Communication between two process using signals in C

Prerequisite : C signal handling

In this post, the communication between child and parent processes is done using
kill() and signal(), fork() system call.

fork() creates the child process from the parent. The pid can be checked to
decide whether it is the child (if pid == 0) or the parent (pid = child process
id).
The parent can then send messages to child using the pid and kill().
The child picks up these signals with signal() and calls appropriate functions.

Example of how 2 processes can talk to each other using kill() and signal():
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// C program to implement sighup(), sigint()
// and sigquit() signal functions
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>

// function declaration
void sighup();
void sigint();
void sigquit();

// driver code
void main()
{
int pid;

/* get child process */

if ((pid = fork()) < 0) {
perror("fork");
exit(1);
}

if (pid == 0) { /* child */
signal(SIGHUP, sighup);
signal(SIGINT, sigint);
signal(SIGQUIT, sigquit);
for (;;)
; /* loop for ever */
}

else /* parent */
{ /* pid hold id of child */
printf("\nPARENT: sending SIGHUP\n\n");
kill(pid, SIGHUP);

sleep(3); /* pause for 3 secs */

printf("\nPARENT: sending SIGINT\n\n");
kill(pid, SIGINT);
 sleep(3); /* pause for 3 secs */
printf("\nPARENT: sending SIGQUIT\n\n");
kill(pid, SIGQUIT);
sleep(3);
}
}

// sighup() function definition

void sighup()

{
signal(SIGHUP, sighup); /* reset signal */
printf("CHILD: I have received a SIGHUP\n");
}

// sigint() function definition

void sigint()

{
signal(SIGINT, sigint); /* reset signal */
printf("CHILD: I have received a SIGINT\n");
}

// sigquit() function definition

void sigquit()
{
printf("My DADDY has Killed me!!!\n");
exit(0);
}

Output:

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Kishor Mishra
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Article Tags : C
Linux-Unix
Operating Systems
linux-command
Practice Tags : Operating Systems
C

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