- /* Create the child process. Note that the apparent call to vfork()
- below *might* actually be a call to fork() due to the fact that
- autoconf will ``#define vfork fork'' on certain platforms. */
- if (debug_fork)
+ /* Create the child process. Since the child process is going to
+ exec(3) shortlty afterwards, try to reduce the overhead by
+ calling vfork(2). However, if PRE_TRACE_FUN is non-null, it's
+ likely that this optimization won't work since there's too much
+ work to do between the vfork(2) and the exec(3). This is known
+ to be the case on ttrace(2)-based HP-UX, where some handshaking
+ between parent and child needs to happen between fork(2) and
+ exec(2). However, since the parent is suspended in the vforked
+ state, this doesn't work. Also note that the vfork(2) call might
+ actually be a call to fork(2) due to the fact that autoconf will
+ ``#define vfork fork'' on certain platforms. */
+ if (pre_trace_fun || debug_fork)