BABY(1)                                                   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 sys-
       tems require constant monitoring  when  baby  reaches  its
       final stages of execution.

       Older  implementations of baby did not require both initi-
       ating 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 com-
       pletion.   It  has since been determined that the presence
       of both parent processes result in a generally lower  sys-
       tem  load at completion, 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, inform-
       ing 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.  Jacque-
       line'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 par-
       ent processes must then inspect the baby process to deter-
       mine the cause of the signal.

       The  sleep(1)  command  may not work as expected on either



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BABY(1)                                                   BABY(1)


       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  immedi-
       ately.

       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 over-
       whelmed.

AUTHORS
       From a man page by Joe Beck, <beck@cs.ualberta.ca>.











































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