I have this assignment where we are supposed to create a specific amount of child processes, lets say 3, and make the parent wait for each child to finish. Also we're supposed to have a pipe that all processes write to so that once the parent is done waiting, it would use the pipe's to output the sum of all the children's results.
This is my code so far but it seems that wait(NULL) isn't working as expected. I am not sure what I'm doing wrong.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
for (int i=0; i<3; i++) {
pid_t child = fork();
if (child > 0) {
printf("Child %d created\n", child);
wait(NULL);
printf("Child %d terminated\n", child);
}
}
printf("Parent terminated\n");
return 0;
}
First of all, it's better to first run all child processes and then wait for all of them, instead of waiting for each one sequentially.
In addition, the child processes should exit immediately and not keep running the forked code.
Thirdly, you must pay attention and wait for all children after the loop, and not only for the first one that terminates:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
for (int i=0; i<3; i++) {
pid_t child = fork();
if (child > 0) {
printf("Child %d created\n", child);
}
else if (child == 0) {
printf("In child %d. Bye bye\n", i);
return 0; // exit the child process
}
}
while (wait(NULL) > 0); // wait for all child processes
printf("Parent terminated\n");
return 0;
}
EDIT:
The code above is just an improvement to the example given in the question. In order to implement the pipe of information from the child processes to the parent, a pipe can be created (using pipe()) and the write-end file descriptor would be accessible from child processes.
Here's a good example to do so.
Related
I'm a bit confused with the creation of processes with fork(), sleep() and wait() in c. Take the following piece of code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
void childProcess(void);
void childProcess(void)
{
for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("pid: %d email: myemail\n", getpid());
sleep(1);
}
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
pid_t childpid;
if ((childpid = fork()) == 0)
{
childProcess();
exit(0);
}
}
int status;
while (wait(&status) > 0)
{
}
return 0;
}
After this piece of code has been executed,executes processes but does not remove repetitions from 5 processes. I'm a little confused with the process.
The initial process creates 5 child processes, and waits for them to finish.
Each child process performs 5 repetitions, where in each repetition:
Prints the message
pid: PID email: USER_EMAIL
where PID is the child PID of the process, while USER_EMAIL is the email
Suspends its operation for 1 second (at a time) with the sleep call
The parent process prints the children's PIDs when they are finished
P.S I EDIT THE CODE
#mixalispetros, you have multiple things to fix, and they all have to be fixed together for your code to work as intended.
exit(0);
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
wait(NULL);
}
The process ends on exit(0). wait is never called.
if (fork() == 0) {
// what code runs here? The code in the new process
}
What code runs within the fork() conditional? The new process's code. Which process should run wait()? The original process. So in addition to being after an exit, the wait() is also in the wrong process.
Where to move it? The for loop wait()s for 5 child processes. Why would there be 5 child processes for which to to wait()? Because we had already started all 5 child processes before we went into our loop of 5 wait()s.
The wait()s must happen not just outside the child process conditional block, but also outside the loop around the call to fork().
I'm a bit confused with the creation of processes with fork(), sleep() and wait() in c
It is confusing. Refer to the documentation often to keep it straight.
Remember, fork() returns twice - in the original process (returning the process ID of the new process), and in the new process (returning 0). wait(), will wait for the next child process to exit.
In summary, put the wait loop outside the loop that fork()s child processes. This will also move it ouside the block of code that executes in the child process.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
int main() {
// this loop creates 5 processes
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
if (fork() == 0) {
printf("Child %d, PID %d\n", i, getpid());
sleep(i);
exit(0);
}
}
// now, all subprocesses were started
// wait for the same number of child processes to end
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
wait(NULL);
}
}
While I was playing with C, and trying to learn more about processes, forks and wait, I've reached a problem where I'm not able to wait for a sibling process to finish until I can continue.
So, here's the problem:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int processoDisplayLyric;
int processoDisplayGraph;
int processoTimer;
int main(){
int numeroMusicaAtual = 0;
int continueWorking = 0;
int fathersPID = getpid();
while(continueWorking == 0) {
//Create graph process
processoDisplayGraph = fork();
if(processoDisplayGraph == 0){
int work = 0;
while(work == 0){
pause();
}
}
if(processoDisplayGraph != 0){
//Create lyric process.
processoDisplayLyric = fork();
if(processoDisplayLyric == 0){
int work = 0;
while(work == 0){
pause();
}
}
}
if(processoDisplayLyric != 0 && processoDisplayGraph != 0){
//Create timer process.
