2001-04-03 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>

	* unix/mkLinks: Added 'Signal.3', 'Tcl_WaitPid'.

	* doc/DetachPids.3: Added description of 'Tcl_WaitPid' [Bug #219173].

	* doc/Signal.3: New man page describing the public API procedures
	  'Tcl_SignalId' and 'Tcl_SignalMsg' [Bug #219172].

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/doc/DetachPids.3 b/doc/DetachPids.3
index 23b16c5..818fb32 100644
--- a/doc/DetachPids.3
+++ b/doc/DetachPids.3
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@
 '\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
 '\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
 '\" 
-'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: DetachPids.3,v 1.2 1998/09/14 18:39:48 stanton Exp $
+'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: DetachPids.3,v 1.3 2001/04/03 14:53:45 andreas_kupries Exp $
 '\" 
 .so man.macros
 .TH Tcl_DetachPids 3 "" Tcl "Tcl Library Procedures"
 .BS
 .SH NAME
-Tcl_DetachPids, Tcl_ReapDetachedProcs \- manage child processes in background
+Tcl_DetachPids, Tcl_ReapDetachedProcs, Tcl_WaitPid \- manage child processes in background
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .nf
 \fB#include <tcl.h>\fR
@@ -19,14 +19,23 @@ Tcl_DetachPids, Tcl_ReapDetachedProcs \- manage child processes in background
 \fBTcl_DetachPids\fR(\fInumPids, pidPtr\fR)
 .sp
 \fBTcl_ReapDetachedProcs\fR()
+.sp
+Tcl_Pid
+\fBTcl_WaitPid\fR(\fIpid, statPtr, options\fR)
 .SH ARGUMENTS
 .AS int *statusPtr
 .AP int numPids in
 Number of process ids contained in the array pointed to by \fIpidPtr\fR.
 .AP int *pidPtr in
 Address of array containing \fInumPids\fR process ids.
+.AP Tcl_Pid pid in
+The id of the process (pipe) to wait for.
+.AP int* statPtr out
+The result of waiting on a process (pipe). Either 0 or ECHILD.
+.AP int options
+The options controlling the wait. WNOHANG specifies not to wait when
+checking the process.
 .BE
-
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .PP
 \fBTcl_DetachPids\fR and \fBTcl_ReapDetachedProcs\fR provide a
@@ -57,6 +66,12 @@ However, if you call \fBTcl_DetachPids\fR in situations where the
 \fBexec\fR command may never get executed, you may wish to call
 \fBTcl_ReapDetachedProcs\fR from time to time so that background
 processes can be cleaned up.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_WaitPid\fR is a thin wrapper around the facilities provided by
+the operating system to wait on the end of a spawned process and to
+check a whether spawned process is still running. It is used by
+\fBTcl_ReapDetachedProcs\fR and the channel system to portably access
+the operating system.
 
 .SH KEYWORDS
 background, child, detach, process, wait