libstddjb
libskarnet
skalibs
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skarnet.org

The djbunix library interface

The following functions are declared in the skalibs/djbunix.h header, and implemented in the libskarnet.a or libskarnet.so library.

General information

djbunix is an alternative API to management of basic Unix concepts: file descriptors, files, environment, and so on. It is a rather chaotic mix of safe wrappers around Unix system calls, better reimplementations of standard libc functionalities, and higher-level manipulations of Unix concepts.

Understanding djbunix is essential to understanding any piece of code depending on skalibs.

Functions

Basic fd operations

int coe (int fd)
Sets the close-on-exec flag on fd. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int uncoe (int fd)
Clears the close-on-exec flag on fd. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int ndelay_on (int fd)
Sets the O_NONBLOCK flag on fd: sets it to non-blocking mode. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int ndelay_off (int fd)
Clears the O_NONBLOCK flag on fd: sets it to blocking mode. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int pipenb (int *p)
Like pipe(), but both ends of the created pipe are in non-blocking mode.

int pipecoe (int *p)
Like pipe(), but both ends of the created pipe are close-on-exec.

int pipenbcoe (int *p)
Like pipe(), but both ends of the created pipe are in non-blocking mode and close-on-exec.

int fd_copy (int to, int from)
Copies the open fd from to number to. If to was already open, it is closed before the copy. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int fd_copy2 (int to1, int from1, int to2, int from2)
Copies the open fd from1 to number to2. Also copies from2 to to2 at the same time. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int fd_move (int to, int from)
Moves the open fd from to number to. If to was already open, it is closed before the move. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int fd_move2 (int to1, int from1, int to2, int from2)
Moves the open fd from to number to. Also moves from2 to to2 at the same time. This is useful for instance when you want to swap two fds: fd_move2 will handle the situation correctly. Returns 0 if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

void fd_close (int fd)
Closes fd. This is a safe wrapper around close().

int fd_chmod (int fd, unsigned int mode)
Safe wrapper around fchmod().

int fd_chown (int fd, uid_t uid, gid_t gid)
Safe wrapper around fchown(). This function requires root privileges.

int fd_sync (int fd)
Safe wrapper around fsync().

int fd_chdir (int fd)
Safe wrapper around fchdir().

int fd_cat (int from, int to)
Synchronously copies data from fd from to fd to, until it encounters EOF or an error. Returns -1 (and sets errno) if it fails; returns the number of transmitted bytes if it gets an EOF.

When the underlying OS allows it, zero-copy transmission is performed. Currently, the following zero-copy implementations are supported:

size_t fd_catn (int from, int to, size_t n)
Synchronously copies at most n bytes from fd from to fd to. Returns the total number of transmitted bytes; sets errno if this number is lesser than n. EOF is reported as EPIPE. See above for zero-copy transmission; zero-copy transmission is not attempted for less than 64k of data.

int fd_ensure_open (int fd, int w)
If fd is not open, opens it to /dev/null, for reading if w is zero, and for writing otherwise. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 if it fails.

int fd_sanitize (void)
Ensures stdin, stdout and stderr are open. If one of those file descriptors was closed, it now points to /dev/null. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 if it fails.

void fd_shutdown (int fd, int w)
Shuts down socket fd, for reading if w is zero, and for writing otherwise. Does not return an error code; does not modify errno. This is just a call to shutdown() with errno saved, used essentially to isolate application code from sys/socket.h which is a portability nightmare.

int fd_lock (int fd, int w, int nb)
Gets an advisory lock on fd: shared if w is zero, exclusive otherwise. fd must point to a regular file, open for writing or reading depending on whether you want an exclusive lock or not. If nb is zero, the function blocks until the lock can be obtained; otherwise it returns 0 immediately. On success, the function returns 1 ; it returns 0 if it cannot take the lock, or -1 (and sets errno) if an error occurs.

void fd_unlock (int fd)
Releases a previously held lock on fd.

int fd_islocked (int fd)
Returns 1 if a lock is currently held on fd, 0 otherwise. Returns -1 (and sets errno) if an error occurs.

int open2 (char const *file, unsigned int flags)
Safe wrapper around open() when it takes 2 arguments.

int open3 (char const *file, unsigned int flags)
Safe wrapper around open() when it takes 3 arguments.

int open_read (char const *file)
Opens file in read-only, non-blocking mode. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_read (char const *file)
Opens file in read-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openb_read (char const *file)
Opens file in read-only, blocking mode. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openbc_read (char const *file)
Opens file in read-only, blocking mode, close-on-exec. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int open_readb (char const *file)
Opens file in read-only, blocking mode. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails. This call does not block. The open() system call is actually performed with the O_NONBLOCK option, and blocking mode is set afterwards; this behaviour allows for more transparent interactions with FIFOs.

