寻根1：unix/linux下的父子进程交互

子进程和父进程之间的交互情况主要有如下（不涉及信号）：

case1: 父进程不管子进程，自顾运行；

case2: 父进程等待子进程结束后，再运行；

case3: 父进程同时创建多个子进程，等待所有子进程结束后，再运行；

上述的三种情况，第一种基本情况此处不考虑；

对于case2:

父与子的等待，其实也就涉及到两者的通信；两者的通信主要通过wait()和exit()完成； 父通过wait()阻塞，等待子进程结束； 子进程通过exit()唤醒父进行，并且结束自己的运行；如果没有调用exit()，子进程会继续执行下去； 父进程如果希望知道子进程的退出时状态，可以带参数的wait(&stat);

具体的代码如下：

/*
*this program is to test the comm. between parent and child proess.
*    the parent uses fork() to create a child process;
*    the parent uses wait() to block and wait for the child;
*    the child invokes exit() to wake up parent;
*
*    as child can exit with different status, so how does the
*    parent knows for what the child exits.
*
*    The parent knows the exist status of the child as follows:
*     wait(&stat);
*   
*    when exit(n) is called in child, varible 'stat' is splited into three parts:
*    |exit number|core dump flag|signal number|
*    exit num: 8 bits;
*    core dump flag: 1 bit;
*    signal number: 7 bits;
*
*    this explains: high_8 = stat >> 8;
*/
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main()
{
     int stat = 0;

     printf("i am parent pid=%d\n", getpid());

     if(fork() == 0)
     {
          printf("i am child pid=%d\n", getpid());
          sleep(3);
          printf("work done in child\n");
          exit(17); //without exit, the child executes through;
     }

     //wait(NULL);
     wait(&stat);
     int high_8 = stat>>8;

     printf("stat=%d, parent conitnue...\n", high_8);
     return 0;
}

对于case3:

父进程负责创建输入指定数量的n个进程，每个进程干的事情很简单，就是sleep特定的秒数， 当每个进程结束时，由父进程来报告相应子进程的结束状况；

/*
* this program is to create the number of child processes as you specified.
*     for(i=0; i<n; i++)
*          newpid = fork(); //does not work, because the child process also invokes fork();
*
*/
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main()
{
     int stat = 0;
     int newpid;
     int count = 0;
     int i;
     int n;

     printf("i am parent pid=%d\n", getpid());
     printf("please input the number of child processes:\n");
     scanf("%d", &n);

     while((newpid=fork()) != 0){
          count++;
          if(count == n)
               break;
     }

     if(newpid == 0){
          printf("i am child pid=%d\n", getpid());
          sleep(3);
          exit(2);
     }

     for(i=0; i<n; i++)
     {
          newpid=wait(&stat);
          printf("child=%d done\n", newpid);
     }

     printf("parent process continue...\n");
     return 0;
}