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| Red Hat Documentation: man pages: man3: Linux Programmer's Manual (3) |
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SYSTEMSection: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)Updated: 11 May 2025 Index NAMEsystem - execute a shell commandSYNOPSIS#include <stdlib.h> int system (const char * string); DESCRIPTIONsystem() executes a command specified in string by calling /bin/sh -c string, and returns after the command has been completed. During execution of the command, SIGCHLD will be blocked, and SIGINT and SIGQUIT will be ignored.RETURN VALUEThe value returned is 127 if the execve() call for /bin/sh fails, -1 if there was another error and the return code of the command otherwise.If the value of string is NULL, system() returns nonzero if the shell is available, and zero if not. system() does not affect the wait status of any other children. CONFORMING TOANSI C, POSIX.2, BSD 4.3BUGS
It is extremely unfortunate that the libc version of
system()
ignores interrupts. This makes programs that call it
from a loop uninterruptable. This means that for such
purposes one should not use
system()
but a private version like (warning: untested code!)
int my_system (const char *command) {
int pid, status;
if (command == 0)
return 1;
pid = fork();
if (pid == -1)
return -1;
if (pid == 0) {
char *argv[4];
argv[0] = "sh";
argv[1] = "-c";
argv[2] = command;
argv[3] = 0;
execve("/bin/sh", argv, environ);
exit(127);
}
do {
if (waitpid(pid, &status, 0) == -1) {
if (errno != EINTR)
return -1;
} else
return status;
}
Do not use system() from a program with suid or sgid privileges, because strange values for some environment variables might be used to subvert system integrity. Use the family of functions instead, but not or system() will not, in fact, work properly from programs with suid or sgid privileges on systems on which /bin/sh is bash version 2, since bash 2 drops privileges on startup. (Debian uses a modified bash which does not do this when invoked as sh.) The check for the availability of /bin/sh is not actually performed; it is always assumed to be available. ISO C specifies the check, but POSIX.2 specifies that the return shall always be non-zero, since a system without the shell is not conforming, and it is this that is implemented. It is possible for the shell command to return 127, so that code is not a sure indication that the execve() call failed; check errno to make sure. SEE ALSO
IndexThis document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 11:58:06 GMT, March 24, 2025 |
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