1SIGACTION(2)               Linux Programmer's Manual              SIGACTION(2)
2
3
4

NAME

6       sigaction, rt_sigaction - examine and change a signal action
7

SYNOPSIS

9       #include <signal.h>
10
11       int sigaction(int signum, const struct sigaction *act,
12                     struct sigaction *oldact);
13
14   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
15
16       sigaction(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE
17
18       siginfo_t: _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 199309L
19

DESCRIPTION

21       The  sigaction()  system  call  is used to change the action taken by a
22       process on receipt of a specific signal.  (See signal(7) for  an  over‐
23       view of signals.)
24
25       signum  specifies the signal and can be any valid signal except SIGKILL
26       and SIGSTOP.
27
28       If act is non-NULL, the new action for signal signum is installed  from
29       act.  If oldact is non-NULL, the previous action is saved in oldact.
30
31       The sigaction structure is defined as something like:
32
33           struct sigaction {
34               void     (*sa_handler)(int);
35               void     (*sa_sigaction)(int, siginfo_t *, void *);
36               sigset_t   sa_mask;
37               int        sa_flags;
38               void     (*sa_restorer)(void);
39           };
40
41       On  some  architectures  a  union  is  involved:  do not assign to both
42       sa_handler and sa_sigaction.
43
44       The sa_restorer field is not intended for application use.  (POSIX does
45       not  specify a sa_restorer field.)  Some further details of the purpose
46       of this field can be found in sigreturn(2).
47
48       sa_handler specifies the action to be associated with signum and may be
49       SIG_DFL  for  the  default  action, SIG_IGN to ignore this signal, or a
50       pointer to a signal handling function.  This function receives the sig‐
51       nal number as its only argument.
52
53       If  SA_SIGINFO  is specified in sa_flags, then sa_sigaction (instead of
54       sa_handler) specifies the signal-handling function  for  signum.   This
55       function receives three arguments, as described below.
56
57       sa_mask  specifies  a  mask  of  signals which should be blocked (i.e.,
58       added to the signal mask of the thread in which the signal  handler  is
59       invoked) during execution of the signal handler.  In addition, the sig‐
60       nal which triggered the handler will be blocked, unless the  SA_NODEFER
61       flag is used.
62
63       sa_flags specifies a set of flags which modify the behavior of the sig‐
64       nal.  It is formed by the bitwise OR of zero or more of the following:
65
66           SA_NOCLDSTOP
67                  If signum is SIGCHLD, do not receive notification when child
68                  processes  stop  (i.e.,  when  they  receive one of SIGSTOP,
69                  SIGTSTP, SIGTTIN, or SIGTTOU) or resume (i.e., they  receive
70                  SIGCONT)  (see  wait(2)).  This flag is meaningful only when
71                  establishing a handler for SIGCHLD.
72
73           SA_NOCLDWAIT (since Linux 2.6)
74                  If signum is SIGCHLD, do not transform children into zombies
75                  when  they  terminate.   See  also waitpid(2).  This flag is
76                  meaningful only when establishing a handler for SIGCHLD,  or
77                  when setting that signal's disposition to SIG_DFL.
78
79                  If  the SA_NOCLDWAIT flag is set when establishing a handler
80                  for SIGCHLD, POSIX.1 leaves it unspecified whether a SIGCHLD
81                  signal  is  generated  when  a child process terminates.  On
82                  Linux, a SIGCHLD signal is generated in this case;  on  some
83                  other implementations, it is not.
84
85           SA_NODEFER
86                  Do  not  prevent  the signal from being received from within
87                  its own signal handler.  This flag is meaningful  only  when
