xref: /freebsd/bin/sync/sync.8 (revision 952d112864d8008aa87278a30a539d888a8493cd)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"	@(#)sync.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 5/31/93
33.\"	$Id$
34.\"
35.Dd May 31, 1993
36.Dt SYNC 8
37.Os BSD 4
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm sync
40.Nd force completion of pending disk writes (flush cache)
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm sync
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44.Nm Sync
45can be called to insure that all disk writes have been completed before the
46processor is halted in a way not suitably done by
47.Xr reboot 8
48or
49.Xr halt 8 .
50Generally, it is preferable to use
51.Xr reboot
52or
53.Xr halt
54to shut down the system,
55as they may perform additional actions
56such as resynchronizing the hardware clock
57and flushing internal caches before performing a final
58.Nm sync .
59.Pp
60.Nm Sync
61utilizes the
62.Xr sync 2
63function call.
64.Sh SEE ALSO
65.Xr fsync 2 ,
66.Xr sync 2 ,
67.Xr update 4 ,
68.Xr halt 8 ,
69.Xr reboot 8
70.Sh HISTORY
71A
72.Nm sync
73command appeared in
74.At v6 .
75