how to intercept linux signals ? (in C)

Question

I need to intercept and trace signals from any binaries, like strace does it under linux. I don't need a so verbose output like the real one strace. I just want to know how it works, how can I intercept signal and how can I trace them. Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

strace uses the ptrace() system call for tracing, which also allows you to intercept (and possibly manipulate) signals sent to the process.

Here's a tiny example:

#include <sys/ptrace.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    /* simple example, child is traced, uses alarm which causes a signal to be
     * set up */
    pid_t child;

    child = fork();
    if (child == 0)
    {
        ptrace(PTRACE_TRACEME, 0, NULL, NULL);
        alarm(3);
        while(1)
        {
        }
        exit(0);
    }

    /* parent */
    while(1)
    {
        int wstatus;
        int signum;

        wait(&wstatus);
        if (WIFEXITED(wstatus) || WIFSIGNALED(wstatus))
            break;

        signum = WSTOPSIG(wstatus);
        printf("child stopped with signal %d
", signum);
        /* resume execution */
        ptrace(PTRACE_CONT, child, NULL, signum);
    }

    return 0;
}