Following the fork Function

If a child process calls the vfork(2), fork1(2), or fork(2) function, the process id changes, but the process image stays the same. Depending on how the dbx environment variable follow_fork_mode is set, dbx does one of the following.

Parent

In the traditional behavior, dbx ignores the fork and follows the parent.

Child

dbx automatically switches to the forked child using the new process ID. All connection to and awareness of the original parent is lost.

Both

This mode is available only when using dbx through the Sun Studio IDE or dbxtool.

Ask

You are prompted to choose parent, child, both, or stop to investigate whenever dbx detects a fork. If you choose stop, you can examine the state of the program, then type cont to continue; you will be prompted again to select which way to proceed. both is supported only in the Sun Studio IDE and dbxtool.