Question

Assuming that an error has not occurred, the fork system call will return one of two values. What are these values, and when do they occur?

Answer 1

The fork system call returns the child process's PID to the parent process and 0 to the child process, indicating successful process creation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The fork system call in Unix and Unix-like operating systems is used to create a new process, which is referred to as a child process. The fork system call will return two different values depending on whether the code is running in the parent process or the newly created child process. If the fork is successful, it will return the process identifier (PID) of the child process to the parent process, and it will return 0 to the child process. The child process is an almost exact clone of the parent process.

Specifically, the PID will be a positive integer, indicating that the fork has successfully created a new process. It is essential for programs to handle both of these return values to correctly manage processes, handle potential errors, and ensure that the correct actions are taken within both parent and child processes.