SIGPROCMASK(2) Linux Programmer's Manual SIGPROCMASK(2)
NAME
sigprocmask - examine and change blocked signals
SYNOPSIS
#include <signal.h>
int sigprocmask(int how, const sigset_t *set, sigset_t *oldset);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
sigprocmask(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 1 || _XOPEN_SOURCE || _POSIX_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
sigprocmask() is used to fetch and/or change the signal mask of the
calling thread. The signal mask is the set of signals whose delivery
is currently blocked for the caller (see also signal(7) for more
details).
The behavior of the call is dependent on the value of how, as follows.
SIG_BLOCK
The set of blocked signals is the union of the current set and
the set argument.
SIG_UNBLOCK
The signals in set are removed from the current set of blocked
signals. It is permissible to attempt to unblock a signal which
is not blocked.
SIG_SETMASK
The set of blocked signals is set to the argument set.
If oldset is non-NULL, the previous value of the signal mask is stored
in oldset.
If set is NULL, then the signal mask is unchanged (i.e., how is
ignored), but the current value of the signal mask is nevertheless
returned in oldset (if it is not NULL).
The use of sigprocmask() is unspecified in a multithreaded process; see
pthread_sigmask(3).
RETURN VALUE
sigprocmask() returns 0 on success and -1 on error. In the event of an
error, errno is set to indicate the cause.
ERRORS
EFAULT the set or oldset argument points outside the process's allo-
cated address space.
EINVAL The value specified in how was invalid.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.1-2001.
NOTES
It is not possible to block SIGKILL or SIGSTOP. Attempts to do so are
silently ignored.
Each of the threads in a process has its own signal mask.
A child created via fork(2) inherits a copy of its parent's signal
mask; the signal mask is preserved across execve(2).
If SIGBUS, SIGFPE, SIGILL, or SIGSEGV are generated while they are
blocked, the result is undefined, unless the signal was generated by
kill(2), sigqueue(3), or raise(3).
See sigsetops(3) for details on manipulating signal sets.
SEE ALSO
kill(2), pause(2), sigaction(2), signal(2), sigpending(2), sigsus-
pend(2), pthread_sigmask(3), sigqueue(3), sigsetops(3), signal(7)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.53 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2013-04-19 SIGPROCMASK(2)