Minitalk demonstrates how two programms — a client and a server — can communicate using Unix signals as a data transmission medium. The client sends messages bit-by-bit using:

• SIGUSR1 → represents binary 0
• SIGUSR2 → represents binary 1

A handshake mechanism ensures that each bit is acknowledged before the next is sent, guaranteeing error-free transmission — even for Unicode characters. This handshake mechanism makes Minitalk a simple but robust example of inter-process communication.

• Unicode support (multi-byte message handling)
• Error-free transmission using handshake acknowledgment
• Runs entirely over Unix signals
• Lightweight and easy to understand

• Features
• Project Structure
• Installation
• Usage
• How It Works
• Key Functions
• Tests
• Requirements

• server.c – Handles incoming signals and prints the received message.
• client.c – Sends the message bit by bit to the server.
• libft/ – (If applicable) Custom implementations of common C functions.
• Makefile – Builds the client and server binaries.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/WaPoco/Minitalk

Change directories

cd minitalk

Compile both server and client

make

At the end to clean up

make fclean

Start the server (prints its PID)

./server

Send a message from the client (use the server PID)

./client <server_pid> "Your message here"

1. Client converts each character to bits.

2. Sends SIGUSR1 for 0 and SIGUSR2 for 1.

3. Server collects bits into bytes and writes characters.

4. Server acknowledges each received bit.

5. Client proceeds only after ack.