This is an old subject, but I can't seem to find any kind of a solution
either by searching the literature or by experimentation. Essentially,
what I want is to be able to use control-Y on a terminal other than
$STDIN -- that is, from a terminal that's being controlled by a
program run from another session or from a job.
 
I'm willing to poll rather than to have a true interrupt. But even so,
I've tried various combinations of nowait I/O and typeahead with no
result. Essentially, I've found it impossible to get around the fact
that a terminal read forces all I/O ahead of it to complete before
being executed. I was hoping that typeahead would get around this
but it doesn't. The nowait I/O solution is bad for another reason,
in that it thwarts the TIO software's efforts to send as much data
as possible on a network transaction; every time I check for input,
I force another couple of network transactions.
 
It's annoying that the TIO subsystem should have the capability
of simulating interrupts, but that ordinary user programs can't
take advantage of it. Is there some way?
 
-- Bruce Toback
OPT Inc.
[log in to unmask]