2 ,
144.Xr sigprocmask 2 ,
145.Xr libthr 3 ,
146.Xr ld-elf.so.1 8
147.Sh STANDARDS
148The
149.Nm
150function is non-standard, although a similar functionality is a common
151optimization provided by several other systems.
152.Sh HISTORY
153The
154.Nm
155function was introduced in
156.Fx 13.0 .
157.Sh BUGS
158The
159.Nm
160symbol is currently not exported by libc, on purpose.
161Consumers should either use the
162.Dv __sys_fast_sigblock
163symbol from the private libc namespace, or utilize
164.Xr syscall 2 .
165