unix/linux - select and pselect Functions

1, select and pselect Functions

The select function lets us do I/O multiplexing under all POSIX-compatible
platforms. The arguments we pass to select tell the kernel
• Which descriptors we’re interested in.
• Which conditions we’re interested in for each descriptor. (Do we want to lead from a given descriptor? Do we want to write to a given descriptor? Are we interested in an exception condition for a given descriptor?)
• How long we want to wait. (We can wait forever, wait a fixed amount of time, or not wait at all.)
On the return from select, the kernel tells us
• The total count of the number of descriptors that are ready
• Which descriptors are ready for each of the three conditions (read, write, or exception condition)
With this return information, we can call the appropriate I/O function (usually read or write) and know that the function won’t block.

#include <sys/select.h>
int select(int maxfdp1, fd_set *restrict readfds,
				fd_set *restrict writefds, fd_set *restrict exceptfds,
				struct timeval *restrict tvptr);
											Returns: count of ready descriptors, 0 on timeout, −1 on error

Let’s look at the last argument first. It specifies how long we want to wait in terms of seconds and microseconds. There are three conditions.
tvptr == NULL
Wait forever. This infinite wait can be interrupted if we catch a signal. Return is made when one of the specified descriptors is ready or when a signal is caught. If a signal is caught, select returns −1 with errno set to EINTR.
tvptr−>tv_sec == 0 && tvptr−>tv_usec == 0
Don’t wait at all. All the specified descriptors are tested, and return is made immediately. This is a way to poll the system to find out the status of multiple descriptors without blocking in the select function.
tvptr−>tv_sec != 0 || tvptr−>tv_usec != 0
Wait the specified number of seconds and microseconds. Return is made when one of the specified descriptors is ready or when the timeout value expires. If the timeout expires before any of the descriptors is ready, the return value is 0. (If the system doesn’t provide microsecond resolution, the tvptr−>tv_usec value is rounded up to the nearest supported value.) As with the first condition, this wait can also be interrupted by a caught signal.
POSIX.1 allows an implementation to modify the timeval structure, so after select returns, you can’t rely on the structure containing the same values it did before calling select. FreeBSD 8.0, Mac OS X 10.6.8, and Solaris 10 all leave the structure unchanged, but Linux 3.2.0 will update it with the time remaining if select returns before the timeout value expires.
The middle three arguments—readfds, writefds, and exceptfds—are pointers to descriptor sets. These three sets specify which descriptors we’re interested in and for which conditions (readable, writable, or an exception condition). A descriptor set is stored in an fd_set data type. This data type is chosen by the implementation so that it can hold one bit for each possible descriptor. We can consider it to be just a big array of bits, as shown in Figure “Specifying the read, write, and exception descriptors for select”.

The only thing we can do with the fd_set data type is allocate a variable of this type, assign a variable of this type to another variable of the same type, or use one of the following four functions on a variable of this type.

#include <sys/select.h>
int FD_ISSET(int fd, fd_set *fdset);
								Returns: nonzero if fd is in set, 0 otherwise
void FD_CLR(int fd, fd_set *fdset);
void FD_SET(int fd, fd_set *fdset);
void FD_ZERO(fd_set *fdset);

These interfaces can be implemented as either macros or functions. An fd_set is

set to all zero bits by calling FD_ZERO. To turn on a single bit in a set, we use FD_SET. We can clear a single bit by calling FD_CLR. Finally, we can test whether a given bit is turned on in the set with FD_ISSET.
After declaring a descriptor set, we must zero the set using FD_ZERO. We then set bits in the set for each descriptor that we’re interested in, as in

fd_set rset;
int fd;
FD_ZERO(&rset);
FD_SET(fd, &rset);
FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &rset);
On return from select, we can test whether a given bit in the set is still on using FD_ISSET:
if (FD_ISSET(fd, &rset)) {
	... 
}

