forkProcess :: IO (Maybe ProcessID)

forkProcess calls fork, returning Just pid to the parent, where pid is the ProcessID of the child, and returning Nothing to the child.

executeFile :: FilePath                   -- Command
            -> Bool                       -- Search PATH?
            -> [String]                   -- Arguments
            -> Maybe [(String, String)]   -- Environment
            -> IO ()

executeFile cmd args env calls one of the execv* family, depending on whether or not the current PATH is to be searched for the command, and whether or not an environment is provided to supersede the process's current environment. The basename (leading directory names suppressed) of the command is passed to execv* as arg[0]; the argument list passed to executeFile therefore begins with arg[1].

Search PATH?    Supersede environ?      Call
~~~~~~~~~~~~    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      ~~~~~~~
False           False                   execv
False           True                    execve
True            False                   execvp
True            True                    execvpe*

Note that execvpe is not provided by the POSIX standard, and must be written by hand. Care must be taken to ensure that the search path is extracted from the original environment, and not from the environment to be passed on to the new image.

NOTE: In general, sharing open files between parent and child processes is potential bug farm, and should be avoided unless you really depend on this `feature' of POSIX' fork() semantics. Using Haskell, there's the extra complication that arguments to executeFile might come from files that are read lazily (using hGetContents, or some such.) If this is the case, then for your own sanity, please ensure that the arguments to executeFile have been fully evaluated before calling forkProcess (followed by executeFile.) Consider yourself warned :-)

A successful executeFile overlays the current process image with a new one, so it only returns on failure.

runProcess :: FilePath                    -- Command
           -> [String]                    -- Arguments
           -> Maybe [(String, String)]    -- Environment (Nothing -> Inherited)
           -> Maybe FilePath              -- Working directory (Nothing -> inherited)
           -> Maybe Handle                -- stdin  (Nothing -> inherited)
           -> Maybe Handle                -- stdout (Nothing -> inherited)
           -> Maybe Handle                -- stderr (Nothing -> inherited)
           -> IO ()

runProcess is our candidate for the high-level OS-independent primitive.

runProcess cmd args env wd inhdl outhdl errhdl runs cmd (searching the current PATH) with arguments args. If env is Just pairs, the command is executed with the environment specified by pairs of variables and values; otherwise, the command is executed with the current environment. If wd is Just dir, the command is executed with working directory dir; otherwise, the command is executed in the current working directory. If {in,out,errhdl} is Just handle, the command is executed with the Fd for std{in,out,err} attached to the specified handle; otherwise, the Fd for std{in,out,err} is left unchanged.

getProcessStatus :: Bool              -- Block?
                 -> Bool              -- Stopped processes?
                 -> ProcessID 
                 -> IO (Maybe ProcessStatus)

getProcessStatus blk stopped pid calls waitpid, returning Just tc, the ProcessStatus for process pid if it is available, Nothing otherwise. If blk is False, then WNOHANG is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not. If stopped is True, then WUNTRACED is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not.

getGroupProcessStatus :: Bool         -- Block?
                      -> Bool         -- Stopped processes?
                      -> ProcessGroupID 
                      -> IO (Maybe (ProcessID, ProcessStatus))

getGroupProcessStatus blk stopped pgid calls waitpid, returning Just (pid, tc), the ProcessID and ProcessStatus for any process in group pgid if one is available, Nothing otherwise. If blk is False, then WNOHANG is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not. If stopped is True, then WUNTRACED is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not.

getAnyProcessStatus :: Bool           -- Block?
                    -> Bool           -- Stopped processes?
                    -> IO (Maybe (ProcessID, ProcessStatus))

getAnyProcessStatus blk stopped calls waitpid, returning Just (pid, tc), the ProcessID and ProcessStatus for any child process if one is available, Nothing otherwise. If blk is False, then WNOHANG is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not. If stopped is True, then WUNTRACED is set in the options for waitpid, otherwise not.

exitImmediately :: ExitCode -> IO ()

exitImmediately status calls _exit to terminate the process with the indicated exit status. The operation never returns.

getEnvironment :: IO [(String, String)]

getEnvironment parses the environment variable mapping provided by environ, returning (variable, value) pairs. The operation never fails.

setEnvironment :: [(String, String)] -> IO ()

