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SIGALTSTACK(2) System Calls Manual SIGALTSTACK(2)

sigaltstack — set and/or get signal stack context

#include <signal.h>

int
sigaltstack(const stack_t *restrict ss, stack_t *restrict oss);

() allows users to define an alternate stack on which signals are to be processed. If ss is non-zero, it specifies a pointer to and the size of a on which to deliver signals, and tells the system if the process is currently executing on that stack. When a signal's action indicates its handler should execute on the signal stack (specified with a sigaction(2) call), the system checks to see if the process is currently executing on that stack. If the process is not currently executing on the signal stack, the system arranges a switch to the signal stack for the duration of the signal handler's execution.

If SS_DISABLE is set in ss_flags, ss_sp and ss_size are ignored and the signal stack will be disabled. Trying to disable an active stack will cause sigaltstack to return -1 with errno set to EINVAL. A disabled stack will cause all signals to be taken on the regular user stack. If the stack is later re-enabled then all signals that were specified to be processed on an alternate stack will resume doing so.

If oss is non-zero, the current signal stack state is returned. The ss_flags field will contain the value SA_ONSTACK if the process is currently on a signal stack and SS_DISABLE if the signal stack is currently disabled.

The value SIGSTKSZ is defined to be the number of bytes/chars that would be used to cover the usual case when allocating an alternate stack area. The following code fragment is typically used to allocate an alternate stack.

if ((sigstk.ss_sp = malloc(SIGSTKSZ)) == NULL)
	/* error return */
sigstk.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
sigstk.ss_flags = 0;
if (sigaltstack(&sigstk,0) < 0)
	perror("sigaltstack");
An alternative approach is provided for programs with signal handlers that require a specific amount of stack space other than the default size. The value MINSIGSTKSZ is defined to be the number of bytes/chars that is required by the operating system to implement the alternate stack feature. In computing an alternate stack size, programs should add MINSIGSTKSZ to their stack requirements to allow for the operating system overhead.

Signal stacks are automatically adjusted for the direction of stack growth and alignment requirements. Signal stacks may or may not be protected by the hardware and are not ``grown'' automatically as is done for the normal stack. If the stack overflows and this space is not protected unpredictable results may occur.

Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

sigaltstack() will fail and the signal stack context will remain unchanged if one of the following occurs.

[]
Either ss or oss points to memory that is not a valid part of the process address space.
[]
An attempt is made to disable an active stack.
[]
The ss argument is not a null pointer, and the ss_flags member pointed to by ss contains flags other than SS_DISABLE.
[]
The size of the alternate stack area is less than or equal to MINSIGSTKSZ.
[]
An attempt was made to modify an active stack.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <signal.h>

The include file <sys/types.h> is necessary.

struct sigaltstack {
	char   *ss_sp;
	int	ss_size;
	int     ss_flags;
};

int
(const struct sigaltstack *ss, struct sigaltstack *oss);;

The variable types have changed. Specifically, the sigaltstack struct is no longer used.

Use of the (obsolete) sigaltstack struct will cause compiler diagnostics. Use stack_t, defined in <signal.h>.

sigaction(2), setjmp(3), compat(5)

The predecessor to sigaltstack, the sigstack() system call, appeared in 4.2BSD.

June 4, 1993 BSD 4.2