busybox/docs/nofork_noexec.txt
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   1        NOEXEC and NOFORK applets.
   2
   3Unix shells traditionally execute some commands internally in the attempt
   4to dramatically speed up execution. It will be slow as hell if for every
   5"echo blah" shell will fork and exec /bin/echo. To this end, shells
   6have to _reimplement_ these commands internally.
   7
   8Busybox is unique in this regard because it already is a collection
   9of reimplemented Unix commands, and we can do the same trick
  10for speeding up busybox shells, and more. NOEXEC and NOFORK applets
  11are exactly those applets which are eligible for these tricks.
  12
  13Applet will be subject to NOFORK/NOEXEC tricks only if it is marked
  14as such in applets.src.h or in their inline "//applet:" directives.
  15
  16In C, if you want to call a program and wait for it, use
  17spawn_and_wait(argv), BB_EXECVP(prog,argv) or BB_EXECLP(prog,argv0,...).
  18They check whether program name is an applet name and optionally
  19do NOFORK/NOEXEC thing depending on configuration.
  20
  21
  22        Relevant CONFIG options
  23
  24FEATURE_PREFER_APPLETS
  25  Globally enables NOFORK/NOEXEC tricks for such programs as xargs
  26  and find:
  27  BB_EXECVP(cmd, argv) will try to exec /proc/self/exe
  28  if command's name matches some applet name;
  29  spawn_and_wait(argv) will do NOFORK/NOEXEC tricks
  30
  31//TODO: the above two things probably should have separate options?
  32
  33FEATURE_SH_STANDALONE
  34  shells will try to exec /proc/self/exe if command's name matches
  35  some applet name; shells will do NOEXEC trick on NOEXEC applets
  36
  37//TODO: split (same as for PREFER_APPLETS)
  38
  39FEATURE_SH_NOFORK
  40  shells will do NOFORK trick on NOFORK applets
  41
  42NB: shell builtins use these tricks regardless of FEATURE_SH_STANDALONE,
  43FEATURE_PREFER_APPLETS or FEATURE_SH_NOFORK. In effect, builtins
  44are "always NOFORK".
  45
  46
  47        NOEXEC
  48
  49NOEXEC applet should work correctly if another applet forks and then
  50executes exit(<applet>_main(argc,argv)) in the child. The rules
  51roughly are:
  52
  53* do not expect shared global variables/buffers to be in their
  54  "initialized" state. Examples: xfunc_error_retval can be != 1,
  55  bb_common_bufsiz1 can be scribbled over, ...
  56  (although usually xfunc_error_retval's state is not a problem).
  57* do not expect that stdio wasn't used before. Calling set[v]buf()
  58  can be disastrous.
  59* ...
  60
  61NOEXEC applets save only one half of fork+exec overhead.
  62NOEXEC trick is disabled for NOMMU build.
  63
  64
  65        NOFORK
  66
  67NOFORK applet should work correctly if another applet simply runs
  68<applet>_main(argc,argv) and then continues with its business.
  69xargs, find, shells do it (grep for "spawn_and_wait" and
  70"run_nofork_applet" to find more users).
  71
  72This poses much more serious limitations on what applet can do:
  73
  74* all NOEXEC limitations apply.
  75* do not run for a long time or wait for user input:
  76  hush shell only handles signals (like ^C) after you return
  77  from APPLET_main().
  78* do not ever exit() or exec().
  79  - xfuncs are okay. They are using special trick to return
  80    to the caller applet instead of dying when they detect "x" condition.
  81  - you may "exit" to caller applet by calling xfunc_die(). Return value
  82    is taken from xfunc_error_retval.
  83  - fflush_stdout_and_exit(n) is ok to use.
  84* do not use shared global data, or save/restore shared global data
  85  (e.g. bb_common_bufsiz1) prior to returning.
  86  - getopt32() is ok to use. You do not need to save/restore option_mask32,
  87    xfunc_error_retval, and logmode - it is already done by core code.
  88* if you allocate memory, you can use xmalloc() only on the very first
  89  allocation. All other allocations should use malloc[_or_warn]().
  90  After first allocation, you cannot use any xfuncs.
  91  Otherwise, failing xfunc will return to caller applet
  92  without freeing malloced data!
  93* the same applies to other resources, such as open fds: no xfuncs after
  94  acquiring them!
  95* All allocated data, opened files, signal handlers, termios settings
  96  etc should be freed/closed/restored prior to return.
  97
  98Currently, ash shell signal handling is implemented in a way that signals
  99have non-SA_RESTARTed handlers. This means that system calls can
 100return EINTR. An example of such problem is "yes" applet:
 101it is implemented so that it has a writing loop, this loop is exited on
 102any write error, and in the case of user pressing ^C the error was EINTR.
 103The problem is, the error causes stdout FILE* object to get into error
 104state, needing clearerr() - or else subsequent shell output will also
 105not work. ("yes" has been downgraded to NOEXEC, since hush signal handling
 106does not have this problem - which makes "yes" to not exit on ^C (bug).
 107But stray EINTRs can be seen in any NOFORK under ash, until ash is fixed).
 108
 109NOFORK applets give the most of speed advantage, but are trickiest
 110to implement. In order to minimize amount of bugs and maintenance,
 111prime candidates for NOFORK-ification are those applets which
 112are small and easy to audit, and those which are more likely to be
 113frequently executed from shell/find/xargs, particularly in shell
 114script loops. Applets which mess with signal handlers, termios etc
 115are probably not worth the effort.
 116
 117Applets which must be interruptible by ^C in shells can not be NOFORKs.
 118
 119Any NOFORK applet is also a NOEXEC applet.
 120
 121
 122        Calling NOFORK applets
 123
 124API to call NOFORK applets is two functions:
 125
 126        run_nofork_applet(appno, argv)
 127        spawn_and_wait(argv) // only if FEATURE_PREFER_APPLETS=y
 128
 129First one is directly used by shells if FEATURE_SH_NOFORK=y.
 130Second one is used by many applets, but main users are xargs and find.
 131It itself calls run_nofork_applet(), if argv[0] is a name
 132of a NOFORK applet.
 133
 134run_nofork_applet() saves/inits/restores option parsing, xfunc_error_retval,
 135logmode, applet_name. Thus, for example, caller does not need to worry about
 136option_mask32 getting trashed.
 137
 138
 139        Calling NOEXEC applets
 140
 141It's the same trusty spawn_and_wait(argv). If FEATURE_PREFER_APPLETS=y,
 142it does NOEXEC trick. It resets xfunc_error_retval = 1 and
 143logmode = LOGMODE_STDIO in the child.
 144