Updated November 2025
xcall CGIUTL, CGIOP_GETREQ, status
Opcode 10, CGIOP_GETREQ, is used to upport FastCGI, although it also works in normal CGI mode and is critical to enabling support for either mode in the same program.
Parameters
status (Num signed)
returns 0 if a request is available to process, or -1 if not, in which case the application should terminate.
Comments
For FastCGI mode requests after the first one for the instance of the application server, this call will sleep until a request is available or the web server tells us to exit, or an error occurs.
When used in normal CGI mode, the first call will return 0 (just as it does for FastCGI mode), but the second call will return -1, since normal CGI mode only supports one request per application server instance.
Note that in FastCGI mode, subsequent calls after the first one will block while waiting for a new request. The wait will be terminated only by one of the following events:
| • | Arrival of a new request. |
| • | The web server deciding to terminate the application, based on minimum/maximum/timeout parameters in the server's FastCGI or fcgid configuration. |
| • | A SIGINT or SIGTERM or SIGKILL signal sent by another Linux process. |
| • | Termination by the Windows Task Manager. |
Typically, none of those events are trappable, so the process will disappear but the job may remain in the job table as a zombie until it is replaced by a newly launched job.
See FastCGI for an example and further details.
