Bash, fork with CLOEXEC

Question

Can Bash execute a subprocess while preventing a subprocess from inheriting a file descriptor?

if flock -nx 9
then
  # If begin program runs away, it will keep the lock.
  begin program
else
  echo "Lock held :/)" >&2
fi 9> /tmp/lk

Answer 1

As far as I know, no. You have to close it manually:

if flock 9 -nx
then
   program 9>&- #<= manual close of fd 9 after `program` has forked but before it execs
else
  echo "Lock held :/)" >&2
fi 9> /tmp/lk

If you want to get extra hacky, you can set the flag by calling the fcntl function directly via ctypes.sh:

#!/bin/bash

echo initial
ls /proc/$$/fd/

echo with 9
{

ls /proc/$$/fd/

echo with 9 in an execced child
bash -c ' ls /proc/$$/fd/'

} 9</etc/passwd


echo
echo BEGIN MAGIC
FD_CLOEXEC=1
FD_SETFD=2

. ctypes.sh
echo initial
ls /proc/$$/fd/

echo with 9
{

dlcall fcntl int:9 int:$FD_SETFD int:$FD_CLOEXEC

ls /proc/$$/fd/

echo with 9 in an execced child
bash -c ' ls /proc/$$/fd/'

} 9</etc/passwd

Output:

initial
0
1
2
255
with 9
0
1
2
255
9
with 9 in an execced child
0
1
2
3
9

BEGIN MAGIC
initial
0
1
2
255
with 9
0
1
2
255
9
with 9 in an execced child
0
1
2
3

(Not a typo in pasting -- the 9 really did get closed when the child bash got execced).

Answer 2

With bash 5.0+ and the example loadable modules (debian requires you also install the bash-builtins package), you can use the fdflags loadable module.

if flock -nx 9
then
  enable -f /usr/lib/bash/fdflags fdflags
  fdflags -s+cloexec 9
  begin program
else
  echo "Lock held :/)" >&2
fi 9> /tmp/lk