Any (or all) of the middle three arguments to select (the pointers to the descriptor

sets) can be null pointers if we’re not interested in that condition. If all three pointers are NULL, then we have a higher-precision timer than is provided by sleep.
The first argument to select, maxfdp1, stands for ‘‘maximum file descriptor plus 1.’’ We calculate the highest descriptor that we’re interested in, considering all three of the descriptor sets, add 1, and that’s the first argument. We could just set the first argument to FD_SETSIZE,aconstant in <sys/select.h> that specifies the maximum number of descriptors (often 1,024), but this value is too large for most applications. Indeed, most applications probably use between 3 and 10 descriptors. (Some applications need many more descriptors, but these UNIX programs are atypical.) By specifying the highest descriptor that we’re interested in, we can prevent the kernel from going through hundreds of unused bits in the three descriptor sets, looking for bits that are turned on.
As an example, Figure “Example descriptor sets for select” shows what two descriptor sets look like if we write

fd_set readset, writeset;
FD_ZERO(&readset);
FD_ZERO(&writeset);
FD_SET(0, &readset);
FD_SET(3, &readset);
FD_SET(1, &writeset);
FD_SET(2, &writeset);
select(4, &readset, &writeset, NULL, NULL);

The reason we have to add 1 to the maximum descriptor number is that descriptors start at 0, and the first argument is really a count of the number of descriptors to check (starting with descriptor 0).

There are three possible return values from select.

1. A return value of −1 means that an error occurred. This can happen, for
   example, if a signal is caught before any of the specified descriptors are ready. In this case, none of the descriptor sets will be modified.
2. A return value of 0 means that no descriptors are ready. This happens if the time limit expires before any of the descriptors are ready. When this happens, all the descriptor sets will be zeroed out.
3. A positive return value specifies the number of descriptors that are ready. This value is the sum of the descriptors ready in all three sets, so if the same descriptor is ready to be read and written, it will be counted twice in the return value. The only bits left on in the three descriptor sets are the bits
   corresponding to the descriptors that are ready.
   We now need to be more specific about what ‘‘ready’’ means.
   • A descriptor in the read set (readfds) is considered ready if a read from that descriptor won’t block.
   • A descriptor in the write set (writefds) is considered ready if a write to that descriptor won’t block.
   • A descriptor in the exception set (exceptfds) is considered ready if an exception condition is pending on that descriptor. Currently, an exception condition corresponds to either the arrival of out-of-band data on a network connection or certain conditions occurring on a pseudo terminal that has been placed into packet mode.
   • File descriptors for regular files always return ready for reading, writing, and exception conditions.
   It is important to realize that whether a descriptor is blocking or not doesn’t affect whether select blocks. That is, if we have a nonblocking descriptor that we want to read from and we call select with a timeout value of 5 seconds, select will block for up to 5 seconds. Similarly, if we specify an infinite timeout, select blocks until data is ready for the descriptor or until a signal is caught.
   If we encounter the end of file on a descriptor, that descriptor is considered readable by select. We then call read and it returns 0—the way to signify end of file on UNIX systems. (Many people incorrectly assume that select indicates an exception condition on a descriptor when the end of file is reached.)
   POSIX.1 also defines a variant of select called pselect.

#include <sys/select.h>
int pselect(int maxfdp1, fd_set *restrict readfds,
				 fd_set *restrict writefds, fd_set *restrict exceptfds,
				 const struct timespec *restrict tsptr,
				 const sigset_t *restrict sigmask);
							Returns: count of ready descriptors, 0 on timeout, −1 on error

The pselect function is identical to select, with the following exceptions.
• The timeout value for select is specified by a timeval structure, but for
pselect, a timespec structure is used. (Recall the definition of the timespec
structure in Section 4.2.) Instead of seconds and microseconds, the timespec structure represents the timeout value in seconds and nanoseconds. This provides a higher-resolution timeout if the platform supports that fine a level of granularity.
• The timeout value for pselect is declared const, and we are guaranteed that its value will not change as a result of calling pselect.
• An optional signal mask argument is available with pselect. If sigmask is NULL, pselect behaves as select does with respect to signals. Otherwise, sigmask points to a signal mask that is atomically installed when pselect is called. On return, the previous signal mask is restored.

