I recently had a discussion on Google Plus about the relative merits of open source vs closed source security software. The discussion started as a question about which password management and synchronisation service was best, but quickly devolved into a discussion of the relative merits of open source vs closed source software when it came to security.
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Using fork() and exec() on Linux
In a previous post, I explained how the fork() and exec() system calls are used to create processes on Unix. In this post, I will guide you through a step-by-step practical example of how you can create a process using these two system calls in Linux — the most popular Unix-like OS on the market today.
How a process is started in Unix
First, let us define what a process is. There are many definitions for the term process, but, for the purpose of this post, let’s go with the most basic definition for the term; “A process is a program in execution”.