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GETCONTEXT(3) FreeBSD Library Functions Manual GETCONTEXT(3)
NAME
getcontext, getcontextx, setcontext - get and set user thread context
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <ucontext.h>
int
getcontext(ucontext_t *ucp);
ucontext_t *
getcontextx(void);
int
setcontext(const ucontext_t *ucp);
DESCRIPTION
The getcontext() function saves the current thread's execution context in
the structure pointed to by ucp. This saved context may then later be
restored by calling setcontext().
The getcontextx() function saves the current execution context in the
newly allocated structure ucontext_t, which is returned on success. If
architecture defines additional CPU states that can be stored in extended
blocks referenced from the ucontext_t, the memory for them may be
allocated and their context also stored. Memory returned by
getcontextx() function shall be freed using free(3).
The setcontext() function makes a previously saved thread context the
current thread context, i.e., the current context is lost and
setcontext() does not return. Instead, execution continues in the
context specified by ucp, which must have been previously initialized by
a call to getcontext(), makecontext(3), or by being passed as an argument
to a signal handler (see sigaction(2)).
If ucp was initialized by getcontext(), then execution continues as if
the original getcontext() call had just returned (again).
If ucp was initialized by makecontext(3), execution continues with the
invocation of the function specified to makecontext(3). When that
function returns, ucp->uc_link determines what happens next: if
ucp->uc_link is NULL, the process exits; otherwise,
setcontext(ucp->uc_link) is implicitly invoked.
If ucp was initialized by the invocation of a signal handler, execution
continues at the point the thread was interrupted by the signal.
RETURN VALUES
If successful, getcontext() returns zero and setcontext() does not
return; otherwise -1 is returned. The getcontextx() returns pointer to
the allocated and initialized context on success, and NULL on failure.
ERRORS
No errors are defined for getcontext() or setcontext(). The
getcontextx() may return the following errors in errno:
STANDARDS
The getcontext() and setcontext() functions conform to X/Open System
Interfaces and Headers Issue 5 ("XSH5") and IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
("POSIX.1"). The errno indications are an extension to the standard.
The IEEE Std 1003.1-2004 ("POSIX.1") revision marked the functions
getcontext() and setcontext() as obsolete, citing portability issues and
recommending the use of POSIX threads instead. The IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
("POSIX.1") revision removed the functions from the specification.
HISTORY
The getcontext() and setcontext() functions first appeared in AT&T
System V Release 4 UNIX.
FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11 March 23, 2020 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11