2, man manual of select

SELECT(2) Linux Programmer’s Manual SELECT(2)

NAME
select, pselect, FD_CLR, FD_ISSET, FD_SET, FD_ZERO - synchronous I/O multiplexing

SYNOPSIS
/* According to POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008 */
#include <sys/select.h>

   /* According to earlier standards */
   #include <sys/time.h>
   #include <sys/types.h>
   #include <unistd.h>

   int select(int nfds, fd_set *readfds, fd_set *writefds,
              fd_set *exceptfds, struct timeval *timeout);

   void FD_CLR(int fd, fd_set *set);
   int  FD_ISSET(int fd, fd_set *set);
   void FD_SET(int fd, fd_set *set);
   void FD_ZERO(fd_set *set);

   #include <sys/select.h>

   int pselect(int nfds, fd_set *readfds, fd_set *writefds,
               fd_set *exceptfds, const struct timespec *timeout,
               const sigset_t *sigmask);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

   pselect(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L

DESCRIPTION
select() and pselect() allow a program to monitor multiple file descriptors, waiting until one or more of the file descriptors become “ready” for some class of I/O
operation (e.g., input possible). A file descriptor is considered ready if it is possible to perform a corresponding I/O operation (e.g., read(2) without blocking,
or a sufficiently small write(2)).

   select() can monitor only file descriptors numbers that are less than FD_SETSIZE; poll(2) does not have this limitation.  See BUGS.

   The operation of select() and pselect() is identical, other than these three differences:

   (i)    select() uses a timeout that is a struct timeval (with seconds and microseconds), while pselect() uses a struct timespec (with seconds and nanoseconds).

   (ii)   select() may update the timeout argument to indicate how much time was left.  pselect() does not change this argument.

   (iii)  select() has no sigmask argument, and behaves as pselect() called with NULL sigmask.

   Three  independent  sets  of  file  descriptors are watched.  The file descriptors listed in readfds will be watched to see if characters become available for reading
   (more precisely, to see if a read will not block; in particular, a file descriptor is also ready on end-of-file).  The file descriptors in writefds will be watched to
   see if space is available for write (though a large write may still block).  The file descriptors in exceptfds will be watched for exceptional conditions.  (For exam‐
   ples of some exceptional conditions, see the discussion of POLLPRI in poll(2).)

   On exit, each of the file descriptor sets is modified in place to indicate which file descriptors actually changed status.  (Thus, if using select()  within  a  loop,
   the sets must be reinitialized before each call.)

   Each of the three file descriptor sets may be specified as NULL if no file descriptors are to be watched for the corresponding class of events.

   Four  macros  are  provided  to  manipulate  the sets.  FD_ZERO() clears a set.  FD_SET() and FD_CLR() respectively add and remove a given file descriptor from a set.
   FD_ISSET() tests to see if a file descriptor is part of the set; this is useful after select() returns.

   nfds should be set to the highest-numbered file descriptor in any of the three sets, plus 1.  The indicated file descriptors in each set are checked, up to this limit
   (but see BUGS).

   The timeout argument specifies the interval that select() should block waiting for a file descriptor to become ready.  The call will block until either:

   *  a file descriptor becomes ready;

   *  the call is interrupted by a signal handler; or

   *  the timeout expires.

   Note that the timeout interval will be rounded up to the system clock granularity, and kernel scheduling delays mean that the blocking interval may overrun by a small
   amount.  If both fields of the timeval structure are zero, then select() returns immediately.  (This is useful  for  polling.)   If  timeout  is  NULL  (no  timeout),
   select() can block indefinitely.

   sigmask is a pointer to a signal mask (see sigprocmask(2)); if it is not NULL, then pselect() first replaces the current signal mask by the one pointed to by sigmask,
   then does the "select" function, and then restores the original signal mask.

   Other than the difference in the precision of the timeout argument, the following pselect() call:

       ready = pselect(nfds, &readfds, &writefds, &exceptfds,
                       timeout, &sigmask);

   is equivalent to atomically executing the following calls:

       sigset_t origmask;

       pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &sigmask, &origmask);
       ready = select(nfds, &readfds, &writefds, &exceptfds, timeout);
       pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &origmask, NULL);

   The reason that pselect() is needed is that if one wants to wait for either a signal or for a file descriptor to become ready, then an atomic test is needed  to  pre‐
   vent  race conditions.  (Suppose the signal handler sets a global flag and returns.  Then a test of this global flag followed by a call of select() could hang indefi‐
   nitely if the signal arrived just after the test but just before the call.  By contrast, pselect() allows one to first block signals, handle  the  signals  that  have
   come in, then call pselect() with the desired sigmask, avoiding the race.)

The timeout
The time structures involved are defined in <sys/time.h> and look like

       struct timeval {
           long    tv_sec;         /* seconds */
           long    tv_usec;        /* microseconds */
       };

   and

       struct timespec {
           long    tv_sec;         /* seconds */
           long    tv_nsec;        /* nanoseconds */
       };

   (However, see below on the POSIX.1 versions.)

