/*
* "Re: fork free" by rst@ai.mit.edu (Robert S. Thau)
* written Mon, 24 Apr 95 09:49:58 EDT
*
* Rob --- the probem here isn't with the script itself; it's with
* Archie, which generally does just time out these days no matter how
* you get to it...
*
*/
Yes, that is part of it. Trust me, I spent many long hours trying to
get that damn thing to work.
If the script was written in PERL or C, it could be made to detect
when the server process had timed out. In fact, it could alarm itself
when a certain timeout had been reached. At that point it could kill
itself and its archie subprocess.
But in /bin/sh, you can't do either. And if you kill the script, you
can't kill the archie (because sh responds only to sigkill and then it
won't clean up its children). That's why the implementation is busted.
--Rob
* "Re: fork free" by rst@ai.mit.edu (Robert S. Thau)
* written Mon, 24 Apr 95 09:49:58 EDT
*
* Rob --- the probem here isn't with the script itself; it's with
* Archie, which generally does just time out these days no matter how
* you get to it...
*
*/
Yes, that is part of it. Trust me, I spent many long hours trying to
get that damn thing to work.
If the script was written in PERL or C, it could be made to detect
when the server process had timed out. In fact, it could alarm itself
when a certain timeout had been reached. At that point it could kill
itself and its archie subprocess.
But in /bin/sh, you can't do either. And if you kill the script, you
can't kill the archie (because sh responds only to sigkill and then it
won't clean up its children). That's why the implementation is busted.
--Rob