processoTimer = fork();
if(processoTimer == 0){
printf("I was created and i just want to wait for my brothers.\n");
}
}
if(getpid() != fathersPID){
wait(processoDisplayLyric);
wait(processoDisplayGraph);
}else{
//It's the father.
int child_status;
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
pid_t wpid = waitpid(processoDisplayLyric, &child_status, 0);
if (WIFEXITED(child_status))
printf("Saw %d done with %d\n", wpid, WEXITSTATUS(child_status));
else
printf("Child %d terminated abnormally\n", wpid);
}
}
numeroMusicaAtual++;
}
}
The thing is: processDisplayLyric, processDisplayGraph and processTimer are created, BUT, the Timer DOESN'T wait for the other two to finish (something that should never happen!!!).
Under standard POSIX, only a parent process can wait for its (immediate) children to die.
Sibling processes cannot wait for other sibling processes to die.
Child processes cannot wait for parent processes to die.
A grandparent process cannot wait for grandchildren to die.
There are ways to detect whether a parent process is dead (the result of getppid() is 1, or if you recorded the original PPID, then signalling it fails). You can find out if you could signal a known PID — and if it doesn't exist, you can't. There may be some alternatives on some platforms using other APIs. But there's no general analogy to wait() for siblings or parents (or any other related process) — only children can be waited for.
Note that recent versions of Linux (since kernel 3.4) have the prctl() system call. The PR_SET_CHILD_SUBREAPER option allows a process other than the system process (PID 1 usually) to collect the status information of dead children in its process hierarchy. That's still not collecting sibling processes; it is only able to collect children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.
I have to write an program which will generate a random amount of processes, and then will kill them one after one, after they all were created.
My problem is that I can't stop the child processes after being created.
Also, I try to call the termination-output to stdout from a child process, but don't really know how to solve it (because pid = 0 is for every child process).
#define _POSIX_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
//int status;
srand(time(NULL));
int amount = (rand())%9+1;
pid_t fatherid = getpid();
printf("Hello I am a parent process, my PID is %d and I will now create %d children.\n",fatherid,amount);
pid_t pid = 1;
pid_t pidarr[amount];
for(int i = 0;i<amount;i++){
if(pid != 0){
pid = fork();
pidarr[i] = pid;
if(pid ==0){
printf("Hello I am a child process, my PID is %d and my parent has the PID %d.\n",getpid(),fatherid);
}
sleep(1);
}
}
if(pid != 0){
wait(NULL);
}
for(int i = (amount-1);i >= 0;i--){
if(pidarr[(i-1)] != 0){
printf("Hello I am a child process %d, I will terminate now.\n",getpid());
}
sleep(rand()%4);
if(pid != 0){
kill(pidarr[i],SIGKILL);
printf("Child Process %d was terminated.\n",pidarr[i]);
}
}
if(pid != 0){
printf("All child processes were terminated. I will terminate myself now.\n");
}
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
the following code shows how to handle fork and child processes.
the code compiles cleanly, is tested and works
#define _POSIX_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
int main( void )
{
//int status;
srand(time(NULL));
int amount = (rand())%9+1;
pid_t fatherid = getpid();
printf("Hello I am a parent process, my PID is %d and I will now create %d children.\n",fatherid,amount);
pid_t pid;
pid_t pidarr[amount];
for(int i = 0;i<amount;i++)
{
pid = fork();
if( -1 == pid )
{ //then, fork() error
perror( "fork() failed" );
exit(1);
}
// implied else, fork() successful
//pidarr[i] = pid;
if(!pid )
{ // then child process
printf("Hello I am a child process, my PID is %d and my parent has the PID %d.\n",getpid(),fatherid);
exit(0); // exit child process
}
// implied else, parent process
pidarr[i] = pid;
sleep(1);
} // end for
for(int i = (amount-1); i >= 0; i--)
{
kill(pidarr[i],SIGKILL);
printf("Child Process %d was terminated.\n",pidarr[i]);
}
printf("All child processes were terminated. I will terminate myself now.\n");
return(0);
} // end function: main
I am not sure about other parts of your logic (e.g. the if clause inside the fork loop), but
if(pid != 0){
wait(NULL);
}
looks suspiciously as of the parent process waits for a child to exit so that it doesn't get to the code which would kill the children at all (unless they exit on their own, but then the killing seems pointless).
