Synopsis

include "sys.m";
sys:= load Sys Sys->PATH;
pctl: fn(flags: int, movefd: list of ref FD): int;

The set of processes sharing a property are called a group; for example the set of processes sharing a name space are called a name space group. Each process is a member of a process group, typically the set of threads functioning as a single program. All the members of a process group may be terminated at once using the "killgrp" control message in the prog device.

A call to pctl affects the calling process and, indirectly according to flags, any other processes sharing properties with it. The flags to pctl are:

NEWFD	Place the process in a new file descriptor group. By default, no files will be open for I/O after this pctl. However, any file descriptor passed in the movefd parameter will be preserved across the call.
FORKFD	Place the process in a new file descriptor group containing a copy of the current set of file descriptors. After this call, changes the process makes to its set of open file descriptors will not be visible to other processes.
NEWNS	Place the process in a new file name space group containing only a root directory, /, made from an attach to root. The current directory is unaffected by this call. No files other than / will be accessible by name after this pctl; bind and mount calls will be necessary to build a new name space.
FORKNS	Place the process in a new file name space group containing a copy of the current name space. After this call, changes the process makes to its name space, including chdir calls, will not affect other processes.
NEWPGRP	Establish a new process group with a group id equal to that of the pid of the calling process.

The return value of pctl is the numerical process id of the calling process, which can be used for example to access its prog files.

Note

See Also