[erlang-questions] spawn/4 problem

[Serge Aleynikov]

jaiswal.vikash@REDACTED wrote:
> Hi Serge,
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion.
> Now I'm able to check the return value of "is_process_alive".
> It is returning false .
> 
> Now my question is :
> Since I'm getting false from is_process_alive , it means that the pid
> I'm getting ( due to spawn/4 ) is a dummy pid .

No, it means that the pid is not alive (i.e. the function evaluated in 
the content of the process associated with the Pid exited).

> So how can I get the spawn/4 to give me actual pid instead of the dummy
> .( If I do init 3 followed by init 4 on my system , the spawn/4 starts
> working properly i.e. it does not give dummy but an actual pid ).

There's no such a thing as a dummy Pid.  Spawn always returns a "real" 
Pid of a process located on a local/remote node.  A Pid either 
represents a reference to a live process or a reference to a dead 
process.  In the later case you can use the erlang:is_process_alive/1 
call to see if it's alive.

Serge

> Regards ,
> Vikash 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Serge Aleynikov [mailto:serge@REDACTED] 
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 5:54 PM
> To: Vikash Jaiswal (WT01 - IP-Multimedia Carrier & Ent Networks)
> Cc: erlang-questions@REDACTED
> Subject: Re: [erlang-questions] spawn/4 problem
> 
> You can only use erlang:is_process_alive/1 for Pids on a local node.  In
> your case the Pid is on a different node.  If you really need to call
> that function use rpc:
> 
> rpc:call(Node, erlang, is_process_alive, [Pid]).
> 
> Serge
> 
> jaiswal.vikash@REDACTED wrote:
>>  
>> Hi ,
>>  
>> I've developed an application which uses spawn/4 .But at some 
>> instances the pid returned by it is a dummy one i.e. that pid does not
> 
>> exist in reality.(i checked it using pman:start().  ). Due to this ,  
>> my application is going into a hanged state  i.e it is sending some 
>> message o the spawned process but not getting any response from it .It
> 
>> is simply waiting for the response .
>>  
>> Could anyone please tell me how I can check whether the pid is real 
>> one or just a dummy ?
>> Also how can I trap the exit signal sent by spawn/4 ? 
>>  
>> Also , when I execute this line in the erl prompt it is working fine 
>> but when I include it in a file I 'm getting the error .
>>          Pid = spawn('abc@REDACTED', my_file, start, []),
>>          erlang:is_process_alive(Pid), The above works  well in erl  
>> prompt but gives the following error when included in the file
>>          =ERROR REPORT==== 9-Mar-2007::14:05:19 === Error in process 
>> <0.30.0> on node 'abc@REDACTED' with exit value:
>> {badarg,[{erlang,is_process_alive,[<5064.11526.6>]},{erl_eval,do_apply
>> ,5
>> },{shell,eval_loop,2}]}
>>  
>> ** exited: {badarg,[{erlang,is_process_alive,[<5064.11526.6>]},
>>                     {erl_eval,do_apply,5},
>>                     {shell,eval_loop,2}]} **
>>   
>>  
>> Thanks in advance .
>>  
>> Regards ,
>> Vikash
>>
>>
>>
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