xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/semop.2 (revision 76dfffe33547c37f8bdd446e3e4ab0f3c16cea4b)
1.\"	$NetBSD: semop.2,v 1.1 1995/10/16 23:49:28 jtc Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Frank van der Linden
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32.Dd August 17, 1995
33.Dt SEMOP 2
34.Os NetBSD
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm semop
37.Nd semaphore operations
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
40.Fd #include <sys/ipc.h>
41.Fd #include <sys/sem.h>
42.Ft int
43.Fn semop "int semid" "struct sembuf *sops" "int nsops"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45.Fn semop
46provides a number of atomic operations on a set of semaphores. The semaphore
47set is specified by
48.Fa semid .
49.Fa sops
50is an array of semaphore operations,
51.Fa nsops
52is the number of operations in this array. The
53.Va sembuf
54structures in the array contain the following members:
55.Bd -literal
56        u_short sem_num;        /* semaphore # */
57        short   sem_op;         /* semaphore operation */
58        short   sem_flg;        /* operation flags */
59.Ed
60
61Each operation (specified in
62.Va sem_op )
63is applied to semaphore number
64.Va sem_num
65in the set of semaphores specified by
66.Fa semid .
67The value of
68.Va sem_op
69determines the action taken in the following way:
70.Bl -bullet
71.It
72.Va sem_op
73is less than 0. The current process is blocked until the value of the
74semaphore is greater than or equal to the absolute value of
75.Va sem_op .
76The absolute value of
77.Va sem_op
78is then subtracted from the value of the semaphore, and the calling
79process continues. Negative values of
80.Va sem_op
81are thus used to enter critical regions.
82.It
83.Va sem_op
84is greater than 0. Its value is added to the value of the specified
85semaphore. This is used to leave critical regions.
86.It
87.Va sem_op
88is equal to 0. The calling process is blocked until the value of the
89specified semaphore reaches 0.
90.El
91
92The behaviour of each operation is influenced by the flags set in
93.Va sem_flg
94in the following way:
95.Bl -tag -width IPC_NOWAITX
96.It IPC_NOWAIT
97In the case where the calling process would normally block, waiting
98for a semaphore to reach a certain value, IPC_NOWAIT makes the
99call return immediately, returning a value of -1 and setting
100.Va errno
101to EAGAIN.
102.It SEM_UNDO
103Keep track of the changes that this call makes to the value of a semaphore,
104so that they can be undone when the calling process terminates. This is
105useful to prevent other processes waiting on a semaphore to block forever,
106should the process that has the semaphore locked terminate in a critical
107section.
108.El
109.Sh RETURN VALUES
110Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, -1 is
111returned and the global variable
112.Va errno
113is set to indicate the error.
114.Sh ERRORS
115.Fn semop
116will fail if:
117.Bl -tag -width Er
118.It Bq Er EINVAL
119There is no semaphore associated with
120.Fa semid .
121
122The semaphore set was removed while the process was waiting for one of
123its semaphores to reach a certain value.
124
125.It Bq Er EACCESS
126The calling process has no permission to access the specified semaphore set.
127.It Bq Er E2BIG
128The value of
129.Fa nsops
130is too big. The maximum is specified in MAX_SOPS in <sys/sem.h>
131.It Bq Er EFBIG
132.Va sem_num
133in one of the sem_buf structures is less than 0, or greater than the actual
134number of semaphores in the set specified by
135.Fa semid .
136.It Bq Er ENOSPC
137SEM_UNDO was requested, and there is not enough space left in the kernel to
138store the unfo information.
139.It Bq Er EAGAIN
140The requested operation can not immediately be performed, and IPC_NOWAIT
141was set in
142.Va sem_flg .
143.It Bq Er EFAULT
144.Fa sops
145points to an illegal address.
146.Sh SEE ALSO
147.Xr semctl 2 ,
148.Xr semget 2
149.Sh BUGS
150In case of a removed semaphore identifier,
151.Va errno
152should be set to EIDRM, but NetBSD does not define this error.
153