Multithreaded Programming Guide

The Fork-One Safety Problem and Solution

In addition to all of the usual concerns such as locking shared data, a library should be well behaved with respect to forking a child process when only one thread is running (the one that called fork()). The problem is that the sole thread in the child process might try to grab a lock that is held by a thread that wasn't duplicated in the child.

This is not a problem most programs are likely to encounter. Most programs call exec() in the child right after the return from fork(). However, if the program wishes to carry out some actions in the child before the call to exec(), or never calls exec(), then the child could encounter deadlock scenarios.

Each library writer should provide a safe solution, although not providing a fork-safe library is not a large concern because this condition is rare.

For example, assume that T1 is in the middle of printing something (and so is holding a lock for printf()), when T2 forks a new process. In the child process, if the sole thread (T2) calls printf(), it promptly deadlocks.

The POSIX fork() or Solaris fork1() duplicates only the thread that calls it. (Calling the Solaris fork() duplicates all threads, so this issue does not come up.)

To prevent deadlock, ensure that no such locks are being held at the time of forking. The most obvious way to do this is to have the forking thread acquire all the locks that could possibly be used by the child. Because you cannot do this for locks like those in printf() (because printf() is owned by libc), you must ensure that printf() is not being used at fork() time.

To manage the locks in your library:

In the following example, the list of locks used by the library is {L1,...Ln}, and the locking order for these locks is also L1...Ln.


In pthreads, you can add a call to pthread_atfork(f1, f2, f3) in your library's .init() section, where f1(), f2(), f3() are defined as follows:

f1() /* This is executed just before the process forks. */
 mutex_lock(L1); |
 mutex_lock(...); | -- ordered in lock order
 mutex_lock(Ln); |
 } V

f2() /* This is executed in the child after the process forks. */

f3() /* This is executed in the parent after the process forks. */

Another example of deadlock would be a thread in the parent process--other than the one that called Solaris fork1(2)--that has locked a mutex. This mutex is copied into the child process in its locked state, but no thread is copied over to unlock the mutex. So, any thread in the child that tries to lock the mutex waits forever.

Virtual Forks-vfork(2)

The standard vfork(2) function is unsafe in multithreaded programs. vfork(2) is like fork1(2) in that only the calling thread is copied in the child process. As in nonthreaded implementations, vfork() does not copy the address space for the child process.

Be careful that the thread in the child process does not change memory before it calls exec(2). Remember that vfork() gives the parent address space to the child. The parent gets its address space back after the child calls exec() or exits. It is important that the child not change the state of the parent.

For example, it is dangerous to create new threads between the call to vfork() and the call to exec(). This is an issue only if the fork-one model is used, and only if the child does more than just call exec(). Most libraries are not fork safe, so use pthread_atfork() to implement fork safety.

The Solution--pthread_atfork(3T)

Use pthread_atfork() to prevent deadlocks whenever you use the fork-one model.

#include <pthread.h>

    void (*child) (void) );

The pthread_atfork() function declares fork() handlers that are called before and after fork() in the context of the thread that called fork().

Any one of these can be set to NULL. The order in which successive calls to pthread_atfork() are made is significant.

For example, a prepare handler could acquire all the mutexes needed, and then the parent and child handlers could release them. This ensures that all the relevant locks are held by the thread that calls the fork function before the process is forked, preventing the deadlock in the child.

Using the fork all model avoids the deadlock problem described in "The Fork-One Safety Problem and Solution".

Return Values

pthread_atfork() returns a zero when it completes successfully. Any other returned value indicates that an error occurred. If the following condition is detected, pthread_atfork(3T) fails and returns the corresponding value.


Insufficient table space exists to record the fork handler addresses.