Jelzéskezelés

Jelzéskezelés refers to the process of handling signals within a computer system. In operating systems, signals are a form of inter-process communication (IPC) used to notify a process of an event. These events can be hardware-related, such as a division by zero or an invalid memory access, or software-related, like a request to terminate a process.

When a signal is generated, the operating system interrupts the target process's normal execution. The process then needs to decide how to respond to the signal. There are several ways a process can handle a signal. It can ignore the signal, in which case the event is disregarded. Alternatively, it can perform a default action, which is predefined by the operating system. For critical events, the default action might be to terminate the process. The most flexible option is to establish a signal handler, which is a user-defined function that the process executes when the specific signal is received.

Effective jelzéskezelés is crucial for system stability and responsiveness. Proper signal handling allows programs to gracefully recover from errors, terminate cleanly when requested, or react to asynchronous events. Incorrectly handled signals can lead to program crashes, data corruption, or security vulnerabilities. Operating system designers and application developers must carefully consider how signals are generated, delivered, and processed to ensure robust and reliable software. The POSIX standard defines a set of signals and their behavior, providing a common framework for jelzéskezelés across different Unix-like systems.