int openc_readb (char const *file)
Same as above, but the file is opened close-on-exec.

int open_excl (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, with the additional O_EXCL and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_excl (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec, with the additional O_EXCL and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int open_append (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, with the additional O_APPEND and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_append (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec, with the additional O_APPEND and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int open_trunc (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, with the additional O_TRUNC and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_trunc (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec, with the additional O_TRUNC and O_CREAT flags. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int open_create (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, with the additional O_CREAT flag. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_create (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec, with the additional O_CREAT flag. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int open_write (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openc_write (char const *file)
Opens file in write-only, non-blocking mode, close-on-exec. Returns a valid fd number if it succeeds, or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

Executable search and execution, and environment

void execvep_loose (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, char const *path)
Executes into the executable file at file, with the command line set to argv and the environment set to envp. If file is not an absolute path, it is searched in the path string, which must contain a colon-separated list of search directories such as the contents of the PATH environment variable. The function returns if it fails, and sets errno to the most relevant error that happened.

void execvep (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, char const *path)
Like execvep_loose(), but if file contains a slash, it is treated as an absolute path.

void pathexec_run (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp)
Performs execvep(file, argv, envp, path), path being the contents of the PATH environment variable. If PATH is not set, path is set to the value given to the --with-default-path option of the skalibs' ./configure script, or to /usr/bin:/bin by default. The function returns if it fails, and sets errno appropriately.

pathexec_run() is the standard skalibs API to perform an exec call with a path search. It is recommended that you use it instead of the Single Unix execvp() or execlp() functions, because execvp and execlp default to execution of the /bin/sh interpreter with file as an argument if they cannot find a suitable executable file, and this is:

  1. a security risk,
  2. probably not what you want.

execvep() and pathexec_run() just fail with ENOENT when they cannot find a file to exec into, which is the sensible behaviour.

void pathexec0_run (char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp)
Performs pathexec_run(argv[0], argv, envp). If argv is empty, i.e. argv[0] is null, the process exits 0 instead. Rationale: executing the empty command line should amount to executing true, i.e. simply exiting 0.

void pathexec_r_name (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, size_t envlen, char const *modifs, size_t modiflen)
Alters envp (which does not have to be NULL-terminated, but the number envlen of elements must be provided) with the modifier string modifs of length modiflen, then performs pathexec_run(file, argv, altered-envp).

void pathexec_r (char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, size_t envlen, char const *modifs, size_t modiflen)
Same as pathexec_r_name, except that the file argument is read from argv[0].

int pathexec_env (char const *var, char const *value)
Adds the "add variable var with value value" instruction (if value is not null) or the "unset var" instruction (if value is null) to a static hidden modifier string, used by the following three functions. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

void pathexec_fromenv (char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, size_t envlen)
Performs pathexec_r() with the given arguments and the hidden modifier string.

void pathexec (char const *const *argv)
Executes into the argv command line, with the current environment modified by the hidden modifier string.

void pathexec0 (char const *const *argv)
Executes into the argv command line, with the current environment modified by the hidden modifier string. If this command line is empty, exit 0 instead.

void xexecvep (char const *, char const *const *, char const *const *, char const *)
void xpathexec_r (char const *const *, char const *const *, size_t, char const *, size_t)
void xpathexec_r_name (char const *, char const *const *, char const *const *, size_t, char const *, size_t)
void xpathexec_fromenv (char const *const *, char const *const *, size_t)
void xpathexec_run (char const *, char const *const *, char const *const *)
void xpathexec0_run (char const *const *, char const *const *)
void xpathexec (char const *const *)
void xpathexec0 (char const *const *)

Those functions provide the same functionality as the non-x-prefixed versions, but if the execution fails (i.e. the process cannot exec into a new program), then the process dies with a 111 exit code and an error message on stderr.

The env library interface provides additional functions to manipulate modifier strings and environments.

Forking children

pid_t doublefork ()
Performs a double fork. Returns -1 if it fails (and sets errno, EINTR meaning that the intermediate process was killed by a signal), 0 if the current process is the grandchild, and the grandchild's PID if the current process is the parent.

pid_t child_spawn0 (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp)
Forks and executes a child as with pathexec_run(file, argv, envp). Returns 0 if it fails, and the pid of the child if it succeeds. Implemented via posix_spawn() on systems that support it.

pid_t child_spawn1_pipe (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, int *fd, int w)
Like child_spawn0(), except that a pipe is created between the child's stdin (if w is 0) or stdout (if w is nonzero) and the parent. The parent's end of the pipe will be stored in *fd.

pid_t child_spawn1_socket (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, int *fd)
Like child_spawn0, except that a socket is created between the parent and the child. Both the child's stdin and stdout point to the socket; the parent has its end of the socket available in *fd.

