m4_comment([$Id: appsignals.so,v 10.28 2002/02/23 20:05:24 bostic Exp $])

m4_ref_title(Programmer Notes, Signal handling,
    signal handling, apprec/config, program/errorret)

m4_p([dnl
When applications using m4_db receive signals, it is important that they
exit gracefully, discarding any m4_db locks that they may hold.  This is
normally done by setting a flag when a signal arrives and then checking
for that flag periodically within the application.  Because m4_db is not
re-entrant, the signal handler should not attempt to release locks and/or
close the database handles itself.  Re-entering m4_db is not guaranteed to
work correctly, and the results are undefined.])

m4_p([dnl
If an application exits holding a lock, the situation is no different
than if the application crashed, and all applications participating in
the database environment must be shut down, and then recovery must be
performed.  If this is not done,  databases may be left in an
inconsistent state, or locks the application held may cause unresolvable
deadlocks inside the environment, causing applications to hang.])

m4_p([dnl
m4_db restarts all system calls interrupted by signals, that is, any
underlying system calls that return failure with errno set to EINTR will
be restarted rather than failing.])

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