SIGPROCMASK(2)SIGPROCMASK(2)NAME
sigprocmask - change or examine caller's signal mask
SYNOPSIS
#include <signal.h>
int sigprocmask(int how, const sigset_t *restrict set,
sigset_t *restrict oset);
DESCRIPTION
The sigprocmask() function is used to examine and/or change the call‐
er's signal mask. If the value is SIG_BLOCK, the set pointed to by the
set argument is added to the current signal mask. If the value is
SIG_UNBLOCK, the set pointed by the set argument is removed from the
current signal mask. If the value is SIG_SETMASK, the current signal
mask is replaced by the set pointed to by the set argument. If the
oset argument is not NULL, the previous mask is stored in the space
pointed to by oset. If the value of the set argument is NULL, the
value how is not significant and the caller's signal mask is
unchanged; thus, the call can be used to inquire about currently
blocked signals. If the set or oset argument points to an invalid
address, the behavior is undefined and errno may be set to EFAULT.
If there are any pending unblocked signals after the call to sigproc‐
mask(), at least one of those signals will be delivered before the call
to sigprocmask() returns.
It is not possible to block signals that cannot be caught or ignored
(see sigaction(2)). It is also not possible to block or unblock SIGCAN‐
CEL, as SIGCANCEL is reserved for the implementation of POSIX thread
cancellation (see pthread_cancel(3C) and cancellation(5)). This
restriction is silently enforced by the standard C library.
If sigprocmask() fails, the caller's signal mask is not changed.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, −1 is returned
and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The sigprocmask() function will fail if:
EINVAL
The value of the how argument is not equal to one of the
defined values.
The sigprocmask() function may fail if:
EFAULT
The set or oset argument points to an illegal address.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌────────────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │ Standard │
├────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│MT-Level │ Async-Signal-Safe │
└────────────────────┴───────────────────┘
SEE ALSOsigaction(2), pthread_cancel(3C), pthread_sigmask(3C), signal(3C), sig‐
nal.h(3HEAD), sigsetops(3C), attributes(5), cancellation(5)NOTES
The call to sigprocmask() affects only the calling thread's signal
mask. It is identical to a call to pthread_sigmask(3C).
Signals that are generated synchronously should not be masked. If such
a signal is blocked and delivered, the receiving process is killed.
Mar 23, 2005 SIGPROCMASK(2)
