Execute a file
#include <process.h> int execvpe( const char * file, char * const argv[], char * const envp[] );
libc
Use the -l c option to qcc to link against this library. This library is usually included automatically.
The execvpe() function replaces the current process image with a new process image specified by file. The new image is constructed from a regular, executable file called the new process image file. No return is made because the calling process image is replaced by the new process image.
The execvpe() function uses the paths listed in the PATH environment variable to locate the program to be loaded, provided that the following conditions are met:
The process is started with the argument specified in argv, a NULL-terminated array of NULL-terminated strings. The argv[0] entry should point to a filename associated with the program being loaded. The argv argument can't be NULL but argv[0] can be NULL if no arguments are required.
The new process's environment is specified in envp, a NULL-terminated array of NULL-terminated strings. envp cannot be NULL, but envp[0] can be a NULL pointer if no environment strings are passed.
Each pointer in envp points to a string in the form:
variable=value
that's used to define an environment variable.
The environment is the collection of environment variables whose values have been defined with the export shell command, the env utility, or by the successful execution of the putenv() or setenv() functions. A program may read these values with the getenv() function.
An error is detected if the program can't be found.
If the file is on a filesystem mounted with the ST_NOSUID flag set, the effective user ID, effective group ID, saved set-user ID and saved set-group ID are unchanged for the new process. Otherwise, if the set-user ID mode bit is set, the effective user ID of the new process is set to the owner ID of file. Similarly, if the set-group ID mode bit is set, the effective group ID of the new process is set to the group ID of file. The real user ID, real group ID and supplementary group IDs of the new process remain the same as those of the calling process. The effective user ID and effective group ID of the new process are saved as the saved set-user ID and the saved set-group ID used by setuid().
If the calling process had locked any memory, the locks are released.
exec*() summary
Function | Description | POSIX? |
---|---|---|
execl() | NULL-terminated argument list | Yes |
execle() | NULL-terminated argument list, specify the new process's environment | Yes |
execlp() | NULL-terminated argument list, search for the new process in PATH | Yes |
execlpe() | NULL-terminated argument list, search for the new process in PATH, specify the new process's environment | No |
execv() | NULL-terminated array of arguments | Yes |
execve() | NULL-terminated array of arguments, specify the new process's environment | Yes |
execvp() | NULL-terminated array of arguments, search for the new process in PATH | Yes |
execvpe() | NULL-terminated array of arguments, search for the new process in PATH, specify the new process's environment | No |
When execvpe() is successful, it doesn't return; otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno.
Safety: | |
---|---|
Cancellation point | No |
Interrupt handler | No |
Signal handler | Yes |
Thread | Yes |