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Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors

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Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid>:

> The close(2) manpage has the following warning on my Linux system:
>
> | Not checking the return value of close() is a common but
> | nevertheless serious programming error. It is quite possible that
> | errors on a previous write(2) operation are first reported at the
> | final close(). Not checking the return value when closing the file
> | may lead to silent loss of data. This can especially be observed
> | with NFS and with disk quota.
> | 
>
> (I haven't followed the thread, but if your problem is to make sure
> fds are closed on exec, you may be better off using the...
> close-on-exec flag. Or simply do the bookkeeping.)

The quoted man page passage is a bit untenable.

First, if close() fails, what's a poor program to do? Try again? How
do you get rid of an obnoxious file descriptor? How would close-on-exec
help? Would exec*() fail?

What if an implicit close() fails on _exit(), will _exit() fail then?
(The man page doesn't allow it.)

The need to close all open file descriptors comes between fork() and
exec*(). The kernel (module) does not see the close() system call unless
the reference count drops to zero. Normally, those function calls
between fork() and exec*() are therefore no-ops.

However, there's no guarantee of that. So the parent process might get
to call close() before the child that is about to call exec*(). Then,
the parent would not get the error that the man page talks about.
Instead, the error goes to the child, which has no reasonable way of
dealing with the situation.

I think having NFS et al postpone their I/O errors till close() is
shifting the blame to the victim.


Marko

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Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> - 2015-06-02 08:58 -0500
  Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-02 18:28 +0300
    Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> - 2015-06-02 10:42 -0500
      Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-02 19:24 +0300
        Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Jon Ribbens <jon+usenet@unequivocal.co.uk> - 2015-06-02 16:37 +0000
    Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors MrJean1 <MrJean1@gmail.com> - 2015-06-12 13:43 -0700
  Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid> - 2015-06-02 17:59 +0200
    Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-02 23:05 +0300
      Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid> - 2015-06-02 23:06 +0200
        Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 01:24 +0300
          Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid> - 2015-06-03 09:21 +0200
            Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 10:41 +0300
              Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors alister <alister.nospam.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2015-06-03 09:38 +0000
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2015-06-03 22:07 +1000
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors alister <alister.nospam.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2015-06-03 12:18 +0000
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 15:27 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors alister <alister.nospam.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2015-06-03 13:05 +0000
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 17:49 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 15:25 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-03 08:54 -0400
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 16:08 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-03 09:21 -0400
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-03 23:32 +1000
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 16:33 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-03 17:43 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-03 16:08 -0400
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-04 00:09 +0300
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-03 16:07 -0400
                Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-04 07:54 +1000
        Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-03 09:54 +1000
          Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid> - 2015-06-03 09:11 +0200
            Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-03 08:21 -0400
              Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Alain Ketterlin <alain@universite-de-strasbourg.fr.invalid> - 2015-06-03 15:16 +0200
        Re: fork/exec & close file descriptors Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> - 2015-06-02 20:21 -0500

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