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.TH PIDFD_OPEN 2 2019-09-19 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
pidfd_open \- obtain a file descriptor that refers to a process
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <sys/types.h>
.PP
.BI "int pidfd_open(pid_t " pid ", unsigned int " flags );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR pidfd_open ()
system call creates a file descriptor that refers to
the process whose PID is specified in
.IR pid .
The file descriptor is returned as the function result;
the close-on-exec flag is set on the file descriptor.
.PP
The
.I flags
argument is reserved for future use;
currently, this argument must be specified as 0.
.SH RETURN VALUE
On success,
.BR pidfd_open ()
returns a nonnegative file descriptor.
On error, \-1 is returned and
.I errno
is set to indicate the cause of the error.
.SH ERRORS
.TP
.B EINVAL
.I flags
is not 0.
.TP
.B EINVAL
.I pid
is not valid.
.TP
.B ESRCH
The process specified by
.I pid
does not exist.
.SH VERSIONS
.BR pidfd_open ()
first appeared in Linux 5.3.
.SH CONFORMING TO
.BR pidfd_open ()
is Linux specific.
.SH NOTES
Currently, there is no glibc wrapper for this system call; call it using
.BR syscall (2).
.PP
The
.BR pidfd_send_signal (2)
system call can be used to send a signal to the process referred to by
a PID file descriptor.
.PP
A PID file descriptor can be monitored using
.BR poll (2),
.BR select (2),
and
.BR epoll (7).
When the process that it refers to terminates,
these interfaces indicate the file descriptor as readable.
Note, however, that in the current implementation,
nothing can be read from the file descriptor.
.PP
The
.BR pidfd_open ()
system call is the preferred way of obtaining a PID file descriptor.
The alternative is to obtain a file descriptor by opening a
.I /proc/[pid]
directory.
However, the latter technique is possible only if the
.BR proc (5)
file system is mounted;
furthermore, the file descriptor obtained in this way is
.I not
pollable.
.PP
See also the discussion of the
.BR CLONE_PIDFD
flag in
.BR clone (2).
.SH EXAMPLE
The program below opens a PID file descriptor for the
process whose PID is specified as its command-line argument.
It then monitors the file descriptor for readability
.RB ( POLLIN )
using
.BR poll (2).
When the process with the specified by PID terminates,
.BR poll (2)
returns, and indicates that the file descriptor is readable.
.\"
.SS Program source
\&
.nf
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <poll.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#ifndef __NR_pidfd_open
#define __NR_pidfd_open 434
#endif

static int
pidfd_open(pid_t pid, unsigned int flags)
{
    return syscall(__NR_pidfd_open, pid, flags);
}

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    struct pollfd pollfd;
    int pidfd, ready;

    if (argc != 2) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s <pid>\en", argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
    }

    pidfd = pidfd_open(atoi(argv[1]), 0);
    if (pidfd == \-1) {
        perror("pidfd_open");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    pollfd.fd = pidfd;
    pollfd.events = POLLIN;

    ready = poll(&pollfd, 1, \-1);
    if (ready == \-1) {
        perror("poll");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    printf("Events (0x%x): POLLIN is %sset\en", pollfd.revents,
            (pollfd.revents & POLLIN) ? "" : "not ");

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
.fi
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR clone (2),
.BR kill (2),
.BR pidfd_send_signal (2),
.BR poll (2),
.BR select (2),
.BR epoll (7)