Re: Porting vfork()

Rogier Wolff (R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl)
Fri, 8 Jan 1999 10:41:44 +0100 (MET)

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Followup to: <19990105154611.A16497@draper.net>
> By author: kernel@draper.net
> In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> >
> > So, the question: is linux vfork() behavior annoying anyone else and is it
> > worth fixing? (other than to eliminate its appearance in the BUG area of the
> > Linux fork() man page ;)
> >
>
> I think you can mimic the BSD vfork() at the library level by using
> clone() and perhaps trapping exec().

vfork was a good idea when you didn't have a memory management
unit. Then you had to copy over and possibly re-link the existing
process to a new place in memory. That was a costly process. Yes Unix
did run on that kind of hardware in the eighties.

Nowadays the overhead is almost non-existent, so it is not neccesary
to make the distinction....

Roger.

-- 
** R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl ** http://www.BitWizard.nl/ ** +31-15-2137555 **
*-- BitWizard writes Linux device drivers for any device you may have! --*
*   Never blow in a cat's ear because if you do, usually after three or  *
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*   least a minute. -- Lisa Coburn, age 9


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