xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sem_open.3 (revision 40a8ac8f62b535d30349faf28cf47106b7041b83)
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28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.\"
30.Dd January 9, 2010
31.Dt SEM_OPEN 3
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm sem_open ,
35.Nm sem_close ,
36.Nm sem_unlink
37.Nd named semaphore operations
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In semaphore.h
42.Ft "sem_t *"
43.Fn sem_open "const char *name" "int oflag" ...
44.Ft int
45.Fn sem_close "sem_t *sem"
46.Ft int
47.Fn sem_unlink "const char *name"
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Fn sem_open
51function creates or opens the named semaphore specified by
52.Fa name .
53The returned semaphore may be used in subsequent calls to
54.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
55.Xr sem_wait 3 ,
56.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
57.Xr sem_post 3 ,
58and
59.Fn sem_close .
60.Pp
61This implementation places strict requirements on the value of
62.Fa name :
63it must begin with a slash
64.Pq Ql /
65and contain no other slash characters.
66.Pp
67The following bits may be set in the
68.Fa oflag
69argument:
70.Bl -tag -width ".Dv O_CREAT"
71.It Dv O_CREAT
72Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.
73.Pp
74The third argument to the call to
75.Fn sem_open
76must be of type
77.Vt mode_t
78and specifies the mode for the semaphore.
79Only the
80.Dv S_IWUSR , S_IWGRP ,
81and
82.Dv S_IWOTH
83bits are examined;
84it is not possible to grant only
85.Dq read
86permission on a semaphore.
87The mode is modified according to the process's file creation
88mask; see
89.Xr umask 2 .
90.Pp
91The fourth argument must be an
92.Vt "unsigned int"
93and specifies the initial value for the semaphore,
94and must be no greater than
95.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
96.It Dv O_EXCL
97Create the semaphore if it does not exist.
98If the semaphore already exists,
99.Fn sem_open
100will fail.
101This flag is ignored unless
102.Dv O_CREAT
103is also specified.
104.El
105.Pp
106The
107.Fn sem_close
108function closes a named semaphore that was opened by a call to
109.Fn sem_open .
110.Pp
111The
112.Fn sem_unlink
113function removes the semaphore named
114.Fa name .
115Resources allocated to the semaphore are only deallocated when all
116processes that have the semaphore open close it.
117.Sh RETURN VALUES
118If successful,
119the
120.Fn sem_open
121function returns the address of the opened semaphore.
122If the same
123.Fa name
124argument is given to multiple calls to
125.Fn sem_open
126by the same process without an intervening call to
127.Fn sem_close ,
128the same address is returned each time.
129If the semaphore cannot be opened,
130.Fn sem_open
131returns
132.Dv SEM_FAILED
133and the global variable
134.Va errno
135is set to indicate the error.
136.Pp
137.Rv -std sem_close sem_unlink
138.Sh ERRORS
139The
140.Fn sem_open
141function will fail if:
142.Bl -tag -width Er
143.It Bq Er EACCES
144The semaphore exists and the permissions specified by
145.Fa oflag
146at the time it was created deny access to this process.
147.It Bq Er EACCES
148The semaphore does not exist, but permission to create it is denied.
149.It Bq Er EEXIST
150.Dv O_CREAT
151and
152.Dv O_EXCL
153are set but the semaphore already exists.
154.It Bq Er EINTR
155The call was interrupted by a signal.
156.It Bq Er EINVAL
157The
158.Fn sem_open
159operation is not supported for the given
160.Fa name .
161.It Bq Er EINVAL
162The
163.Fa value
164argument is greater than
165.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
166.\"FreeBSD never returns EMFILE
167.\".It Bq Er EMFILE
168.\"Too many semaphores are in use by this process.
169.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
170The
171.Fa name
172argument is too long.
173.It Bq Er ENFILE
174The system limit on semaphores has been reached.
175.It Bq Er ENOENT
176.Dv O_CREAT
177is not set but the named semaphore does not exist.
178.It Bq Er ENOSPC
179There is not enough space to create the semaphore.
180.El
181.Pp
182The
183.Fn sem_close
184function will fail if:
185.Bl -tag -width Er
186.It Bq Er EINVAL
187The
188.Fa sem
189argument is not a valid semaphore.
190.El
191.Pp
192The
193.Fn sem_unlink
194function will fail if:
195.Bl -tag -width Er
196.It Bq Er EACCES
197Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.
198.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
199The specified
200.Fa name
201is too long.
202.It Bq Er ENOENT
203The named semaphore does not exist.
204.El
205.Sh SEE ALSO
206.Xr close 2 ,
207.Xr open 2 ,
208.Xr umask 2 ,
209.Xr unlink 2 ,
210.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
211.Xr sem_post 3 ,
212.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
213.Xr sem_wait 3 ,
214.Xr sem 4
215.Sh STANDARDS
216The
217.Fn sem_open ,
218.Fn sem_close ,
219and
220.Fn sem_unlink
221functions conform to
222.St -p1003.1-96 .
223.Sh HISTORY
224Support for named semaphores first appeared in
225.Fx 5.0 .
226