Minitalk

Minitalk is a simple communication program that uses UNIX signals to send and receive messages between two processes (a client and a server). This project demonstrates the basics of inter-process communication using UNIX signals.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Usage
• Project Structure

Prerequisites

• UNIX-based OS (Linux or macOS)
• GCC compiler

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/JosephKiragu/minitalk.git
   

2. Change to the project directory:

   cd minitalk
   

3. Compile the server and client:

   make
   

Usage

1. Run the server:

   ./server
   

   The server will display its process ID (PID) on the console.

2. Open a new terminal window and run the client, passing the server's PID and the message you want to send as arguments:

   ./client [server_pid] [message]
   

   For example:

   ./client 12345 "Hello, Minitalk!"
   

3. The server will display the received message on the console. The client will display "sending successful" upon successful transmission.

Project Structure

• server.c: Contains the server program that receives messages from the client process and prints them on the console.
• client.c: Contains the client program that sends messages to the server process using UNIX signals.
• minitalk.h: Header file containing necessary function prototypes and includes.
• utility.c: Contains utility functions for string manipulation, character output, and number conversion.

For more information on how the program works, see the detailed comments in the source code.