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Re: vfork()

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MAASK Group wrote:
> >Vfork is a combination of fork() and exec().
>
> I am confused. The programmer explicitly has to call exec() after a
> vfork(). right?

right, vfork() isn't a combination of fork() and exec(), more exactly, it's a
version of fork() to be used only when immediatly followed by a exec()
so, instead of writing

	if (! fork ())
		exec (...);

you could write

	if (! vfork ())
		exec (...);

and avoid the copying of the process segment that would be overwritten by
exec().  in modern OSs, the process is marked copy-on-write, so it's just as
fast, without the restrictions.  that's why it's man page tells you not to
use it anymore.

- ------
Javier
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