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.Dd 15 July 2003
.Dt SPORK 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm spork
.Nd execute a file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In spork.h
.Ft pid_t
.Fn spork "int etype" "int num" "const char *fp" ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm spork
function takes the place of both
.Xr fork 2
and the
.Nm exec
family of functions (Using one of
.Xr execl 3 ,
.Xr execlp 3 ,
.Xr execv 3 , or
.Xr execvp 3 )
.Pp
The initial argument for
.Nm spork
is which type of
.Nm exec
to use, one of
.Nm S_EXECL
,
.Nm S_EXECLP
,
.Nm S_EXECV
, or
.Nm S_EXECVP
\.
.Pp
In the case of
.Nm S_EXECL
and
.Nm S_EXECLP
, the second argument is the number of arguments after
.Em fp
in the call to
.Nm spork
\.
.Pp
The third argument is, in the case of
.Nm S_EXECL
and
.Nm S_EXECV
, the full path to the program to be run. In the case of
.Nm S_EXECLP
and
.Nm S_EXECVP
, the third argument can be either a full path or a standalone
executable name.
.Pp
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The return values for
.Fn spork
are the same as those for
.Fn fork
\.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr fork 2 ,
.Xr exec 3 ,
.Xr execve 2