setEnvironment replaces the process environment with the provided mapping of (variable, value) pairs.

getEnvVar :: String -> IO String

getEnvVar var returns the value associated with variable var in the current environment (identical functionality provided through standard Haskell library function System.getEnv).

The operation may fail with:

setEnvVar :: String -> String -> IO ()

setEnvVar var val sets the value associated with variable var in the current environment to be val. Any previous mapping is superseded.

removeEnvVar :: String -> IO ()

removeEnvVar var removes any value associated with variable var in the current environment. Deleting a variable for which there is no mapping does not generate an error.

nullSignal :: Signal
nullSignal = 0

backgroundRead, sigTTIN        :: Signal
backgroundWrite, sigTTOU       :: Signal
continueProcess, sigCONT       :: Signal
floatingPointException, sigFPE :: Signal
illegalInstruction, sigILL     :: Signal
internalAbort, sigABRT         :: Signal
keyboardSignal, sigINT         :: Signal
keyboardStop, sigTSTP          :: Signal
keyboardTermination, sigQUIT   :: Signal
killProcess, sigKILL           :: Signal
lostConnection, sigHUP         :: Signal
openEndedPipe, sigPIPE         :: Signal
processStatusChanged, sigCHLD  :: Signal
realTimeAlarm, sigALRM         :: Signal
segmentationViolation, sigSEGV :: Signal
softwareStop, sigSTOP          :: Signal
softwareTermination, sigTERM   :: Signal
userDefinedSignal1, sigUSR1    :: Signal
userDefinedSignal2, sigUSR2    :: Signal

signalProcess :: Signal -> ProcessID -> IO ()

signalProcess int pid calls kill to signal process pid with interrupt signal int.

raiseSignal :: Signal -> IO ()

raiseSignal int calls kill to signal the current process with interrupt signal int.

signalProcessGroup :: Signal -> ProcessGroupID -> IO ()

signalProcessGroup int pgid calls kill to signal all processes in group pgid with interrupt signal int.

setStoppedChildFlag :: Bool -> IO Bool

setStoppedChildFlag bool sets a flag which controls whether or not the NOCLDSTOP option will be used the next time a signal handler is installed for SIGCHLD. If bool is True (the default), NOCLDSTOP will not be used; otherwise it will be. The operation never fails.

queryStoppedChildFlag :: IO Bool

queryStoppedChildFlag queries the flag which controls whether or not the NOCLDSTOP option will be used the next time a signal handler is installed for SIGCHLD. If NOCLDSTOP will be used, it returns False; otherwise (the default) it returns True. The operation never fails.

emptySignalSet :: SignalSet
fullSignalSet  :: SignalSet
addSignal      :: Signal -> SignalSet -> SignalSet
deleteSignal   :: Signal -> SignalSet -> SignalSet
inSignalSet    :: Signal -> SignalSet -> Bool

installHandler :: Signal
               -> Handler 
               -> Maybe SignalSet       -- other signals to block
               -> IO Handler            -- old handler

installHandler int handler iset calls sigaction to install an interrupt handler for signal int. If handler is Default, SIG_DFL is installed; if handler is Ignore, SIG_IGN is installed; if handler is Catch action, a handler is installed which will invoke action in a new thread when (or shortly after) the signal is received. See Chapter 2, The concurrent package: concurrency support for details on how to communicate between threads.

If iset is Just s, then the sa_mask of the sigaction structure is set to s; otherwise it is cleared. The previously installed signal handler for int is returned.

getSignalMask :: IO SignalSet

getSignalMask calls sigprocmask to determine the set of interrupts which are currently being blocked.

setSignalMask :: SignalSet -> IO SignalSet

setSignalMask mask calls sigprocmask with SIG_SETMASK to block all interrupts in mask. The previous set of blocked interrupts is returned.

blockSignals :: SignalSet -> IO SignalSet

setSignalMask mask calls sigprocmask with SIG_BLOCK to add all interrupts in mask to the set of blocked interrupts. The previous set of blocked interrupts is returned.

unBlockSignals :: SignalSet -> IO SignalSet

setSignalMask mask calls sigprocmask with SIG_UNBLOCK to remove all interrupts in mask from the set of blocked interrupts. The previous set of blocked interrupts is returned.

getPendingSignals :: IO SignalSet

getPendingSignals calls sigpending to obtain the set of interrupts which have been received but are currently blocked.

awaitSignal :: Maybe SignalSet -> IO ()

awaitSignal iset suspends execution until an interrupt is received. If iset is Just s, awaitSignal calls sigsuspend, installing s as the new signal mask before suspending execution; otherwise, it calls pause. awaitSignal returns on receipt of a signal. If you have installed any signal handlers with installHandler, it may be wise to call yield directly after awaitSignal to ensure that the signal handler runs as promptly.

scheduleAlarm :: Int -> IO Int

scheduleAlarm i calls alarm to schedule a real time alarm at least i seconds in the future.

sleep :: Int -> IO ()

sleep i calls sleep to suspend execution of the program until at least i seconds have elapsed or a signal is received.