pipes/fifo_seqnum_server.c

This is pipes/fifo_seqnum_server.c (Listing 44-7, page 912), an example from the book, The Linux Programming Interface.

The source code file is copyright 2024, Michael Kerrisk, and is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3.

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In the listing below, the names of Linux system calls and C library functions are hyperlinked to manual pages from the Linux man-pages project, and the names of functions implemented in the book are hyperlinked to the implementations of those functions.

  Cover of The Linux Programming Interface
+/* fifo_seqnum_server.c
+
+   An example of a server using a FIFO to handle client requests.
+   The "service" provided is the allocation of unique sequential
+   numbers. Each client submits a request consisting of its PID, and
+   the length of the sequence it is to be allocated by the server.
+   The PID is used by both the server and the client to construct
+   the name of the FIFO used by the client for receiving responses.
+
+   The server reads each client request, and uses the client's FIFO
+   to send back the starting value of the sequence allocated to that
+   client. The server then increments its counter of used numbers
+   by the length specified in the client request.
+
+   See fifo_seqnum.h for the format of request and response messages.
+
+   The client is in fifo_seqnum_client.c.
+*/
 #include <signal.h>
 #include "fifo_seqnum.h"
 
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     int serverFd, dummyFd, clientFd;
     char clientFifo[CLIENT_FIFO_NAME_LEN];
     struct request req;
     struct response resp;
     int seqNum = 0;                     /* This is our "service" */
 
     /* Create well-known FIFO, and open it for reading */
 
     umask(0);                           /* So we get the permissions we want */
     if (mkfifo(SERVER_FIFO, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IWGRP) == -1
             && errno != EEXIST)
         errExit("mkfifo %s", SERVER_FIFO);
     serverFd = open(SERVER_FIFO, O_RDONLY);
     if (serverFd == -1)
         errExit("open %s", SERVER_FIFO);
 
     /* Open an extra write descriptor, so that we never see EOF */
 
     dummyFd = open(SERVER_FIFO, O_WRONLY);
     if (dummyFd == -1)
         errExit("open %s", SERVER_FIFO);
 
+    /* Let's find out about broken client pipe via failed write() */
+
     if (signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN) == SIG_ERR)    errExit("signal");
 
     for (;;) {                          /* Read requests and send responses */
         if (read(serverFd, &req, sizeof(struct request))
                 != sizeof(struct request)) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Error reading request; discarding\n");
             continue;                   /* Either partial read or error */
         }
 
         /* Open client FIFO (previously created by client) */
 
         snprintf(clientFifo, CLIENT_FIFO_NAME_LEN, CLIENT_FIFO_TEMPLATE,
                 (long) req.pid);
         clientFd = open(clientFifo, O_WRONLY);
         if (clientFd == -1) {           /* Open failed, give up on client */
             errMsg("open %s", clientFifo);
             continue;
         }
 
         /* Send response and close FIFO */
 
         resp.seqNum = seqNum;
         if (write(clientFd, &resp, sizeof(struct response))
                 != sizeof(struct response))
             fprintf(stderr, "Error writing to FIFO %s\n", clientFifo);
         if (close(clientFd) == -1)
             errMsg("close");
 
         seqNum += req.seqLen;           /* Update our sequence number */
     }
 }

Note that, in most cases, the programs rendered in these web pages are not free standing: you'll typically also need a few other source files (mostly in the lib/ subdirectory) as well. Generally, it's easier to just download the entire source tarball and build the programs with make(1). By hovering your mouse over the various hyperlinked include files and function calls above, you can see which other source files this file depends on.

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