UPANIC(2) System Calls UPANIC(2)

NAME

upanic - user process panic

SYNOPSIS

#include <upanic.h>

void noreturn
upanic(const char *msg, size_t len);

DESCRIPTION

The upanic() system call terminates the calling process and generates a
core file in the process, subject to the current core file settings as
described in core(5) and controlled by coreadm(8).

Unlike abort(3C), signals are not generated, which avoids two related
challenges:

1. A signal handler attempting to catch a SIGABRT.

2. Needing to make multiple system calls and potentially unmasking
the signal.

The upanic() system call allows an optional message to be transmitted
that will be put in a NT_UPANIC elf note in the resulting core file.
If a message is not desired, then one should pass NULL for msg. In
general, it is expected that msg is a character string with a human-
readable message; however, it may include binary data. The system will
copy len bytes regardless of whether the string has a NUL character to
terminate it or not. If msg points to an invalid value or len is a
size that is larger than the system's internal maximum size, then the
process will still terminate; however, this will be noted in the
NT_UPANIC elf note.

The upanic() system call is illumos-specific and not portable to other
systems. For portable applications, instead use abort(3C).

RETURN VALUES

The upanic() system call does not return. It always terminates the
process.

INTERFACE STABILITY

Committed

MT-LEVEL
Async-Signal-Safe

SEE ALSO

elfdump(1), mdb(1), upanic.h(3HEAD), core(5), coreadm(8)

illumos October 31, 2020 illumos