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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Termination</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, library" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, runtime, library" /><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The GNU C++ Library" /><link rel="up" href="support.html" title="Chapter 4. Support" /><link rel="prev" href="dynamic_memory.html" title="Dynamic Memory" /><link rel="next" href="diagnostics.html" title="Chapter 5. Diagnostics" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Termination</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dynamic_memory.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 4.
Support
</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="diagnostics.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="std.support.termination"></a>Termination</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="support.termination.handlers"></a>Termination Handlers</h3></div></div></div><p>
Not many changes here to
<code class="filename"><cstdlib></code>.
You should note that the
<code class="function">abort()</code> function does not call the
destructors of automatic nor static objects, so if you're
depending on those to do cleanup, it isn't going to happen.
(The functions registered with <code class="function">atexit()</code>
don't get called either, so you can forget about that
possibility, too.)
</p><p>
The good old <code class="function">exit()</code> function can be a bit
funky, too, until you look closer. Basically, three points to
remember are:
</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p>
Static objects are destroyed in reverse order of their creation.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Functions registered with <code class="function">atexit()</code> are called in
reverse order of registration, once per registration call.
(This isn't actually new.)
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
The previous two actions are <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">interleaved,</span>”</span> that is,
given this pseudocode:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
extern "C or C++" void f1 ();
extern "C or C++" void f2 ();
static Thing obj1;
atexit(f1);
static Thing obj2;
atexit(f2);
</pre><p>
then at a call of <code class="function">exit()</code>,
<code class="varname">f2</code> will be called, then
<code class="varname">obj2</code> will be destroyed, then
<code class="varname">f1</code> will be called, and finally
<code class="varname">obj1</code> will be destroyed. If
<code class="varname">f1</code> or <code class="varname">f2</code> allow an
exception to propagate out of them, Bad Things happen.
</p></li></ol></div><p>
Note also that <code class="function">atexit()</code> is only required to store 32
functions, and the compiler/library might already be using some of
those slots. If you think you may run out, we recommend using
the <code class="function">xatexit</code>/<code class="function">xexit</code> combination
from <code class="literal">libiberty</code>, which has no such limit.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="support.termination.verbose"></a>Verbose Terminate Handler</h3></div></div></div><p>
If you are having difficulty with uncaught exceptions and want a
little bit of help debugging the causes of the core dumps, you can
make use of a GNU extension, the verbose terminate handler.
</p><p>
The verbose terminate handler is only available for hosted environments
(see <a class="xref" href="configure.html" title="Configure">Configuring</a>) and will be used
by default unless the library is built with
<code class="option">--disable-libstdcxx-verbose</code>
or with exceptions disabled.
If you need to enable it explicitly you can do so by calling the
<code class="function">std::set_terminate</code> function.
</p><pre class="programlisting">
#include <exception>
int main()
{
std::set_terminate(__gnu_cxx::__verbose_terminate_handler);
...
throw <em class="replaceable"><code>anything</code></em>;
}
</pre><p>
The <code class="function">__verbose_terminate_handler</code> function
obtains the name of the current exception, attempts to demangle
it, and prints it to <code class="literal">stderr</code>.
If the exception is derived from
<code class="classname">std::exception</code> then the output from
<code class="function">what()</code> will be included.
</p><p>
Any replacement termination function is required to kill the
program without returning; this one calls <code class="function">std::abort</code>.
</p><p>
For example:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
#include <exception>
#include <stdexcept>
struct argument_error : public std::runtime_error
{
argument_error(const std::string& s): std::runtime_error(s) { }
};
int main(int argc)
{
std::set_terminate(__gnu_cxx::__verbose_terminate_handler);
if (argc > 5)
throw argument_error("argc is greater than 5!");
else
throw argc;
}
</pre><p>
With the verbose terminate handler active, this gives:
</p><pre class="screen">
<code class="computeroutput">
% ./a.out
terminate called after throwing a `int'
Aborted
% ./a.out f f f f f f f f f f f
terminate called after throwing an instance of `argument_error'
what(): argc is greater than 5!
Aborted
</code>
</pre><p>
The 'Aborted' line is printed by the shell after the process exits
by calling <code class="function">abort()</code>.
</p><p>
As this is the default termination handler, nothing need be done to
use it. To go back to the previous <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">silent death</span>”</span>
method, simply include
<code class="filename"><exception></code> and
<code class="filename"><cstdlib></code>, and call
</p><pre class="programlisting">
std::set_terminate(std::abort);
</pre><p>
After this, all calls to <code class="function">terminate</code> will use
<code class="function">abort</code> as the terminate handler.
</p><p>
Note: the verbose terminate handler will attempt to write to
<code class="literal">stderr</code>. If your application closes
<code class="literal">stderr</code> or redirects it to an inappropriate location,
<code class="function">__verbose_terminate_handler</code> will behave in
an unspecified manner.
</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dynamic_memory.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="support.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="diagnostics.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Dynamic Memory </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 5.
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