FORK(II) 8/5/73 FORK(II)





FORK(II)                     8/5/73                      FORK(II)







NAME

     fork  -  spawn new process



SYNOPSIS

     (fork = 2.)

     sys fork

     (new process return)

     (old process return)



     fork( )



DESCRIPTION

     Fork is the only way new processes  are  created.   The  new

     process's  core  image  is  a  copy of that of the caller of

     fork.  The only distinction is the return location  and  the

     fact  that  r0  in  the  old  (parent)  process contains the

     process ID of the new (child) process.  This process  ID  is

     used by wait.



     From C, the returned value is 0 in the child  process,  non-

     zero  in  the  parent  process;  however,  a  return  of  -1

     indicates inability to create a new process.



SEE ALSO

     wait(II), exec(II)



DIAGNOSTICS

     The error bit (c-bit) is set in the old  process  if  a  new

     process  could  not  be  created  because of lack of process

     space.  From C, a return of -1 (not just negative) indicates

     an error.
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