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SEM_OPEN (3) | C library functions | Unix Manual Pages | :man▋

NAME

sem_open, sem_close, sem_unlink - named semaphore operations

CONTENTS

Library
Synopsis
Description
Return Values
Errors
See Also
Standards
History
Bugs

LIBRARY


.Lb libc

SYNOPSIS


.In semaphore.h "sem_t *" sem_open "const char *name" "int oflag" ... int sem_close "sem_t *sem" int sem_unlink "const char *name"

DESCRIPTION

The sem_open function creates or opens the named semaphore specified by name. The returned semaphore may be used in subsequent calls to sem_getvalue(3), sem_wait(3), sem_trywait(3), sem_post(3), and sem_close.

The following bits may be set in the oflag argument:

O_CREAT Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.

The third argument to the call to sem_open must be of type
.Vt mode_t and specifies the mode for the semaphore. Only the S_IWUSR, S_IWGRP, and S_IWOTH bits are examined; it is not possible to grant only "read" permission on a semaphore. The mode is modified according to the process’s file creation mask; see umask(2).

The fourth argument must be an
.Vt "unsigned int" and specifies the initial value for the semaphore, and must be no greater than SEM_VALUE_MAX.

O_EXCL Create the semaphore if it does not exist. If the semaphore already exists, sem_open will fail. This flag is ignored unless O_CREAT is also specified.

The sem_close function closes a named semaphore that was opened by a call to sem_open.

The sem_unlink function removes the semaphore named name. Resources allocated to the semaphore are only deallocated when all processes that have the semaphore open close it.

RETURN VALUES

If successful, the sem_open function returns the address of the opened semaphore. If the same name argument is given to multiple calls to sem_open by the same process without an intervening call to sem_close, the same address is returned each time. If the semaphore cannot be opened, sem_open returns SEM_FAILED and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.


.Rv -std sem_close sem_unlink

ERRORS

The sem_open function will fail if:
[EACCES]
The semaphore exists and the permissions specified by oflag at the time it was created deny access to this process.
[EACCES]
The semaphore does not exist, but permission to create it is denied.
[EEXIST]
O_CREAT and O_EXCL are set but the semaphore already exists.
[EINTR]
The call was interrupted by a signal.
[EINVAL]
The sem_open operation is not supported for the given name.
[EINVAL]
The value argument is greater than SEM_VALUE_MAX.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
The name argument is too long.
[ENFILE]
The system limit on semaphores has been reached.
[ENOENT]
O_CREAT is set but the named semaphore does not exist.
[ENOSPC]
There is not enough space to create the semaphore.

The sem_close function will fail if:

[EINVAL]
The sem argument is not a valid semaphore.

The sem_unlink function will fail if:

[EACCES]
Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
The specified name is too long.
[ENOENT]
The named semaphore does not exist.

SEE ALSO

close(2), open(2), umask(2), unlink(2), sem_getvalue(3), sem_post(3), sem_trywait(3), sem_wait(3), sem(4)

STANDARDS

HISTORY

BUGS

 
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