alarm#

Synopsis#

#include <unistd.h>

unsigned alarm(unsigned seconds);

Status#

Partially implemented

Conformance#

IEEE Std 1003.1-2017

Description#

The purpose is to schedule an alarm signal. The alarm() function shall cause the system to generate a SIGALRM signal for the process after the number of real-time seconds specified by seconds have elapsed. Processor scheduling delays may prevent the process from handling the signal as soon as it is generated.

If seconds is 0, a pending alarm request, if any, is canceled.

Alarm requests are not stacked, only one SIGALRM generation can be scheduled in this manner. If the SIGALRM signal has not yet been generated, the call shall result in rescheduling the time at which the SIGALRM signal is generated.

Interactions between alarm() and setitimer() are unspecified.

Return value#

If there is a previous alarm() request with time remaining, alarm() shall return a non-zero value that is the number of seconds until the previous request would have generated a SIGALRM signal. Otherwise, alarm() shall return 0.

Errors#

The alarm() function is always successful, and no return value is reserved to indicate an error.

Tests#

Untested

Known bugs#

None

See Also#

  1. Standard library functions

  2. Table of Contents