   Some code calls select() with all three sets empty, nfds zero, and a non-NULL timeout as a fairly portable way to sleep with subsecond precision.

   On  Linux,  select()  modifies  timeout  to reflect the amount of time not slept; most other implementations do not do this.  (POSIX.1 permits either behavior.)  This
   causes problems both when Linux code which reads timeout is ported to other operating systems, and when code is ported to Linux that reuses a struct timeval for  mul‐
   tiple select()s in a loop without reinitializing it.  Consider timeout to be undefined after select() returns.

RETURN VALUE
On success, select() and pselect() return the number of file descriptors contained in the three returned descriptor sets (that is, the total number of bits that are
set in readfds, writefds, exceptfds) which may be zero if the timeout expires before anything interesting happens. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to
indicate the error; the file descriptor sets are unmodified, and timeout becomes undefined.

ERRORS
EBADF An invalid file descriptor was given in one of the sets. (Perhaps a file descriptor that was already closed, or one on which an error has occurred.) However,
see BUGS.

   EINTR  A signal was caught; see signal(7).

   EINVAL nfds is negative or exceeds the RLIMIT_NOFILE resource limit (see getrlimit(2)).

   EINVAL The value contained within timeout is invalid.

   ENOMEM Unable to allocate memory for internal tables.

VERSIONS
pselect() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16. Prior to this, pselect() was emulated in glibc (but see BUGS).

CONFORMING TO
select() conforms to POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, and 4.4BSD (select() first appeared in 4.2BSD). Generally portable to/from non-BSD systems supporting clones of the
BSD socket layer (including System V variants). However, note that the System V variant typically sets the timeout variable before exit, but the BSD variant does
not.

   pselect() is defined in POSIX.1g, and in POSIX.1-2001 and POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES
An fd_set is a fixed size buffer. Executing FD_CLR() or FD_SET() with a value of fd that is negative or is equal to or larger than FD_SETSIZE will result in unde‐
fined behavior. Moreover, POSIX requires fd to be a valid file descriptor.

   On  some  other  UNIX  systems,  select()  can fail with the error EAGAIN if the system fails to allocate kernel-internal resources, rather than ENOMEM as Linux does.
   POSIX specifies this error for poll(2), but not for select().  Portable programs may wish to check for EAGAIN and loop, just as with EINTR.

   On systems that lack pselect(), reliable (and more portable) signal trapping can be achieved using the self-pipe trick.  In this technique, a signal handler writes  a
   byte  to  a  pipe whose other end is monitored by select() in the main program.  (To avoid possibly blocking when writing to a pipe that may be full or reading from a
   pipe that may be empty, nonblocking I/O is used when reading from and writing to the pipe.)

   Concerning the types involved, the classical situation is that the two fields of a timeval structure are typed as long (as shown above), and the structure is  defined
   in <sys/time.h>.  The POSIX.1 situation is

       struct timeval {
           time_t         tv_sec;     /* seconds */
           suseconds_t    tv_usec;    /* microseconds */
       };

   where the structure is defined in <sys/select.h> and the data types time_t and suseconds_t are defined in <sys/types.h>.

   Concerning  prototypes, the classical situation is that one should include <time.h> for select().  The POSIX.1 situation is that one should include <sys/select.h> for
   select() and pselect().

   Under glibc 2.0, <sys/select.h> gives the wrong prototype for pselect().  Under glibc 2.1 to 2.2.1, it gives pselect()  when  _GNU_SOURCE  is  defined.   Since  glibc
   2.2.2, the requirements are as shown in the SYNOPSIS.

Correspondence between select() and poll() notifications
Within the Linux kernel source, we find the following definitions which show the correspondence between the readable, writable, and exceptional condition notifica‐
tions of select() and the event notifications provided by poll(2) (and epoll(7)):

       #define POLLIN_SET (POLLRDNORM | POLLRDBAND | POLLIN | POLLHUP |
                           POLLERR)
                          /* Ready for reading */
       #define POLLOUT_SET (POLLWRBAND | POLLWRNORM | POLLOUT | POLLERR)
                          /* Ready for writing */
       #define POLLEX_SET (POLLPRI)
                          /* Exceptional condition */

Multithreaded applications
If a file descriptor being monitored by select() is closed in another thread, the result is unspecified. On some UNIX systems, select() unblocks and returns, with an
indication that the file descriptor is ready (a subsequent I/O operation will likely fail with an error, unless another the file descriptor reopened between the time
select() returned and the I/O operations was performed). On Linux (and some other systems), closing the file descriptor in another thread has no effect on select().
In summary, any application that relies on a particular behavior in this scenario must be considered buggy.

