xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sem_open.3 (revision 4b2eaea43fec8e8792be611dea204071a10b655a)
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28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.Dd January 15, 2003
30.Dt SEM_OPEN 3
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm sem_open ,
34.Nm sem_close ,
35.Nm sem_unlink
36.Nd named semaphore operations
37.Sh LIBRARY
38.Lb libc_r
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.In semaphore.h
41.Ft sem_t *
42.Fn sem_open "const char *name" "int oflag" "..."
43.Ft int
44.Fn sem_close "sem_t *sem"
45.Ft int
46.Fn sem_unlink "const char *name"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn sem_open
50function creates or opens the named semaphore specified by
51.Fa name .
52The returned semaphore may be used in subsequent calls to
53.Fn sem_getvalue ,
54.Fn sem_wait ,
55.Fn sem_trywait ,
56.Fn sem_post
57and
58.Fn sem_close .
59.Pp
60The following bits may be set in the
61.Fa oflag
62argument:
63.Bl -tag -width ".Dv O_CREAT"
64.It Dv O_CREAT
65Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.
66.Pp
67The third argument to the call to
68.Fn sem_open
69must be of type
70.Vt mode_t
71and specifies the mode for the semaphore.
72Only the
73.Dv S_IWUSR ,
74.Dv S_IWGRP ,
75and
76.Dv S_IWOTH
77bits are examined;
78it is not possible to grant only
79.Dq read
80permission on a semaphore.
81The mode is modified according to the process's file creation
82mask; see
83.Xr umask 2 .
84.Pp
85The fourth argument must be an
86.Vt "unsigned int"
87and specifies the initial value for the semaphore,
88and must be no greater than
89.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
90.It Dv O_EXCL
91Create the semaphore if it does not exist.
92If the semaphore already exists,
93.Fn sem_open
94will fail.
95This flag is ignored unless
96.Dv O_CREAT
97is also specified.
98.El
99.Pp
100The
101.Fn sem_close
102function closes a named semaphore that was opened by a call to
103.Fn sem_open .
104.Pp
105The
106.Fn sem_unlink
107function removes the semaphore named
108.Fa name .
109Resources allocated to the semaphore are only deallocated when all
110processes that have the semaphore open close it.
111.Sh RETURN VALUES
112If successful,
113the
114.Fn sem_open
115function returns the address of the opened semaphore.
116If the same
117.Fa name
118argument is given to multiple calls to
119.Fn sem_open
120by the same process without an intervening call to
121.Fn sem_close ,
122the same address is returned each time.
123If the semaphore cannot be opened,
124.Fn sem_open
125returns
126.Dv SEM_FAILED
127and the global variable
128.Va errno
129is set to indicate the error.
130.Pp
131.Rv -std sem_close
132.Pp
133.Rv -std sem_unlink
134.Sh ERRORS
135The
136.Fn sem_open
137function will fail if:
138.Bl -tag -width Er
139.It Bq Er EACCES
140The semaphore exists and the permissions specified by
141.Fa oflag
142at the time it was created deny access to the this process.
143.It Bq Er EACCES
144The semaphore does not exist, but permission to create it is denied.
145.It Bq Er EEXIST
146.Dv O_CREAT
147and
148.Dv O_EXCL
149are set but the semaphore already exists.
150.It Bq Er EINTR
151The call was interrupted by a signal.
152.It Bq Er EINVAL
153The
154.Fn sem_open
155operation is not supported for the given
156.Fa name .
157.It Bq Er EINVAL
158The
159.Fa value
160argument is greater than
161.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
162.\"FreeBSD never returns EMFILE
163.\".It Bq Er EMFILE
164.\"Too many semaphores are in use by this process.
165.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
166The
167.Fa name
168argument is too long.
169.It Bq Er ENFILE
170The system limit on semaphores has been reached.
171.It Bq Er ENOENT
172.Dv O_CREAT
173is set but the named semaphore does not exist.
174.It Bq Er ENOSPC
175There is not enough space to create the semaphore.
176.El
177.Pp
178The
179.Fn sem_close
180function will fail if:
181.Bl -tag -width Er
182.It Bq Er EINVAL
183The
184.Fa sem
185argument is not a valid semaphore.
186.El
187.Pp
188The
189.Fn sem_unlink
190function will fail if:
191.Bl -tag -width Er
192.It Bq Er EACCES
193Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.
194.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
195The specified
196.Fa name
197is too long.
198.It Bq Er ENOENT
199The named semaphore does not exist.
200.El
201.Sh SEE ALSO
202.Xr close 2 ,
203.Xr open 2 ,
204.Xr umask 2 ,
205.Xr unlink 2 ,
206.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
207.Xr sem_wait 3 ,
208.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
209.Xr sem_post 3 ,
210.Xr sem 4
211.Sh STANDARDS
212The
213.Fn sem_open ,
214.Fn sem_close ,
215and
216.Fn sem_unlink
217functions conform to
218.St -p1003.1-96 .
219.Sh HISTORY
220Support for named semaphores first appeared in
221.Fx 5.0 .
222.Sh BUGS
223This implementation places strict requirements on the value of
224.Fa name :
225it must begin with a slash
226.Pq Ql / ,
227contain no other slash characters,
228and be less than 14 characters in length not including the terminating null.
229