[GHC] #850: threaded RTS uses SIGALRM

[GHC]

#850: threaded RTS uses SIGALRM
-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
    Reporter:  simonmar        |        Owner:         
        Type:  bug             |       Status:  new    
    Priority:  normal          |    Milestone:  6.6.1  
   Component:  Runtime System  |      Version:  6.4.2  
    Severity:  normal          |     Keywords:         
          Os:  Unknown         |   Difficulty:  Unknown
Architecture:  Unknown         |  
-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
The threaded RTS uses SIGALRM for its timer signal, this is a bit naughty
 and could interfere with use of SIGALRM by the application.  Also it can
 cause EINTR of system calls, which the application might not be prepared
 to handle.  Some system calls can't be reliably restarted (eg. usleep()).

 The single threaded RTS uses SIGVTALRM, but we can't use this in the
 multithreaded RTS because it ticks in CPU time, and our threads might be
 idle.  Ideally we should be using the timer_*() family of functions, if
 supported.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/850>
GHC <http://www.haskell.org/ghc/>
The Glasgow Haskell Compiler