88                  establishing  a  signal  handler.  SA_NOMASK is an obsolete,
89                  nonstandard synonym for this flag.
90
91           SA_ONSTACK
92                  Call the signal handler on an alternate  signal  stack  pro‐
93                  vided  by  sigaltstack(2).   If  an  alternate  stack is not
94                  available, the default stack will be  used.   This  flag  is
95                  meaningful only when establishing a signal handler.
96
97           SA_RESETHAND
98                  Restore  the  signal action to the default upon entry to the
99                  signal handler.  This flag is meaningful  only  when  estab‐
100                  lishing  a  signal handler.  SA_ONESHOT is an obsolete, non‐
101                  standard synonym for this flag.
102
103           SA_RESTART
104                  Provide behavior compatible with  BSD  signal  semantics  by
105                  making  certain  system  calls  restartable  across signals.
106                  This flag is meaningful only when establishing a signal han‐
107                  dler.   See  signal(7)  for  a  discussion  of  system  call
108                  restarting.
109
110           SA_RESTORER
111                  Not intended for application use.  This flag is  used  by  C
112                  libraries  to  indicate  that the sa_restorer field contains
113                  the address of a "signal trampoline".  See sigreturn(2)  for
114                  more details.
115
116           SA_SIGINFO (since Linux 2.2)
117                  The  signal handler takes three arguments, not one.  In this
118                  case, sa_sigaction should  be  set  instead  of  sa_handler.
119                  This flag is meaningful only when establishing a signal han‐
120                  dler.
121
122   The siginfo_t argument to a SA_SIGINFO handler
123       When the SA_SIGINFO flag is specified in act.sa_flags, the signal  han‐
124       dler  address  is  passed via the act.sa_sigaction field.  This handler
125       takes three arguments, as follows:
126
127           void
128           handler(int sig, siginfo_t *info, void *ucontext)
129           {
130               ...
131           }
132
133       These three arguments are as follows
134
135       sig    The number of the signal that caused invocation of the handler.
136
137       info   A pointer to a siginfo_t, which is a structure  containing  fur‐
138              ther information about the signal, as described below.
139
140       ucontext
141              This  is  a  pointer  to a ucontext_t structure, cast to void *.
142              The structure pointed to by this field contains  signal  context
143              information  that  was saved on the user-space stack by the ker‐
144              nel; for details, see sigreturn(2).  Further  information  about
145              the  ucontext_t  structure  can be found in getcontext(3).  Com‐
146              monly, the handler function doesn't make any use  of  the  third
147              argument.
148
149       The siginfo_t data type is a structure with the following fields:
150
151           siginfo_t {
152               int      si_signo;     /* Signal number */
153               int      si_errno;     /* An errno value */
154               int      si_code;      /* Signal code */
155               int      si_trapno;    /* Trap number that caused
156                                         hardware-generated signal
157                                         (unused on most architectures) */
158               pid_t    si_pid;       /* Sending process ID */
159               uid_t    si_uid;       /* Real user ID of sending process */
160               int      si_status;    /* Exit value or signal */
161               clock_t  si_utime;     /* User time consumed */
162               clock_t  si_stime;     /* System time consumed */
163               sigval_t si_value;     /* Signal value */
164               int      si_int;       /* POSIX.1b signal */
165               void    *si_ptr;       /* POSIX.1b signal */