pid_t child_spawn2 (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, int *fds)
Like child_spawn0(), except that two pipes are created between the parent and the child. fds must point to an array of 2 ints: this array is read as well as written by child_spawn2(). On function call, the numbers in fds must describe what fds should be used in the child to contain the communication pipes (for instance, if the child will read from its parent on stdin and writes to its parent on stdout, fds must contain 0 and 1). On function return, fds contains the descriptors for the pipes that read from / write to the child.

pid_t child_spawn (char const *file, char const *const *argv, char const *const *envp, int *fds, unsigned int nfds)
More generic spawning function. fds must point to an array of at least nfds ints; file descriptors reading from or writing to the child will be stored there. The function returns 0 on failure or the pid of the child on success.

Waiting for children

unsigned int wait_reap ()
Instantly reaps all the pending zombies, without blocking, without a look at the exit codes. Returns the number of reaped zombies.

int waitn (pid_t *pids, unsigned int n)
Waits until all processes whose PIDs are stored in the pids array, of size n, have died. Returns 1 if it succeeds, and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails. The pid array is not guaranteed to be unchanged.

int waitn_reap (pid_t *pids, unsigned int n)
Instantly reaps all zombies whose PIDs are stored in the pids array, of size n. Returns -1 (and sets errno) if it fails, and the number of reaped zombies if it succeeds. The pid array is not guaranteed to be unchanged.

pid_t wait_nohang (int *wstat)
Instantly reaps one zombie, and stores the status information into *wstat. Returns the PID of the reaped zombie if it succeeds, 0 if there was nothing to reap (and the current process still has children), -1 ECHILD if there was nothing to reap (and the current process has no children), or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

pid_t waitpid_nointr (pid_t pid, int *wstat, int flags)
Safe wrapper around waitpid().

pid_t wait_pid_nohang (pid_t pid, int *wstat)
Instantly reaps an undetermined number of zombies until it finds pid. Stores the status information for dead pid into *wstat. Returns pid if it succeeds, 0 if there was nothing to reap (and the current process still has children), -1 ECHILD if there was nothing to reap (and the current process has no children), or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int wait_pids_nohang (pid_t const *pids, unsigned int len, int *wstat)
Instantly reaps an undetermined number of zombies until it finds one whose PID is in the pids array, of size len. Stores the status information for that dead process into *wstat. Returns the index of the found PID in pids, starting at 1. Returns 0 if there was nothing to reap (and the current process still has children), -1 ECHILD if there was nothing to reap (and the current process has no children), or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

When asynchronously dealing with a child (resp. several children) and getting a SIGCHLD - which should be handled via a selfpipe - it is generally a good idea to use the wait_pid_nohang() (resp. wait_pids_nohang()) function over the basic Unix APIs. This allows a program to:

Reading and writing whole files

int slurp (stralloc *sa, int fd)
Slurps the contents of open descriptor fd into the *sa stralloc. If you are doing this, you should either have full control over the slurped file, or run your process with suitable limits to the amount of heap memory it can get. The function returns 1 if it succeeds, or 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openslurpclose (stralloc *sa, char const *file)
Slurps the contents of file file into *sa. Returns 1 if it succeeds, and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

ssize_t openreadnclose (char const *file, char *s, size_t n)
Reads at most n bytes from file file into preallocated buffer s. Returns -1 (and sets errno) if it fails; else returns the number of read bytes. If that number is not n, errno is set to EPIPE.

ssize_t openreadnclose_nb (char const *file, char *s, size_t n)
Like openreadnclose, but can fail with EAGAIN if the file cannot be immediately read (for instance if it's a named pipe or other special file).

int openreadfileclose (char const *file, stralloc *sa, size_t n)
Reads at most n bytes from file file into the *sa stralloc, which is grown (if needed) to just accommodate the file size. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openwritenclose_unsafe_internal (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, int dosync)
Writes the n bytes stored at s into file file. The previous contents of file are destroyed even if the function fails. If dosync is nonzero, the new contents of file are synced to disk before the function returns. If dev and ino are not null, they're used to store the device and inode number of file. The function returns 1 if it succeeds, or 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openwritenclose_unsafe (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len)
int openwritenclose_unsafe_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len)
int openwritenclose_unsafe_devino (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino)
int openwritenclose_unsafe_devino_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino)

Trivial shortcuts around openwritenclose_unsafe_internal(). The reader can easily figure out what they do.

int openwritenclose_suffix_internal (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, int dosync, char const *suffix)
Writes the n bytes stored at s into file file, by first writing into filesuffix and atomically renaming filesuffix to file. IOW, the old contents of file are preserved if the operation fails, and are atomically replaced with the new contents if the operation succeeds. If dosync is nonzero, the new contents of filesuffix are synced to disk before the atomic replace. If dev and ino are not null, they're used to store the device and inode number of file. The function returns 1 if it succeeds, or 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int openwritenclose_suffix (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_devino (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_devino_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, char const *suffix)