Some issues in your code:
1) As #Peter Schneider points out,
parent process waits for a child to exit so that it doesn't get to the code which would kill the children
So first of all, you have to get rid of:
if(pid != 0){
wait(NULL);
}
2) The for loop that kills the children has to be executed only by the parent process, so the if clause embraces the for:
if(pid != 0){
for(int i = (amount-1);i >= 0;i--){
kill(pidarr[i],SIGKILL);
printf("Child Process %d was terminated.\n",pidarr[i]);
}
}
3) The child processes have to wait doing something until parent kills them, so append the following else clause to the above if:
else{
while(1){
printf("I am a child process %d. Will sleep for 2 senconds\n",getpid());
sleep(2);
}
}
4) the following code makes no sense, because when children are killed they simply stop working.
if(pidarr[(i-1)] != 0){
printf("Hello I am a child process %d, I will terminate now.\n",getpid());
}
If you want children to do something when the signal from kill() gets to them, you will have to use signals.
I have two process. Their names are parent and child process. I want parent process wait child process without wait() function. How can I do this?
My code is here.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
printf("hello world (pid:%d)\n", (int) getpid());
int rc = fork(); if (rc < 0) { // fork failed; exit
fprintf(stderr, "fork failed\n");
exit(1);
} else if (rc == 0) { // child (new process)
printf("hello, I am child (pid:%d)\n", (int) getpid());
} else { // parent goes down this path (original process)
printf("hello, I am parent of %d (wc:%d) (pid:%d)\n", rc, wc, (int) getpid());
}
return 0; }
You could write a loop that keeps checking if the child is running. You can use kill function to check if a process is alive. (This won't work, you can send a signal to a zombie process)
You could define a signal handler for SIGCHLD that sets a variable, and check that variable in a loop.
If you don't call some form of wait the child will become a zombie process though.
I know I'm going to need to use fork(), but this just creates a single child process. Do i simply call fork again from within the child process? Also, I need them to communicate through a signal or pipe, which is easier to implement and what do i need to know for doing that (functions, etc..)
To create a second process, call fork() again - either within the parent or the child (but not both!). Which you choose depends on whether you want this process to be a child of the original parent or a child of the first child process (it is usual for it to be a child of the original parent).
Communicating through a pipe is much simpler and more reliable than using signals. pipe(), close(), read(), write() and select() are the key functions here.
For example, to have the parent create two child processes, you would do something like:
pid_t child_a, child_b;
child_a = fork();
if (child_a == 0) {
/* Child A code */
} else {
child_b = fork();
if (child_b == 0) {
/* Child B code */
} else {
/* Parent Code */
}
}
Another fancy code using && operator:
pid_t c1_pid, c2_pid;
(c1_pid = fork()) && (c2_pid = fork()); // Creates two children
if (c1_pid == 0) {
/* Child 1 code goes here */
} else if (c2_pid == 0) {
/* Child 2 code goes here */
} else {
/* Parent code goes here */
}
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
void main(){
int pi_d ;
int pid ;
pi_d = fork();
if(pi_d == 0){
printf("Child Process B:\npid :%d\nppid:%d\n",getpid(),getppid());
}
if(pi_d > 0){
pid = fork();
if(pid > 0){
printf("\nParent Process:\npid:%d\nppid :%d\n",getpid(),getppid());
}
else if(pid == 0){
printf("Child Process A:\npid :%d\nppid:%d\n",getpid(),getppid());
}
}
}
output :
Parent Process:
pid:3648
ppid :2379
Child Process B:
pid :3649
ppid:3648
Child Process A:
pid :3650
ppid:3648
You can put the fork in a loop and generate as many child processes as you need.
I did that on a project recently.
for(nSon=0; nSon < nSonsAsked; nSon++) {
Log_Print("Setup son #%.2u ", nSon+1);
if((pid = fork()) == 0) {
/* Do child stuff init, like connect the pipes, close shared handles */
return iTMInChild(...); /* A specific function of the child work */
/* The life of the child should not go beyond that point, i.e. the loop is over
or else the child will spawn even more processes. */
}
else if(pid > 0) {
/* Father process stuff. Here I initialise an array with the pid of the forked */
/* processes, this way I can index with the number of processes.*/
pid[nSon] = pid;
}
else
return Err_Print(ERR_FORK_FAILED, "fork failed. errno=%d \"%s\"\n", errno, strerror(errno));
}
Log_Print() and Err_Print() are internal functions but quite obvious so I let them like they are.
There is one aspect with the variables that has to be explained. nSon and nSonAsked should be declared as globals not as stack variables. This way, their value persists in the forked process. This means that the nSon variable will have a different value in each of the children. This allows it to have a simpler numbering scheme than the ownpid() number.
