Question

While writing a simple server-client application, this question came in my mind. When someone tries to write to a broken pipe, a SIGPIPE would be generated. Let’s say I handle the signal in my code.

Now what error does the write call returns – EPIPE or EINTR ( as it was interrupted by a signal). I tried with a sample program and I seem to be getting EPIPE always. Is this a guaranteed behavior or it could be any of the two error values?

Answer 1

POSIX says that EPIPE should be returned and SIGPIPE sent:

• For write()s or pwrite()s to pipes or FIFOs not open for reading by any process, or with only one end open.
• For write()s to sockets that are no longer connected or shut down for writing.

You can have a look at the POSIX standard here