6.6.1. What are Signals?

Try these first

1. 1.

   What is a signal in the context of operating systems?

   Hint

   Think of something that lets an application know something important has happened.

2. 2.

   What does SIGINT signal represent?

   Hint

   What do you do to stop a running program in the terminal?

3. 3.

   What does the SIGINT signal do?

   • Requests the termination of a process
   • Interrupts a running process
   • Notifies of a timer expiration

   Hint

   Think about how you stop a process in the terminal.

4. 4.

   True or False: SIGTERM allows a process to clean up before exiting.

   • True
   • False

   Hint

   Is this a polite way to ask a program to stop?

5. 5.

   Design a program that uses signal handling to manage multiple signals, including SIGINT and SIGTERM. Describe how your program would respond to each.

   Hint

   Think about how you can differentiate between friendly and unfriendly termination requests.

6. 6.

   Explain how signal masks can be used in a multithreaded program to manage signals effectively.

   Hint

   Consider how to prevent a worker from stopping mid-task while still allowing user feedback.