To get it completely right, there are a lot of details to get right. You will have to set signal handlers in the father process to detect the death of a child, likewise the other way round (only possible on Linux, other Unix (at least Solaris) do not support parent death signals).
You have to be aware that open file descriptors in the father process will be also open in the child after fork and it will be the same one. This opens a lot of concurrency problems if you're not aware of it (the solution is using dup() and close() in the right places).
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
int main()
{
system ("clear");
int i ;
pid_t childa,childb,childa1,childa2,childb1,childb2;
printf("\n \t \t I am the parent process with ID %d \n",getpid());
childa=fork();
if (childa == 0 )
{
printf("\nI am a child A with PID %d and my parent ID is %d\n",getpid(),getppid());
}
else
{
childb = fork();
if (childb == 0)
{
printf("\nI am Child B with ID %d and my parent ID is %d\n",getpid(),getppid());
}
else
{
sleep(1);
}
}
}
In this example they are just sleeping for a few random sec. It also has all the pid, so we can send SIGNAL to communicate... Most of the #includes are commented cause they were useless where I compiled.
#include <stdlib.h> // exit() ...
#include <stdio.h> // printf() ...
// Compile with -lrt -> cc file_name.c -lrt
//#include <fcntl.h>
//#include <sys/stat.h>
//#include <sys/types.h>
//#include <sys/wait.h> // may need this for wait()
//#include <time.h>
//#include <unistd.h> // and this one for fork()
// In the start function you can do whatever you want.
void start (const int azon) {
// For children processes
srand( time(NULL) );
unsigned t = rand()%5; // printf("%d\n", t);
sleep(t);
printf("%d. process reached the end.\n", azon);
exit(0);
}
int main() {
const int N = 5;
pid_t pids[N];
int i;
// The 'for' loop make 'N' process with 'fork()'.
// The children processes will call the start function.
// Since after fork() you will get 2 process. One Parent, and One Child
// The returning value from fork() is saved in "pids" which is an
// integer AND it is (<0) IF something went wrong.
// it is (>0) IF 'we are' in the Parent process,
// because this number is the Child process' ID (pid).
// and Last it is (==0) IF 'we are' in the Child process.
for (i = 0; i < N; i++) {
pids[i] = fork();
sleep(1);
if (pids[i] == 0) start(i+1); // ... OR you can make a switch(..)
}
// This 'for' loop in the wait(NULL) statement ONLY move on when a
// process ended, so it waits until 'N' proc ends.
for (i = 0; i < N; i++)
wait(NULL);
printf("Partent process reached the end\n");
return 0;
}
Just a little contribution, if you want to create 2 childs from the same parent you could use this code below. In which one father create 2 child processes (lazy and active).
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main (){
pid_t lazy_child;
lazy_child = fork();
if(lazy_child == 0){ // This is the lazy child process.
printf("LAZY CHILD:%d\n", getpid());
}
else if(lazy_child > 0){ // This is the father process.
pid_t active_child = fork();
if(active_child == 0){ // This is the active child process.
printf("ACTIVE CHILD:%d\n", getpid());
}
else if(active_child > 0){ // This is the father process.
printf("FATHER:%d\n", getpid());
}
else{ // Fork doesnt work.
printf("fork error\n");
exit(1);
}
}
else{ // Fork doesnt work.
printf("fork error\n");
exit(1);
}
return 0;
}
If you run this code, you should get a similar output:
$ ./a.out
FATHER:14501
ACTIVE CHILD:14503
LAZY CHILD:14502
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main()
{
pid_t AliceID, BobID;
double n=0;
int i1 =0;
/* fork a child process */
AliceID = fork();
if (AliceID < 0) { /* error occurred */
fprintf(stderr, "Fork Failed");
return 1;
}
else if (AliceID == 0) { /* child Alice code */
for(int i=1; i<11; i++)
{n = n+i;
i1++; }
double avg1 = n/i1;
printf("From Alice: the average of 1,2, …, 10 is the-average-she-calculated");
printf(" sum = %.2f and avg = %.2f \n",n, avg1);
}
else {
BobID = fork();
if (BobID == 0) { /* Child Bob code */
printf("From Bob: I am born to print this and then die.\n");
} else { /* Parent Code */
/* parent will wait for the child to complete */
wait(NULL);
printf("From parent: AliceID is %d \n", AliceID);
printf("From parent: Bob is %d \n", BobID);
printf("Parent ID %d \n", getpid());
}
}
return 0;
}