diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt | 113 |
1 files changed, 95 insertions, 18 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt index 2efe7a40be..8bf3e37f53 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt @@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ produces in the caller in order to process it. Functions --------- +`child_process_init`:: + + Initialize a struct child_process variable. + `start_command`:: Start a sub-process. Takes a pointer to a `struct child_process` @@ -35,17 +39,42 @@ Functions Convenience functions that encapsulate a sequence of start_command() followed by finish_command(). The argument argv specifies the program and its arguments. The argument opt is zero - or more of the flags `RUN_COMMAND_NO_STDIN`, `RUN_GIT_CMD`, or - `RUN_COMMAND_STDOUT_TO_STDERR` that correspond to the members - .no_stdin, .git_cmd, .stdout_to_stderr of `struct child_process`. + or more of the flags `RUN_COMMAND_NO_STDIN`, `RUN_GIT_CMD`, + `RUN_COMMAND_STDOUT_TO_STDERR`, or `RUN_SILENT_EXEC_FAILURE` + that correspond to the members .no_stdin, .git_cmd, + .stdout_to_stderr, .silent_exec_failure of `struct child_process`. The argument dir corresponds the member .dir. The argument env corresponds to the member .env. +`child_process_clear`:: + + Release the memory associated with the struct child_process. + Most users of the run-command API don't need to call this + function explicitly because `start_command` invokes it on + failure and `finish_command` calls it automatically already. + +The functions above do the following: + +. If a system call failed, errno is set and -1 is returned. A diagnostic + is printed. + +. If the program was not found, then -1 is returned and errno is set to + ENOENT; a diagnostic is printed only if .silent_exec_failure is 0. + +. Otherwise, the program is run. If it terminates regularly, its exit + code is returned. No diagnostic is printed, even if the exit code is + non-zero. + +. If the program terminated due to a signal, then the return value is the + signal number + 128, ie. the same value that a POSIX shell's $? would + report. A diagnostic is printed. + + `start_async`:: Run a function asynchronously. Takes a pointer to a `struct - async` that specifies the details and returns a pipe FD - from which the caller reads. See below for details. + async` that specifies the details and returns a set of pipe FDs + for communication with the function. See below for details. `finish_async`:: @@ -78,8 +107,8 @@ command to run in a sub-process. The caller: -1. allocates and clears (memset(&chld, 0, sizeof(chld));) a - struct child_process variable; +1. allocates and clears (using child_process_init() or + CHILD_PROCESS_INIT) a struct child_process variable; 2. initializes the members; 3. calls start_command(); 4. processes the data; @@ -91,6 +120,13 @@ terminated), of which .argv[0] is the program name to run (usually without a path). If the command to run is a git command, set argv[0] to the command name without the 'git-' prefix and set .git_cmd = 1. +Note that the ownership of the memory pointed to by .argv stays with the +caller, but it should survive until `finish_command` completes. If the +.argv member is NULL, `start_command` will point it at the .args +`argv_array` (so you may use one or the other, but you must use exactly +one). The memory in .args will be cleaned up automatically during +`finish_command` (or during `start_command` when it is unsuccessful). + The members .in, .out, .err are used to redirect stdin, stdout, stderr as follows: @@ -115,7 +151,7 @@ stderr as follows: .in: The FD must be readable; it becomes child's stdin. .out: The FD must be writable; it becomes child's stdout. - .err > 0 is not supported. + .err: The FD must be writable; it becomes child's stderr. The specified FD is closed by start_command(), even if it fails to run the sub-process! @@ -140,9 +176,19 @@ string pointers (NULL terminated) in .env: . If the string does not contain '=', it names an environment variable that will be removed from the child process's environment. +If the .env member is NULL, `start_command` will point it at the +.env_array `argv_array` (so you may use one or the other, but not both). +The memory in .env_array will be cleaned up automatically during +`finish_command` (or during `start_command` when it is unsuccessful). + To specify a new initial working directory for the sub-process, specify it in the .dir member. +If the program cannot be found, the functions return -1 and set +errno to ENOENT. Normally, an error message is printed, but if +.silent_exec_failure is set to 1, no message is printed for this +special error condition. + * `struct async` @@ -155,17 +201,47 @@ The caller: struct async variable; 2. initializes .proc and .data; 3. calls start_async(); -4. processes the data by reading from the fd in .out; -5. closes .out; +4. processes communicates with proc through .in and .out; +5. closes .in and .out; 6. calls finish_async(). +The members .in, .out are used to provide a set of fd's for +communication between the caller and the callee as follows: + +. Specify 0 to have no file descriptor passed. The callee will + receive -1 in the corresponding argument. + +. Specify < 0 to have a pipe allocated; start_async() replaces + with the pipe FD in the following way: + + .in: Returns the writable pipe end into which the caller + writes; the readable end of the pipe becomes the function's + in argument. + + .out: Returns the readable pipe end from which the caller + reads; the writable end of the pipe becomes the function's + out argument. + + The caller of start_async() must close the returned FDs after it + has completed reading from/writing from them. + +. Specify a file descriptor > 0 to be used by the function: + + .in: The FD must be readable; it becomes the function's in. + .out: The FD must be writable; it becomes the function's out. + + The specified FD is closed by start_async(), even if it fails to + run the function. + The function pointer in .proc has the following signature: - int proc(int fd, void *data); + int proc(int in, int out, void *data); -. fd specifies a writable file descriptor to which the function must - write the data that it produces. The function *must* close this - descriptor before it returns. +. in, out specifies a set of file descriptors to which the function + must read/write the data that it needs/produces. The function + *must* close these descriptors before it returns. A descriptor + may be -1 if the caller did not configure a descriptor for that + direction. . data is the value that the caller has specified in the .data member of struct async. @@ -176,12 +252,13 @@ The function pointer in .proc has the following signature: There are serious restrictions on what the asynchronous function can do -because this facility is implemented by a pipe to a forked process on -UNIX, but by a thread in the same address space on Windows: +because this facility is implemented by a thread in the same address +space on most platforms (when pthreads is available), but by a pipe to +a forked process otherwise: . It cannot change the program's state (global variables, environment, - etc.) in a way that the caller notices; in other words, .out is the - only communication channel to the caller. + etc.) in a way that the caller notices; in other words, .in and .out + are the only communication channels to the caller. . It must not change the program's state that the caller of the facility also uses. |