xref: /illumos-gate/usr/src/man/man3c/timerfd_create.3c (revision 9498083eeaed1aacdde41369b7fa6f3b84870791)
1.\"
2.\" This file and its contents are supplied under the terms of the
3.\" Common Development and Distribution License ("CDDL"), version 1.0.
4.\" You may only use this file in accordance with the terms of version
5.\" 1.0 of the CDDL.
6.\"
7.\" A full copy of the text of the CDDL should have accompanied this
8.\" source.  A copy of the CDDL is also available via the Internet at
9.\" http://www.illumos.org/license/CDDL.
10.\"
11.\"
12.\" Copyright (c) 2015, Joyent, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
13.\"
14.Dd Feb 23, 2105
15.Dt TIMERFD 3C
16.Os
17.Sh NAME
18.Nm timerfd_create ,
19.Nm timerfd_settime ,
20.Nm timerfd_gettime
21.Nd create and manipulate timers via a file descriptor interface
22.Sh SYNOPSIS
23.In sys/timerfd.h
24.Ft int
25.Fo timerfd_create
26.Fa "int clockid"
27.Fa "int flags"
28.Fc
29.Ft int
30.Fo timerfd_settime
31.Fa "int fd"
32.Fa "int flags"
33.Fa "const struct itimerspec *restrict value"
34.Fa "struct itimterspec *restrict ovalue"
35.Fc
36.Ft int
37.Fo timerfd_gettime
38.Fa "int fd"
39.Fa "struct itimerspec *value"
40.Fc
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42These routines create and manipulate timers in which events are associated
43with a file descriptor, allowing for timer-based events to be used
44in file-descriptor based facilities like
45.Xr poll 2 ,
46.Xr port_get 3C
47or
48.Xr epoll_wait 3C .
49The
50.Fn timerfd_create
51function creates a timer with the clock
52type specified by
53.Fa clockid .
54The
55.Sy CLOCK_REALTIME
56and
57.Sy CLOCK_HIGHRES
58clock types, as defined in
59.Xr timer_create 3C ,
60are supported by
61.Fn timerfd_create .
62(Note that
63.Sy CLOCK_MONOTONIC
64may be used as an alias for
65.Sy CLOCK_HIGHRES Ns .)
66.Pp
67The
68.Fa flags
69argument specifies additional parameters for the timer instance, and can have
70any of the following values:
71.Bl -hang -width Ds
72.It Sy TFD_CLOEXEC
73.Bd -filled -compact
74Instance will be closed upon an
75.Xr exec 2 ;
76see
77.Xr open 2 Ns 's
78description of
79.Sy O_CLOEXEC .
80.Ed
81.It Sy TFD_NONBLOCK
82.Bd -filled -compact
83Instance will be set to be non-blocking.  A
84.Xr read 2
85on a
86.Sy timerfd
87instance that has been initialized with
88.Sy TFD_NONBLOCK
89will return
90.Sy EAGAIN
91in lieu of blocking if the
92timer has not expired since the last
93.Fn timerfd_settime
94or successful
95.Fn read .
96.Ed
97.El
98.Pp
99The following operations can be performed upon a
100.Sy timerfd
101instance:
102.Bl -hang -width Ds
103.It Sy read(2)
104.Bd -filled -compact
105Atomically reads and clears the number of timer expirations since the
106last successful
107.Xr read 2
108or
109.Fn timerfd_settime .
110Upon success,
111the number of expirations will be copied into the eight byte buffer
112passed to the system call. If there have been no expirations of the
113timer since the last successful
114.Xr read 2
115or
116.Fn timerfd_sttime ,
117.Xr read 2
118will block until at least the next expiration,
119or return
120.Sy EAGAIN
121if the instance was created with
122.Sy TFD_NONBLOCK .
123Note that if multiple threads are blocked in
124.Xr read 2
125for the same timer, only one of them will return upon
126a single timer expiration.
127.Pp
128If the buffer specified to
129.Xr read 2
130is less than
131eight bytes in length,
132.Sy EINAVL
133will be returned.
134.Ed
135.It Sy poll(2), port_get(3C), epoll_wait(3C)
136.Bd -filled -compact
137Provide notification when the timer expires or has expired in the past without
138a more recent
139.Xr read 2 .
140Note that threads being simultaneously
141blocked in
142.Xr read 2
143and
144.Xr poll 2
145(or equivalents) for the same
146timer constitute an application-level race; on a timer expiration,
147the thread blocked in
148.Xr poll 2
149may or may not return depending on how
150it is scheduled with respect to the thread blocked in
151.Xr read 2 .
152.Ed
153.It Sy timerfd_gettime()
154.Bd -filled -compact
155Returns the amount of time until the next timer expiration, with the
156same functional signature and semantics as
157.Xr timer_gettime 3C .
158.Ed
159.It Sy timerfd_settime()
160.Bd -filled -compact
161Sets or disarms the timer, with the
162same functional signature and semantics as
163.Xr timer_settime 3C .
164.Ed
165.El
166.Sh RETURN VALUES
167Upon succesful completion, a file descriptor associated with the instance
168is returned. Otherwise,
169.Sy -1
170is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
171.Sh ERRORS
172The
173.Fn timerfd_create
174function will fail if:
175.Bl -tag -width Er
176.It Er EINAL
177The
178.Fa flags
179are invalid.
180.It Er EMFILE
181There are currently
182.Pf { Sy OPEN_MAX Ns }
183file descriptors open in the calling process.
184.It Er EPERM
185The
186.Fa clock_id ,
187is
188.Sy CLOCK_HIGHRES
189and the
190.Pf { Sy PRIV_PROC_CLOCK_HIGHRES Ns }
191is not asserted in the effective set of the calling process.
192.El
193.Sh SEE ALSO
194.Xr poll 2 ,
195.Xr epoll_wait 3C ,
196.Xr port_get 3C ,
197.Xr timer_create 3C ,
198.Xr timer_gettime 3C ,
199.Xr timer_settime 3C ,
200.Xr privileages 5 ,
201.Xr timerfd 5
202