spawn doesn't return for non-cygwin programs (and also is unbreakable)

[Volker Quetschke]

Hi!

I recently tripped over the following problem: If a non-cygwin
program gets started by cygwin's spawnvp() the spawn doesn't return
until the started program returns.

To illustrate the problem just compile attached the attached
breaktestwin.c file as a cygwin executable

$ gcc breaktestwin.c -o breaktestwin.exe

and the attached wsleep.c as a native W32 executable

$ gcc -mno-cygwin wsleep.c -o wsleep.exe

and start breaktestwin.exe.

$ ./breaktestwin.exe

You will see that the "Started child  ..." message will not
appear until wsleep finishes.

This problem is actually known since 2001 but I thought it's
OK to mention it again. See:
<http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-03/msg00068.html>

Another point that did not get mentioned AFAIK is that the
program is not interruptible by CTRL-c while spawnvp() is
waiting for it's "child". (Only true if CYGWIN=tty or when
rxvt or something that handles tty's correctly is used.)

Try hitting CTRL-c while breaktestwin.exe is running from
a tty enable shell. The SIGINT will be handled after the
spawnvp() finishes.


Regards

   Volker


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