[libvirt] [PATCH 1/2] Add virFork() function to utils.

Laine Stump laine at laine.org
Wed Feb 17 19:29:27 UTC 2010


virFork() contains bookkeeping that must be done any time a process
forks. Currently this includes:

1) Call virLogLock() prior to fork() and virLogUnlock() just after,
   to avoid a deadlock if some other thread happens to hold that lock
   during the fork.

2) Reset the logging hooks and send all child process log messages to
   stderr.

3) Block all signals prior to fork(), then either a) reset the signal
   mask for the parent process, or b) clear the signal mask for the
   child process.

util.c, util.h: add virFork() function, based on what is currently
                done in __virExec().
---
 src/util/util.c |  115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/util/util.h |    1 +
 2 files changed, 116 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/util/util.c b/src/util/util.c
index cdab300..f508f6b 100644
--- a/src/util/util.c
+++ b/src/util/util.c
@@ -296,6 +296,121 @@ static int virClearCapabilities(void)
 }
 #endif
 
+
+/* virFork() - fork a new process while avoiding various race/deadlock conditions
+
+   @pid - a pointer to a pid_t that will receive the return value from
+          fork()
+
+   on return from virFork(), if *pid < 0, the fork failed and there is
+   no new process. Otherwise, just like fork(), if *pid == 0, it is the
+   child process returning, and if *pid > 0, it is the parent.
+
+   Even if *pid >= 0, if the return value from virFork() is < 0, it
+   indicates a failure that occurred in the parent or child process
+   after the fork. In this case, the child process should call
+   _exit(1) after doing any additional error reporting.
+
+ */
+int virFork(pid_t *pid) {
+    sigset_t oldmask, newmask;
+    struct sigaction sig_action;
+    int saved_errno, ret = -1;
+
+    *pid = -1;
+
+    /*
+     * Need to block signals now, so that child process can safely
+     * kill off caller's signal handlers without a race.
+     */
+    sigfillset(&newmask);
+    if (pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &newmask, &oldmask) != 0) {
+        saved_errno = errno;
+        virReportSystemError(errno,
+                             "%s", _("cannot block signals"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    /* Ensure we hold the logging lock, to protect child processes
+     * from deadlocking on another thread's inherited mutex state */
+    virLogLock();
+
+    *pid = fork();
+    saved_errno = errno; /* save for caller */
+
+    /* Unlock for both parent and child process */
+    virLogUnlock();
+
+    if (*pid < 0) {
+        virReportSystemError(saved_errno,
+                             "%s", _("cannot fork child process"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (*pid) {
+
+        /* parent process */
+
+        /* Restore our original signal mask now that the child is
+           safely running */
+        if (pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oldmask, NULL) != 0) {
+            saved_errno = errno; /* save for caller */
+            virReportSystemError(errno, "%s", _("cannot unblock signals"));
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+        ret = 0;
+
+    } else {
+
+        /* child process */
+
+        int logprio;
+        int i;
+
+        /* Remove any error callback so errors in child now
+           get sent to stderr where they stand a fighting chance
+           of being seen / logged */
+        virSetErrorFunc(NULL, NULL);
+
+        /* Make sure any hook logging is sent to stderr, since child
+         * process may close the logfile FDs */
+        logprio = virLogGetDefaultPriority();
+        virLogReset();
+        virLogSetDefaultPriority(logprio);
+
+        /* Clear out all signal handlers from parent so nothing
+           unexpected can happen in our child once we unblock
+           signals */
+        sig_action.sa_handler = SIG_DFL;
+        sig_action.sa_flags = 0;
+        sigemptyset(&sig_action.sa_mask);
+
+        for (i = 1; i < NSIG; i++) {
+            /* Only possible errors are EFAULT or EINVAL
+               The former wont happen, the latter we
+               expect, so no need to check return value */
+
+            sigaction(i, &sig_action, NULL);
+        }
+
+        /* Unmask all signals in child, since we've no idea
+           what the caller's done with their signal mask
+           and don't want to propagate that to children */
+        sigemptyset(&newmask);
+        if (pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &newmask, NULL) != 0) {
+            saved_errno = errno; /* save for caller */
+            virReportSystemError(errno, "%s", _("cannot unblock signals"));
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+        ret = 0;
+    }
+
+cleanup:
+    if (ret < 0)
+        errno = saved_errno;
+    return ret;
+}
+
 /*
  * @argv argv to exec
  * @envp optional environment to use for exec
diff --git a/src/util/util.h b/src/util/util.h
index 4207508..8460100 100644
--- a/src/util/util.h
+++ b/src/util/util.h
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ int virRun(const char *const*argv, int *status) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 int virRunWithHook(const char *const*argv,
                    virExecHook hook, void *data,
                    int *status) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+int virFork(pid_t *pid);
 
 int virFileReadLimFD(int fd, int maxlen, char **buf) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
-- 
1.6.6.1




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