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% man baby 


baby(1) USER COMMANDS baby(1)



NAME
baby - create new process from two parents

SYNOPSIS
baby -sex m | f [ -name name ]

DESCRIPTION
Baby is initiated when one parent process polls another
server process through a socket connection in the BSD ver-
sion 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 implentations 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 comple-
tion, 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.

SEE ALSO
cigar(6), dump(5), cry(3).

BUGS
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.



Sun Release 4.1 Last change: July 6, 1991 1




baby(1) USER COMMANDS baby(1)



The sleep 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, .

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