C library/kernel differences
The Linux kernel allows file descriptor sets of arbitrary size, determining the length of the sets to be checked from the value of nfds. However, in the glibc imple‐
mentation, the fd_set type is fixed in size. See also BUGS.

   The pselect() interface described in this page is implemented by glibc.  The underlying Linux system call is named pselect6().  This system call has somewhat  differ‐
   ent behavior from the glibc wrapper function.

   The  Linux  pselect6()  system  call modifies its timeout argument.  However, the glibc wrapper function hides this behavior by using a local variable for the timeout
   argument that is passed to the system call.  Thus, the glibc pselect() function does not modify its timeout argument; this is the behavior required by POSIX.1-2001.

   The final argument of the pselect6() system call is not a sigset_t * pointer, but is instead a structure of the form:

       struct {
           const kernel_sigset_t *ss;   /* Pointer to signal set */
           size_t ss_len;               /* Size (in bytes) of object
                                           pointed to by 'ss' */
       };

   This allows the system call to obtain both a pointer to the signal set and its size, while allowing for the fact that most architectures support a maximum of 6  argu‐
   ments to a system call.  See sigprocmask(2) for a discussion of the difference between the kernel and libc notion of the signal set.

BUGS
POSIX allows an implementation to define an upper limit, advertised via the constant FD_SETSIZE, on the range of file descriptors that can be specified in a file
descriptor set. The Linux kernel imposes no fixed limit, but the glibc implementation makes fd_set a fixed-size type, with FD_SETSIZE defined as 1024, and the FD_*()
macros operating according to that limit. To monitor file descriptors greater than 1023, use poll(2) instead.

   According  to POSIX, select() should check all specified file descriptors in the three file descriptor sets, up to the limit nfds-1.  However, the current implementa‐
   tion ignores any file descriptor in these sets that is greater than the maximum file descriptor number that the process currently has open.  According to  POSIX,  any
   such file descriptor that is specified in one of the sets should result in the error EBADF.

   Glibc 2.0 provided a version of pselect() that did not take a sigmask argument.

   Starting  with  version 2.1, glibc provided an emulation of pselect() that was implemented using sigprocmask(2) and select().  This implementation remained vulnerable
   to the very race condition that pselect() was designed to prevent.  Modern versions of glibc use the (race-free) pselect() system call on kernels  where  it  is  pro‐
   vided.

   Under  Linux,  select()  may  report a socket file descriptor as "ready for reading", while nevertheless a subsequent read blocks.  This could for example happen when
   data has arrived but upon examination has wrong checksum and is discarded.  There may be other circumstances in which a file  descriptor  is  spuriously  reported  as
   ready.  Thus it may be safer to use O_NONBLOCK on sockets that should not block.

   On  Linux, select() also modifies timeout if the call is interrupted by a signal handler (i.e., the EINTR error return).  This is not permitted by POSIX.1.  The Linux
   pselect() system call has the same behavior, but the glibc wrapper hides this behavior by internally copying the timeout to a local variable and passing that variable
   to the system call.

EXAMPLE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>

   int
   main(void)
   {
       fd_set rfds;
       struct timeval tv;
       int retval;

       /* Watch stdin (fd 0) to see when it has input. */

       FD_ZERO(&rfds);
       FD_SET(0, &rfds);

       /* Wait up to five seconds. */

       tv.tv_sec = 5;
       tv.tv_usec = 0;

       retval = select(1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, &tv);
       /* Don't rely on the value of tv now! */

       if (retval == -1)
           perror("select()");
       else if (retval)
           printf("Data is available now.\n");
           /* FD_ISSET(0, &rfds) will be true. */
       else
           printf("No data within five seconds.\n");

       exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
   }

SEE ALSO
accept(2), connect(2), poll(2), read(2), recv(2), restart_syscall(2), send(2), sigprocmask(2), write(2), epoll(7), time(7)

   For a tutorial with discussion and examples, see select_tut(2).

COLOPHON
This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this
page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux 2017-09-15 SELECT(2)