SIGPAUSE(2)                      System Calls                      SIGPAUSE(2)

NAME

       sigpause - suspend process until a signal arrives

SYNOPSIS

       #include <signal.h>

       int sigpause(long int mask);

DESCRIPTION

       sigpause  suspends  execution of the calling process until a signal ar‐
       rives.  The mask parameter is assigned to the set  of  blocked  signals
       (see sigsetmask(2)), and then the process is paused.  When a signal ar‐
       rives, the regular signal handler (if any) is executed,  and  then  the
       original  signal mask is restored before returning to the caller.  Usu‐
       ally mask is zero to pause until any signal arrives.

       sigpause is normally used in situations where one must protect a criti‐
       cal section.  A typical use begins with sigblock to block a signal (and
       enable mutual exclusion); variables modified on the occurance  of  that
       signal  are then manipulated, code is executed, etc.  To end the criti‐
       cal section and wait for more work, sigpause is called.

RETURN VALUE

       sigpause always returns an error (-1) and sets errno to EINTR.

SEE ALSO

       signal(2), sigblock(2), sigsetmask(2)



GNO                             19 January 1997                    SIGPAUSE(2)