freebsd-skq/lib/libc/sys/pdfork.2
Jonathan Anderson cfb5f76865 Add experimental support for process descriptors
A "process descriptor" file descriptor is used to manage processes
without using the PID namespace. This is required for Capsicum's
Capability Mode, where the PID namespace is unavailable.

New system calls pdfork(2) and pdkill(2) offer the functional equivalents
of fork(2) and kill(2). pdgetpid(2) allows querying the PID of the remote
process for debugging purposes. The currently-unimplemented pdwait(2) will,
in the future, allow querying rusage/exit status. In the interim, poll(2)
may be used to check (and wait for) process termination.

When a process is referenced by a process descriptor, it does not issue
SIGCHLD to the parent, making it suitable for use in libraries---a common
scenario when using library compartmentalisation from within large
applications (such as web browsers). Some observers may note a similarity
to Mach task ports; process descriptors provide a subset of this behaviour,
but in a UNIX style.

This feature is enabled by "options PROCDESC", but as with several other
Capsicum kernel features, is not enabled by default in GENERIC 9.0.

Reviewed by: jhb, kib
Approved by: re (kib), mentor (rwatson)
Sponsored by: Google Inc
2011-08-18 22:51:30 +00:00

183 lines
4.8 KiB
Groff

.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2009-2010 Robert N. M. Watson
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.\" This software was developed at the University of Cambridge Computer
.\" Laboratory with support from a grant from Google, Inc.
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.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd August 16, 2011
.Dt PDFORK 2
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pdfork ,
.Nm pdgetpid ,
.Nm pdkill ,
.Nm pdwait4
.Nd System calls to manage process descriptors
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/procdesc.h
.Ft int
.Fn pdfork "int *fdp" "int flags"
.Ft int
.Fn pdgetpid "int fd" "pid_t *pidp"
.Ft int
.Fn pdkill "int fd" "int signum"
.Ft int
.Fn pdwait4 "int fd" "int *status" "int options" "struct rusage *rusage"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
Process descriptors are special file descriptors that represent processes,
and are created using
.Fn pdfork ,
a variant of
.Xr fork 2 ,
which, if successful, returns a process descriptor in the integer pointed to
by
.Fa pidp .
Processes created via
.Fn pdfork
will not cause
.Dv SIGCHLD
on termination.
.Fn pdfork
can accept the flags:
.Bl -tag -width ".Dv PD_DAEMON"
.It Dv PD_DAEMON
Instead of the default terminate-on-close behaviour, allow the process to
live until it is explicitly killed with
.Xr kill 2 .
.Pp
This option is not permitted in Capsicum capability mode (see
.Xr cap_enter 2 ) .
.El
.Pp
.Fn pdgetpid
queries the process ID (PID) if the process descriptor
.Fa fd .
.Pp
.Fn pdkill
is functionally identical to
.Xr kill 2 ,
except that it accepts a process descriptor,
.Fa fd ,
rather than a PID.
.Pp
.Fn pdwait4
behaves identially to
.Xr wait4 2 ,
but operates with respect to a process descriptor argument rather than a PID.
.Pp
The following system calls also have effects specific to process descriptors:
.Pp
.Xr fstat 2
queries status of a process descriptor; currently only the
.Fa st_mode ,
.Fa st_birthtime ,
.Fa st_atime ,
.Fa st_ctime
and
.Fa st_mtime
fields are defined. If the owner read, write, and execute bits are set then the
process represented by the process descriptor is still alive.
.Pp
.Xr poll 2
and
.Xr select 2
allow waiting for process state transitions; currently only
.Dv POLLHUP
is defined, and will be raised when the process dies.
.Pp
.Xr close 2
will close the process descriptor unless
.Dv PD_DAEMON
is set; if the process is still alive and this is
the last reference to the process descriptor, the process will be terminated
with the signal
.Dv SIGKILL .
.Sh RETURN VALUES
.Fn pdfork
returns a PID, 0 or -1, as
.Xr fork 2
does.
.Pp
.Fn pdgetpid
and
.Fn pdkill
return 0 on success and -1 on failure.
.Pp
.Fn pdwait4
returns a PID on success and -1 on failure.
.Sh ERRORS
These functions may return the same error numbers as their PID-based equivalents
(e.g.
.Fn pdfork
may return the same error numbers as
.Xr fork 2 ) ,
with the following additions:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EINVAL
The signal number given to
.Fn pdkill
is invalid.
.It Bq Er ENOTCAPABLE
The process descriptor being operated on has insufficient rights (e.g.
.Dv CAP_PDKILL
for
.Fn pdkill ) .
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr close 2 ,
.Xr fork 2 ,
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr kill 2 ,
.Xr poll 2 ,
.Xr wait4 2
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn pdfork ,
.Fn pdgetpid ,
.Fn pdkill
and
.Fn pdwait4
system calls first appeared in
.Fx 9.0 .
.Pp
Support for process descriptors mode was developed as part of the
.Tn TrustedBSD
Project.
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
These functions and the capability facility were created by
.An "Robert N. M. Watson" Aq rwatson@FreeBSD.org
and
.An "Jonathan Anderson" Aq jonathan@FreeBSD.org
at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory with support from a grant
from Google, Inc.
.Sh BUGS
.Fn pdwait4
has not yet been implemented.