src/backend/postmaster/fork_process.c

/*
 * fork_process.c
 *	 A simple wrapper on top of fork(). This does not handle the
 *	 EXEC_BACKEND case; it might be extended to do so, but it would be
 *	 considerably more complex.
 *
 * Copyright (c) 1996-2009, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
 *
 * IDENTIFICATION
 *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/postmaster/fork_process.c,v 1.9 2009/01/01 17:23:46 momjian Exp $
 */
#include "postgres.h"
#include "postmaster/fork_process.h"

#include <time.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#ifdef USE_SSL
#include <openssl/rand.h>
#endif

#ifndef WIN32
/*
 * Wrapper for fork(). Return values are the same as those for fork():
 * -1 if the fork failed, 0 in the child process, and the PID of the
 * child in the parent process.
 */
pid_t
fork_process(void)
{
	pid_t		result;

#ifdef LINUX_PROFILE
	struct itimerval prof_itimer;
#endif

	/*
	 * Flush stdio channels just before fork, to avoid double-output problems.
	 * Ideally we'd use fflush(NULL) here, but there are still a few non-ANSI
	 * stdio libraries out there (like SunOS 4.1.x) that coredump if we do.
	 * Presently stdout and stderr are the only stdio output channels used by
	 * the postmaster, so fflush'ing them should be sufficient.
	 */
	fflush(stdout);
	fflush(stderr);

#ifdef LINUX_PROFILE

	/*
	 * Linux's fork() resets the profiling timer in the child process. If we
	 * want to profile child processes then we need to save and restore the
	 * timer setting.  This is a waste of time if not profiling, however, so
	 * only do it if commanded by specific -DLINUX_PROFILE switch.
	 */
	getitimer(ITIMER_PROF, &prof_itimer);
#endif

	result = fork();
	if (result == 0)
	{
		/* fork succeeded, in child */
#ifdef LINUX_PROFILE
		setitimer(ITIMER_PROF, &prof_itimer, NULL);
#endif

		/*
		 * Make sure processes do not share OpenSSL randomness state.
		 */
#ifdef USE_SSL
		RAND_cleanup();
#endif

	}

	return result;
}

#endif   /* ! WIN32 */