xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sem_open.3 (revision 6f1af0d7d2af54b339b5212434cd6d4fda628d80)
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28.Dd January 9, 2010
29.Dt SEM_OPEN 3
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm sem_open ,
33.Nm sem_close ,
34.Nm sem_unlink
35.Nd named semaphore operations
36.Sh LIBRARY
37.Lb libc
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.In semaphore.h
40.Ft "sem_t *"
41.Fn sem_open "const char *name" "int oflag" ...
42.Ft int
43.Fn sem_close "sem_t *sem"
44.Ft int
45.Fn sem_unlink "const char *name"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Fn sem_open
49function creates or opens the named semaphore specified by
50.Fa name .
51The returned semaphore may be used in subsequent calls to
52.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
53.Xr sem_wait 3 ,
54.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
55.Xr sem_post 3 ,
56and
57.Fn sem_close .
58.Pp
59This implementation places strict requirements on the value of
60.Fa name :
61it must begin with a slash
62.Pq Ql /
63and contain no other slash characters.
64.Pp
65The following bits may be set in the
66.Fa oflag
67argument:
68.Bl -tag -width ".Dv O_CREAT"
69.It Dv O_CREAT
70Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.
71.Pp
72The third argument to the call to
73.Fn sem_open
74must be of type
75.Vt mode_t
76and specifies the mode for the semaphore.
77Only the
78.Dv S_IWUSR , S_IWGRP ,
79and
80.Dv S_IWOTH
81bits are examined;
82it is not possible to grant only
83.Dq read
84permission on a semaphore.
85The mode is modified according to the process's file creation
86mask; see
87.Xr umask 2 .
88.Pp
89The fourth argument must be an
90.Vt "unsigned int"
91and specifies the initial value for the semaphore,
92and must be no greater than
93.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
94.It Dv O_EXCL
95Create the semaphore if it does not exist.
96If the semaphore already exists,
97.Fn sem_open
98will fail.
99This flag is ignored unless
100.Dv O_CREAT
101is also specified.
102.El
103.Pp
104The
105.Fn sem_close
106function closes a named semaphore that was opened by a call to
107.Fn sem_open .
108.Pp
109The
110.Fn sem_unlink
111function removes the semaphore named
112.Fa name .
113Resources allocated to the semaphore are only deallocated when all
114processes that have the semaphore open close it.
115.Sh RETURN VALUES
116If successful,
117the
118.Fn sem_open
119function returns the address of the opened semaphore.
120If the same
121.Fa name
122argument is given to multiple calls to
123.Fn sem_open
124by the same process without an intervening call to
125.Fn sem_close ,
126the same address is returned each time.
127If the semaphore cannot be opened,
128.Fn sem_open
129returns
130.Dv SEM_FAILED
131and the global variable
132.Va errno
133is set to indicate the error.
134.Pp
135.Rv -std sem_close sem_unlink
136.Sh ERRORS
137The
138.Fn sem_open
139function will fail if:
140.Bl -tag -width Er
141.It Bq Er EACCES
142The semaphore exists and the permissions specified by
143.Fa oflag
144at the time it was created deny access to this process.
145.It Bq Er EACCES
146The semaphore does not exist, but permission to create it is denied.
147.It Bq Er EEXIST
148.Dv O_CREAT
149and
150.Dv O_EXCL
151are set but the semaphore already exists.
152.It Bq Er EINTR
153The call was interrupted by a signal.
154.It Bq Er EINVAL
155The
156.Fn sem_open
157operation is not supported for the given
158.Fa name .
159.It Bq Er EINVAL
160The
161.Fa value
162argument is greater than
163.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
164.\"FreeBSD never returns EMFILE
165.\".It Bq Er EMFILE
166.\"Too many semaphores are in use by this process.
167.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
168The
169.Fa name
170argument is too long.
171.It Bq Er ENFILE
172The system limit on semaphores has been reached.
173.It Bq Er ENOENT
174.Dv O_CREAT
175is not set but the named semaphore does not exist.
176.It Bq Er ENOSPC
177There is not enough space to create the semaphore.
178.El
179.Pp
180The
181.Fn sem_close
182function will fail if:
183.Bl -tag -width Er
184.It Bq Er EINVAL
185The
186.Fa sem
187argument is not a valid semaphore.
188.El
189.Pp
190The
191.Fn sem_unlink
192function will fail if:
193.Bl -tag -width Er
194.It Bq Er EACCES
195Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.
196.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
197The specified
198.Fa name
199is too long.
200.It Bq Er ENOENT
201The named semaphore does not exist.
202.El
203.Sh SEE ALSO
204.Xr close 2 ,
205.Xr open 2 ,
206.Xr umask 2 ,
207.Xr unlink 2 ,
208.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
209.Xr sem_post 3 ,
210.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
211.Xr sem_wait 3
212.Sh STANDARDS
213The
214.Fn sem_open ,
215.Fn sem_close ,
216and
217.Fn sem_unlink
218functions conform to
219.St -p1003.1-96 .
220.Sh HISTORY
221Support for named semaphores first appeared in
222.Fx 5.0 .
223