what is ngx_cycle_t represent

[Maxim Dounin]

Hello!

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 05:54:01AM -0500, supportnti wrote:

> Thanks Obi-Wan!
> 
> I am going thru the source as we speak and would appreciate a helping
> hand!
> 
> I can across "NGINX" environment variable in the function
> "ngx_add_inherited_sockets". What does the NGINX variable represent? And
> what does the function do?

The "NGINX" environment variable is used to pass listening sockets 
from an old master process to a new one during binary upgrade 
procedure.  (Or, more strictly, it holds numbers of file 
descriptors.  Sockets remain opened across execve() call, but 
new process needs to know their numbers.)

The ngx_add_inherited_sockets() function parses the environment 
variable in question and adds sockets to the list of listening 
sockets.

Maxim Dounin