wait3, wait4 - wait for process to change state, BSD style
Contents
Description
These functions are nonstandard; in new programs, the use of waitpid(2) or waitid(2) is preferable.
The wait3() and wait4() system calls are similar to waitpid(2), but additionally return resource usage
information about the child in the structure pointed to by rusage.
Other than the use of the rusage argument, the following wait3() call:
wait3(wstatus, options, rusage);
is equivalent to:
waitpid(-1, wstatus, options);
Similarly, the following wait4() call:
wait4(pid, wstatus, options, rusage);
is equivalent to:
waitpid(pid, wstatus, options);
In other words, wait3() waits of any child, while wait4() can be used to select a specific child, or
children, on which to wait. See wait(2) for further details.
If rusage is not NULL, the structrusage to which it points will be filled with accounting information
about the child. See getrusage(2) for details.
Errors
As for waitpid(2).
History
4.3BSD.
SUSv1 included a specification of wait3(); SUSv2 included wait3(), but marked it LEGACY; SUSv3 removed
it.
Including <sys/time.h> is not required these days, but increases portability. (Indeed, <sys/resource.h>
defines the rusage structure with fields of type structtimeval defined in <sys/time.h>.)
Clibrary/kerneldifferences
On Linux, wait3() is a library function implemented on top of the wait4() system call.
Library
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
Name
wait3, wait4 - wait for process to change state, BSD style
Return Value
As for waitpid(2).
See Also
fork(2), getrusage(2), sigaction(2), signal(2), wait(2), signal(7)
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 wait4(2)
Standards
None.
Synopsis
#include<sys/wait.h>pid_twait3(int*_Nullablewstatus,intoptions,structrusage*_Nullablerusage);pid_twait4(pid_tpid,int*_Nullablewstatus,intoptions,structrusage*_Nullablerusage);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
wait3():
Since glibc 2.26:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE
|| (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 &&
! (_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
|| _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600))
From glibc 2.19 to glibc 2.25:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
glibc 2.19 and earlier:
_BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
wait4():
Since glibc 2.19:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE
glibc 2.19 and earlier:
_BSD_SOURCE