Trivial shortcuts around openwritenclose_suffix_internal(). The reader can easily figure out what they do.

int openwritevnclose_unsafe_internal (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, int dosync)
Like openwritenclose_unsafe_internal, but the content to write is taken from a scatter/gather array of vlen elements instead of a single string.

int openwritevnclose_unsafe (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen)
int openwritevnclose_unsafe_sync (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen)
int openwritevnclose_unsafe_devino (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino)
int openwritevnclose_unsafe_devino_sync (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino)

Trivial wrappers around openwritevnclose_unsafe_internal().

int openwritevnclose_suffix_internal (char const *file, struct iovec const *v, unsigned int vlen, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, int dosync, char const *suffix)
Like openwritenclose_suffix_internal, but the content to write is taken from a scatter/gather array of vlen elements instead of a single string.

int openwritenclose_suffix (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_devino (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, char const *suffix)
int openwritenclose_suffix_devino_sync (char const *file, char const *s, size_t len, dev_t *dev, ino_t *ino, char const *suffix)

Trivial wrappers around openwritevnclose_suffix_internal().

Filesystem deletion

The following operations are not atomic, so if they fail, the relevant subtree might end up partially deleted.

int rm_rf (char const *path)
Deletes the filesystem subtree at path. Returns 0 if it succeeds or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int rm_rf_tmp (char const *path, stralloc *tmp)
Deletes the filesystem subtree at path, using *tmp as heap-allocated temporary space. Returns 0 if it succeeds or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int rm_rf_in_tmp (stralloc *tmp, size_t n)
Deletes a filesystem subtree, using *tmp as heap-allocated temporary space. Returns 0 if it succeeds or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails. When the function is called, *tmp must contain the null-terminated name of the subtree to delete at offset n.

int rmstar (char const *dir)
Deletes all the filesystem subtrees in directory dir. Returns 0 if it succeeds or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int rmstar_tmp (char const *dir, stralloc *tmp)
Deletes all the filesystem subtrees in directory dir, using *tmp as heap-allocated temporary space. Returns 0 if it succeeds or -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

Filesystem copy

int hiercopy_tmp (char const *src, char const *dst, stralloc *tmp)
Recursively copies the filesystem hierarchy at src into dst, preserving modes, and also preserving the uids/gids if the process is running as the super-user. Uses *tmp as heap-allocated temporary space. Returns 1 if it succeeds or 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int hiercopy (char const *src, char const *dst)
Same as above, using the satmp global stralloc as heap-allocated temporary space.

Variable length wrappers around Single Unix calls

int sarealpath (stralloc *sa, char const *path)
Resolves path into a symlink-free absolute path, appending the result to the *sa stralloc. Returns 0 if it succeeds and -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sarealpath_tmp (stralloc *sa, char const *path, stralloc *tmp)
Resolves path into a symlink-free absolute path, appending the result to *sa. Uses *tmp as heap-allocated temporary space. Returns 0 if it succeeds and -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sabasename (stralloc *sa, char const *s, size_t len)
Appends the basename of filename s (of length len) to *sa. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sadirname (stralloc *sa, char const *s, size_t len)
Appends the dirname of filename s (of length len) to *sa. Returns 1 if it succeeds and 0 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sagetcwd (stralloc *sa)
Appends the current working directory to *sa. Returns 0 if it succeeds and -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sareadlink (stralloc *sa, char const *link)
Appends the contents of symbolic link link to *sa. Returns 0 if it succeeds and -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

int sagethostname (stralloc *sa)
Appends the machine's hostname to *sa. Returns 0 if it succeeds and -1 (and sets errno) if it fails.

Temporization

void deepsleepuntil (tain_t const *deadline, tain_t *stamp)
Sleeps until the absolute time represented by the tain_t *deadline. *stamp must contain the current time. When the function returns, *stamp has been updated to reflect the new current time.

void deepsleep (unsigned int n)
Sleeps n seconds. Signals received during that time are handled, but do not interrupt the sleep.

void deepmillisleep (unsigned long n)
Sleeps n milliseconds. Signals received during that time are handled, but do not interrupt the sleep.

Miscellaneous functions

size_t path_canonicalize (char *out, char const *in, int check)
Writes into out the canonical form of the Unix path given in in. The out array must be preallocated with at least strlen(in)+2 bytes. Returns the length of the out path, without counting the terminating null byte. If check is nonzero, in is tested for every foobar/.. element, and the function returns 0, and sets errno appropriately, if foobar is not a valid directory; in that case, out contains the problematic path.