Interprocess Communications in UNIX: The Nooks and Crannies

18689-0 Simply the clearest, most thorough guide to UNIX interprocess communications. When it comes to the UNIX interprocess communications, techniques that are essential to distributed, client/server computing, no other book offers this much depth-or this much clarity. Starting with the basics, Interprocess Communication in UNIX explains exactly what UNIX processes are, how they are generated, and how they can access their own environments. You'll begin by mastering fundamental topics like library functions and system calls, handling system error messages, and then learn about the UNIX processing environment, parent and child processes, and process groups. Simple communication techniques using signaling, lock files, and file locking are described in detail. Building carefully from basic to more advanced concepts, the book offers complete, easy-to-understand explanations of every widely used technique for UNIX interprocess communications, including: * Named and unnamed pipes * Message queues: creation, control, and operation * Semaphores and semaphore sets * Shared memory operations, mapping memory to files * Remote procedure calls * Sockets Learn how local function calls can be transformed into remote procedures; how to debug an RPC application, and how to use broadcasting to search for RPC services on remote systems. Understand all you need to know about sockets IPC using UNIX and ARPA Internet protocols. Throughout this book you'll find extensive examples, summary boxes and exercises to test your understanding. Whether you're a programmer or an advanced student, you'll be surprised how quickly this book can teach you sophisticated UNIX interprocess communication techniques.

Table of Contents:
1. Programs and Processes. Introduction. Library Functions. System Calls. Linking Object Code. Managing Failures. Executable File Format. System Memory. Process Memory. Process Memory Addresses. The u Area. Creating a Process. Summary. 2. Processing Environment. Introduction. Process ID. Parent Process ID. Process Group ID. Permissions. Real and Effective User and Group ID's. File System Information. File Information. Process Resource Limits. Signaling Processes. Command Line Values. Environmental Variables. Summary. 3. Using Processes. Introduction. The Fork System Call Revisited. exec's Minions. execlp. execvp. Using fork and exec Together. Ending a Process. Waiting on Processes. Summary. 4. Primitive Communications. Introduction. Lock Files. Signals -- Continued. Signal and Signal Management Calls. Summary. 5. Pipes. Introduction. Unnamed Pipes. Named Pipes. Summary. 6. Message Queues. Introduction. IPC System Calls -- A Synopsis. Creating a Message Queue. Message Queue Control. Message Queue Operations. Summary. 7. Semaphores. Introduction. Creating and Accessing Semaphore Sets. Semaphore Control. Semaphore Operations. Summary. 8. Shared Memory. Introduction. Creating a Shared Memory Segment. Shared Memory Control. Shared Memory Operations. Using a File as Shared Memory. Summary. 9. Remote Procedure Calls. Introduction. Transforming a Local Funcation Call Into a Remote Procedure. Debugging RPC Applications. Using rpcgen to Generate Templates and a Makefile. Encoding and Decoding Arbitrary Data Types. Using Broadcasting to Search for an RPC Service. Summary. 10. Sockets. Introduction. Communication Basics. Network Addresses. Domains -- Network and Communication. Protocol Families. Socket Types. IPC Using socketpair. Sockets - The Collection-Oriented Paradigm. A UNIX Domain Streamm Socket Example. An Internet Domain Stream Socket Example. Sockets - The Collectionless Paradigm. A UNIX Domain Datagram Socket Example. An Internet Domain Datagram Socket Example. Multiplexing I/O with Select. Peeking at Data. Summary. Appendix A: Using UNIX Manual Pages. Appendix B: UNIX Error Messages. Appendix C: RPC Syntax Diagrams. Appendix D: Bibliography.