166               int      si_overrun;   /* Timer overrun count;
167                                         POSIX.1b timers */
168               int      si_timerid;   /* Timer ID; POSIX.1b timers */
169               void    *si_addr;      /* Memory location which caused fault */
170               long     si_band;      /* Band event (was int in
171                                         glibc 2.3.2 and earlier) */
172               int      si_fd;        /* File descriptor */
173               short    si_addr_lsb;  /* Least significant bit of address
174                                         (since Linux 2.6.32) */
175               void    *si_lower;     /* Lower bound when address violation
176                                         occurred (since Linux 3.19) */
177               void    *si_upper;     /* Upper bound when address violation
178                                         occurred (since Linux 3.19) */
179               int      si_pkey;      /* Protection key on PTE that caused
180                                         fault (since Linux 4.6) */
181               void    *si_call_addr; /* Address of system call instruction
182                                         (since Linux 3.5) */
183               int      si_syscall;   /* Number of attempted system call
184                                         (since Linux 3.5) */
185               unsigned int si_arch;  /* Architecture of attempted system call
186                                         (since Linux 3.5) */
187           }
188
189       si_signo,  si_errno and si_code are defined for all signals.  (si_errno
190       is generally unused on Linux.)  The rest of the struct may be a  union,
191       so  that  one  should  read only the fields that are meaningful for the
192       given signal:
193
194       * Signals sent with kill(2) and sigqueue(3) fill in si_pid and  si_uid.
195         In  addition, signals sent with sigqueue(3) fill in si_int and si_ptr
196         with  the  values  specified  by  the  sender  of  the  signal;   see
197         sigqueue(3) for more details.
198
199       * Signals  sent by POSIX.1b timers (since Linux 2.6) fill in si_overrun
200         and si_timerid.  The si_timerid field is an internal ID used  by  the
201         kernel  to  identify  the  timer;  it is not the same as the timer ID
202         returned by timer_create(2).  The si_overrun field is the timer over‐
203         run  count;  this is the same information as is obtained by a call to
204         timer_getoverrun(2).  These fields are nonstandard Linux extensions.
205
206       * Signals sent for message queue notification (see the  description  of
207         SIGEV_SIGNAL   in  mq_notify(3))  fill  in  si_int/si_ptr,  with  the
208         sigev_value supplied to mq_notify(3); si_pid, with the process ID  of
209         the  message sender; and si_uid, with the real user ID of the message
210         sender.
211
212       * SIGCHLD fills in si_pid, si_uid, si_status, si_utime,  and  si_stime,
213         providing  information  about  the  child.   The  si_pid field is the
214         process ID of the child; si_uid is the child's  real  user  ID.   The
215         si_status  field contains the exit status of the child (if si_code is
216         CLD_EXITED), or the signal number that caused the process  to  change
217         state.   The  si_utime  and  si_stime contain the user and system CPU
218         time used by the child process; these fields do not include the times
219         used  by  waited-for children (unlike getrusage(2) and times(2)).  In
220         kernels up to 2.6, and since 2.6.27, these fields report CPU time  in
221         units  of  sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK).  In 2.6 kernels before 2.6.27, a bug
222         meant that these fields reported time in units of the  (configurable)
223         system jiffy (see time(7)).
224
225       * SIGILL, SIGFPE, SIGSEGV, SIGBUS, and SIGTRAP fill in si_addr with the
