C-fork library

This fork only works on Unix systems Sick on fork not cloning the current process like expected in Unix? Cfork is a small lib that allows you use fork() in the same way C language does.

c-fork creates a new process by duplicating the calling process. The new process is referred to as the child process. The calling process is referred to as the parent process.

The child process and the parent process run in separate memory spaces. At the time of fork() both memory spaces have the same content.

For more information check out the fork(2) man page

Installation

npm i @gabictrlz/c-fork

Usage

Create a fork

cfork.fork()

• Returns: { number } Returns the child_process pid to the parent and 0 to the child

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

console.log('should print this once') // you'll get this log only once

const pid = cfork.fork()
console.log('forked pid: ' + pid) // you'll get this log twice, for the parent and child

Note

The PID returned by fork() is the pid of the child process. Since the child got no child, it will get 0 as pid, while the parent process will get the pid of the child process.

Check if child is running

cfork.isRunning(pid)

• pid { number } The pid of the child process
• Returns: { number } 0 if the child process is running, otherwise returns the terminating signal number

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

const pid = cfork.fork()

if (pid === 0) {
  // ... do something
} else {
  console.log('parent is running')
  cfork.isRunning(pid) // returns true if child is running, false otherwise
}

Kill child

cfork.kill(pid)

• pid { number } The pid to kill
• Returns: { void }

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

const pid = cfork.fork()

if (pid === 0) {
  // ... do something
} else {
  console.log('parent is running')
  cfork.kill(pid) // sends SIGTERM to child
}

exit process

cfork.exit(code)

• code { number } The exit code, either 0 or 1
• Returns: { void }

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

cfork.exit(0) // kills the current process with exit code 0 or 1

wait for child to settle

cfork.waitForChildToSettle(pid, timeout)

• pid { number } The pid of the child process
• timeout { number } The timeout in milliseconds
• Returns: { Promise< number > } Returns a promise that resolves to the exit code of the child process

This function returns a promise that resolves when the child process has settled. In case the child process has thrown an error, the promise will reject with the error. The promise will also reject in case of timeout.

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

const pid = cfork.fork()
if (pid === 0) {
  // ... do something
}
else {
  await cfork.waitForChildToSettle(pid, 10_000) // wait for child
  console.log('child exited successfully')
}

run function in child

cfork.runFunctionInChild(fn, timeout)

• fn { T extends () => void } The pid of the child process
• timeout { number } The timeout in milliseconds
• Returns: { Promise< void > } Returns a promise that resolves if all was successful, throws an error if child failed or timeout reached

This function allows you to run a specific function in the child process, allowing you the ability to terminate this function midway. The runFunctionInChild wraps all of the annoying boilerplate for you and provides a clean API.

This is the main core of c-fork, as of before, if you fired a promise you had no way to stop it in the middle, it'll run until it settles

import { cfork } from '@gabictrlz/c-fork'

const pid = cfork.fork()
cfork.runFunctionInChild(async () => {
  // all of your logic goes here, all the async, sync, everything
}, timeout)

Pull requests are welcome!