baby is initiated when one parent process polls another server process
through a socket connection in the BSD version
or through pipes in the System V implementation.
baby runs at low priority for approximately forty weeks
and then terminates with a heavy system load.
Most systems require constant monitoring when
baby reaches its final stages of execution.
Older implementations of
baby did not require both initiating processes to
be present at the time of completion.
In those
versions the initiating process
which was not present was
awakened and notified of the results upon completion.
It has since been determined that the presence of both parent
processes result in a generally lower system load at completion,
and thus current versions of
baby expect both parent processes to be active during the final stages.
Successful completion of
baby results in the creation and
naming of a new process.
Parent processes then broadcast
messages to all other processes, local and remote, informing
them of their new status.
OPTIONS
-sex
define the gender of the created process
-name
assign the name name to the new process
EXAMPLES
baby -sex f -name Jacqueline
completed successfully on July 9, 1992 at 9:11pm.
Jacqueline's vital statistics: 8 pounds 3 oz, 20 inches, long dark hair.
The parent process, Kim Dunbar, is reportedly doing fine.
Despite its complexity,
baby only knows one signal, SIGCHLD,
(or SIGCLD in the System V implementation),
which it uses to contact the parent processes.
One or both parent processes must then inspect the baby process
to determine the cause of the signal.
The
sleep(1) command may not work as expected on either parent
process for some time afterward, as each new instance of
baby sends intermittent signals to the parent processes
which must be handled by the parents immediately.
A
baby process will frequently dump core, requiring either
or both parent processes to clean up after it.
Despite the reams of available documentation on invoking and
maintaining
baby , most parent processes are overwhelmed.
AUTHORS
From a man page by Joe Beck, <beck@cs.ualberta.ca>.