226         address of the fault.  On some architectures, these signals also fill
227         in the si_trapno field.
228
229         Some   suberrors   of   SIGBUS,   in   particular  BUS_MCEERR_AO  and
230         BUS_MCEERR_AR, also fill in si_addr_lsb.  This  field  indicates  the
231         least  significant  bit  of  the  reported  address and therefore the
232         extent of the corruption.  For example, if a full page was corrupted,
233         si_addr_lsb  contains  log2(sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE)).   When SIGTRAP is
234         delivered  in  response  to  a  ptrace(2)  event  (PTRACE_EVENT_foo),
235         si_addr  is  not  populated, but si_pid and si_uid are populated with
236         the respective process ID and user ID responsible for delivering  the
237         trap.   In the case of seccomp(2), the tracee will be shown as deliv‐
238         ering the event.  BUS_MCEERR_*  and  si_addr_lsb  are  Linux-specific
239         extensions.
240
241         The SEGV_BNDERR suberror of SIGSEGV populates si_lower and si_upper.
242
243         The SEGV_PKUERR suberror of SIGSEGV populates si_pkey.
244
245       * SIGIO/SIGPOLL  (the two names are synonyms on Linux) fills in si_band
246         and si_fd.  The si_band event is a bit mask containing the same  val‐
247         ues  as  are filled in the revents field by poll(2).  The si_fd field
248         indicates the file descriptor for which the I/O event  occurred;  for
249         further details, see the description of F_SETSIG in fcntl(2).
250
251       * SIGSYS,  generated  (since  Linux  3.5) when a seccomp filter returns
252         SECCOMP_RET_TRAP,  fills  in   si_call_addr,   si_syscall,   si_arch,
253         si_errno, and other fields as described in seccomp(2).
254
255   The si_code field
256       The  si_code  field  inside  the siginfo_t argument that is passed to a
257       SA_SIGINFO signal handler is a value (not a bit  mask)  indicating  why
258       this signal was sent.  For a ptrace(2) event, si_code will contain SIG‐
259       TRAP and have the ptrace event in the high byte:
260
261           (SIGTRAP | PTRACE_EVENT_foo << 8).
262
263       For a non-ptrace(2) event, the values that can appear  in  si_code  are
264       described in the remainder of this section.  Since glibc 2.20, the def‐
265       initions of most of these  symbols  are  obtained  from  <signal.h>  by
266       defining feature test macros (before including any header file) as fol‐
267       lows:
268
269       *  _XOPEN_SOURCE with the value 500 or greater;
270
271       *  _XOPEN_SOURCE and _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED; or
272
273       *  _POSIX_C_SOURCE with the value 200809L or greater.
274
275       For the TRAP_* constants, the symbol definitions are provided  only  in
276       the  first  two  cases.  Before glibc 2.20, no feature test macros were
277       required to obtain these symbols.
278
279       For a regular signal, the following list shows the values which can  be
280       placed in si_code for any signal, along with the reason that the signal
281       was generated.
282
283           SI_USER
284                  kill(2).
285
286           SI_KERNEL
287                  Sent by the kernel.
288
289           SI_QUEUE
290                  sigqueue(3).
291
292           SI_TIMER
293                  POSIX timer expired.
294
295           SI_MESGQ (since Linux 2.6.6)
296                  POSIX message queue state changed; see mq_notify(3).
297
298           SI_ASYNCIO
299                  AIO completed.
300
301           SI_SIGIO
302                  Queued SIGIO (only in kernels up to Linux  2.2;  from  Linux
303                  2.4  onward  SIGIO/SIGPOLL  fills  in  si_code  as described
304                  below).
305
306           SI_TKILL (since Linux 2.4.19)
307                  tkill(2) or tgkill(2).
308
309       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGILL signal:
310
311           ILL_ILLOPC
312                  Illegal opcode.
313
314           ILL_ILLOPN
315                  Illegal operand.
