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Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:29:45 -0400
From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com>
To: White Hat <pigskin_referee@yahoo.com>
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Cc: FreeBSD Users Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: Meaning of: kill -USR2
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In response to White Hat <pigskin_referee@yahoo.com>:

> I have seen 'kill -USR2' used in some scripts;
> however, I am unable to find out exactly what it is
> referring to. The man page for 'kill' does not list
> any 'USR2' flag or signal, unless I am reading it
> incorrectly.
> 
> Perhaps, someone can tell me exactly what this signal
> means.

USR2 is a "user defined signal" (from "man signal")

It doesn't "mean" anything by definition.  Each application is free
to define its meaning as it sees fit.  It's there specifically so
that applications can use signals for special purposes without
reusing the defined signals.

What scripts are you seeing using this?  I expect they're following
application-specific behaviour.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com