xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sem_open.3 (revision 9336e0699bda8a301cd2bfa37106b6ec5e32012e)
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28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.\"
30.Dd January 15, 2003
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
61The following bits may be set in the
62.Fa oflag
63argument:
64.Bl -tag -width ".Dv O_CREAT"
65.It Dv O_CREAT
66Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.
67.Pp
68The third argument to the call to
69.Fn sem_open
70must be of type
71.Vt mode_t
72and specifies the mode for the semaphore.
73Only the
74.Dv S_IWUSR , 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 sem_unlink
132.Sh ERRORS
133The
134.Fn sem_open
135function will fail if:
136.Bl -tag -width Er
137.It Bq Er EACCES
138The semaphore exists and the permissions specified by
139.Fa oflag
140at the time it was created deny access to this process.
141.It Bq Er EACCES
142The semaphore does not exist, but permission to create it is denied.
143.It Bq Er EEXIST
144.Dv O_CREAT
145and
146.Dv O_EXCL
147are set but the semaphore already exists.
148.It Bq Er EINTR
149The call was interrupted by a signal.
150.It Bq Er EINVAL
151The
152.Fn sem_open
153operation is not supported for the given
154.Fa name .
155.It Bq Er EINVAL
156The
157.Fa value
158argument is greater than
159.Dv SEM_VALUE_MAX .
160.\"FreeBSD never returns EMFILE
161.\".It Bq Er EMFILE
162.\"Too many semaphores are in use by this process.
163.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
164The
165.Fa name
166argument is too long.
167.It Bq Er ENFILE
168The system limit on semaphores has been reached.
169.It Bq Er ENOENT
170.Dv O_CREAT
171is not set but the named semaphore does not exist.
172.It Bq Er ENOSPC
173There is not enough space to create the semaphore.
174.El
175.Pp
176The
177.Fn sem_close
178function will fail if:
179.Bl -tag -width Er
180.It Bq Er EINVAL
181The
182.Fa sem
183argument is not a valid semaphore.
184.El
185.Pp
186The
187.Fn sem_unlink
188function will fail if:
189.Bl -tag -width Er
190.It Bq Er EACCES
191Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.
192.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
193The specified
194.Fa name
195is too long.
196.It Bq Er ENOENT
197The named semaphore does not exist.
198.El
199.Sh SEE ALSO
200.Xr close 2 ,
201.Xr open 2 ,
202.Xr umask 2 ,
203.Xr unlink 2 ,
204.Xr sem_getvalue 3 ,
205.Xr sem_post 3 ,
206.Xr sem_trywait 3 ,
207.Xr sem_wait 3 ,
208.Xr sem 4
209.Sh STANDARDS
210The
211.Fn sem_open ,
212.Fn sem_close ,
213and
214.Fn sem_unlink
215functions conform to
216.St -p1003.1-96 .
217.Sh HISTORY
218Support for named semaphores first appeared in
219.Fx 5.0 .
220.Sh BUGS
221This implementation places strict requirements on the value of
222.Fa name :
223it must begin with a slash
224.Pq Ql / ,
225contain no other slash characters,
226and be less than 14 characters in length
227not including the terminating null character.
228