316
317           ILL_ILLADR
318                  Illegal addressing mode.
319
320           ILL_ILLTRP
321                  Illegal trap.
322
323           ILL_PRVOPC
324                  Privileged opcode.
325
326           ILL_PRVREG
327                  Privileged register.
328
329           ILL_COPROC
330                  Coprocessor error.
331
332           ILL_BADSTK
333                  Internal stack error.
334
335       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGFPE signal:
336
337           FPE_INTDIV
338                  Integer divide by zero.
339
340           FPE_INTOVF
341                  Integer overflow.
342
343           FPE_FLTDIV
344                  Floating-point divide by zero.
345
346           FPE_FLTOVF
347                  Floating-point overflow.
348
349           FPE_FLTUND
350                  Floating-point underflow.
351
352           FPE_FLTRES
353                  Floating-point inexact result.
354
355           FPE_FLTINV
356                  Floating-point invalid operation.
357
358           FPE_FLTSUB
359                  Subscript out of range.
360
361       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGSEGV signal:
362
363           SEGV_MAPERR
364                  Address not mapped to object.
365
366           SEGV_ACCERR
367                  Invalid permissions for mapped object.
368
369           SEGV_BNDERR (since Linux 3.19)
370                  Failed address bound checks.
371
372           SEGV_PKUERR (since Linux 4.6)
373                  Access was denied by memory protection keys.  See  pkeys(7).
374                  The protection key which applied to this access is available
375                  via si_pkey.
376
377       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGBUS signal:
378
379           BUS_ADRALN
380                  Invalid address alignment.
381
382           BUS_ADRERR
383                  Nonexistent physical address.
384
385           BUS_OBJERR
386                  Object-specific hardware error.
387
388           BUS_MCEERR_AR (since Linux 2.6.32)
389                  Hardware memory error consumed on a  machine  check;  action
390                  required.
391
392           BUS_MCEERR_AO (since Linux 2.6.32)
393                  Hardware  memory error detected in process but not consumed;
394                  action optional.
395
396       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGTRAP signal:
397
398           TRAP_BRKPT
399                  Process breakpoint.
400
401           TRAP_TRACE
402                  Process trace trap.
403
404           TRAP_BRANCH (since Linux 2.4, IA64 only))
405                  Process taken branch trap.
406
407           TRAP_HWBKPT (since Linux 2.4, IA64 only))
408                  Hardware breakpoint/watchpoint.
409
410       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGCHLD signal:
411
412           CLD_EXITED
413                  Child has exited.
414
415           CLD_KILLED
416                  Child was killed.
417
418           CLD_DUMPED
419                  Child terminated abnormally.
420
421           CLD_TRAPPED
422                  Traced child has trapped.
423
424           CLD_STOPPED
425                  Child has stopped.
426
427           CLD_CONTINUED (since Linux 2.6.9)
428                  Stopped child has continued.
429
430       The following values can be placed in si_code for a SIGIO/SIGPOLL  sig‐
431       nal:
432
433           POLL_IN
434                  Data input available.
435
436           POLL_OUT
437                  Output buffers available.
438
439           POLL_MSG
440                  Input message available.
441
442           POLL_ERR
443                  I/O error.
444
445           POLL_PRI
446                  High priority input available.
447
448           POLL_HUP
449                  Device disconnected.
450
451       The following value can be placed in si_code for a SIGSYS signal:
452
453           SYS_SECCOMP (since Linux 3.5)
454                  Triggered by a seccomp(2) filter rule.
455

RETURN VALUE

457       sigaction()  returns  0 on success; on error, -1 is returned, and errno
458       is set to indicate the error.
459

ERRORS

461       EFAULT act or oldact points to memory which is not a valid part of  the
462              process address space.
463
464       EINVAL An invalid signal was specified.  This will also be generated if
465              an attempt is made to change the action for SIGKILL or  SIGSTOP,
466              which cannot be caught or ignored.
467

CONFORMING TO

469       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4.
470

NOTES

472       A child created via fork(2) inherits a copy of its parent's signal dis‐
473       positions.  During an execve(2), the dispositions  of  handled  signals
474       are  reset to the default; the dispositions of ignored signals are left
475       unchanged.
476
477       According to POSIX, the behavior of a process  is  undefined  after  it
478       ignores  a  SIGFPE, SIGILL, or SIGSEGV signal that was not generated by
479       kill(2) or raise(3).  Integer division by zero  has  undefined  result.
480       On some architectures it will generate a SIGFPE signal.  (Also dividing
481       the most negative integer by -1 may generate  SIGFPE.)   Ignoring  this
482       signal might lead to an endless loop.
483
484       POSIX.1-1990  disallowed  setting  the  action  for SIGCHLD to SIG_IGN.
485       POSIX.1-2001 and later allow this possibility, so that ignoring SIGCHLD
486       can  be  used to prevent the creation of zombies (see wait(2)).  Never‐
487       theless, the historical BSD and System V behaviors for ignoring SIGCHLD
488       differ,  so  that  the only completely portable method of ensuring that
489       terminated children do not become zombies is to catch the SIGCHLD  sig‐
490       nal and perform a wait(2) or similar.
491
492       POSIX.1-1990 specified only SA_NOCLDSTOP.  POSIX.1-2001 added SA_NOCLD‐
493       STOP, SA_NOCLDWAIT, SA_NODEFER, SA_ONSTACK,  SA_RESETHAND,  SA_RESTART,
494       and  SA_SIGINFO.   Use  of  these latter values in sa_flags may be less
495       portable in applications intended for older UNIX implementations.
496
497       The SA_RESETHAND flag is compatible with the  SVr4  flag  of  the  same
498       name.
499
500       The  SA_NODEFER  flag is compatible with the SVr4 flag of the same name
501       under kernels 1.3.9 and newer.  On older kernels the Linux  implementa‐
502       tion  allowed  the  receipt  of  any  signal,  not  just the one we are
503       installing (effectively overriding any sa_mask settings).
504
505       sigaction() can be called with a NULL second argument to query the cur‐
506       rent signal handler.  It can also be used to check whether a given sig‐
507       nal is valid for the current machine by calling it with NULL second and
508       third arguments.
509
510       It  is  not possible to block SIGKILL or SIGSTOP (by specifying them in
511       sa_mask).  Attempts to do so are silently ignored.
512
513       See sigsetops(3) for details on manipulating signal sets.
514
515       See signal-safety(7) for a list of the async-signal-safe functions that
516       can be safely called inside from inside a signal handler.
517
518   C library/kernel differences
519       The  glibc  wrapper function for sigaction() gives an error (EINVAL) on
520       attempts to change the disposition of the two  real-time  signals  used
521       internally  by  the  NPTL  threading  implementation.   See nptl(7) for
522       details.
523
524       On architectures where the signal trampoline resides in the C  library,
525       the  glibc  wrapper  function for sigaction() places the address of the
526       trampoline code in the act.sa_restorer field and sets  the  SA_RESTORER
527       flag in the act.sa_flags field.  See sigreturn(2).
528
529       The  original  Linux  system call was named sigaction().  However, with
530       the addition of real-time signals in Linux 2.2, the fixed-size,  32-bit
531       sigset_t  type supported by that system call was no longer fit for pur‐
532       pose.  Consequently, a new system call, rt_sigaction(),  was  added  to
533       support  an enlarged sigset_t type.  The new system call takes a fourth
534       argument, size_t sigsetsize, which specifies the size in bytes  of  the
535       signal  sets  in act.sa_mask and oldact.sa_mask.  This argument is cur‐
536       rently required to have the value sizeof(sigset_t) (or the error EINVAL
537       results).   The  glibc sigaction() wrapper function hides these details
538       from us, transparently calling rt_sigaction() when the kernel  provides
539       it.
540
541   Undocumented
542       Before the introduction of SA_SIGINFO, it was also possible to get some
543       additional information about the signal.  This was done by providing an
544       sa_handler signal handler with a second argument of type struct sigcon‐
545       text, which is the same structure as the one  that  is  passed  in  the
546       uc_mcontext  field  of  the  ucontext  structure  that is passed (via a
547       pointer) in the third argument of the sa_sigaction  handler.   See  the
548       relevant Linux kernel sources for details.  This use is obsolete now.
549

BUGS

551       In  kernels  up  to  and  including  2.6.13,  specifying  SA_NODEFER in
552       sa_flags prevents not only the delivered signal from being masked  dur‐
553       ing  execution  of  the  handler,  but  also  the  signals specified in
554       sa_mask.  This bug was fixed in kernel 2.6.14.
555

EXAMPLE

557       See mprotect(2).
558

SEE ALSO

560       kill(1),  kill(2),  pause(2),  restart_syscall(2),  seccomp(2)  sigalt‐
561       stack(2), signal(2), signalfd(2), sigpending(2), sigprocmask(2), sigre‐
562       turn(2), sigsuspend(2), wait(2), killpg(3), raise(3),  siginterrupt(3),
563       sigqueue(3), sigsetops(3), sigvec(3), core(5), signal(7)
564

COLOPHON

566       This  page  is  part of release 5.02 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
567       description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
568       latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
569       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
570
571
572
573Linux                             2019-03-06                      SIGACTION(2)
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