path: root/man5/ipc.5

.\" Copyright 1993 Giorgio Ciucci (giorgio@crcc.it)
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.TH IPC 5 1993-11-01 "Linux 0.99.13" "Linux Programmer's Manual" 
.SH NAME
ipc \- System V interprocess communication mechanisms
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B
# include <sys/types.h>
.B
# include <sys/ipc.h>
.B
# include <sys/msg.h>
.B
# include <sys/sem.h>
.B
# include <sys/shm.h>
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page refers to the Linux implementation of the System V
interprocess communication mechanisms:
message queues, semaphore sets, and shared memory segments.
In the following, the word
.B resource
means an instantiation of one among such mechanisms.
.SS Resource Access Permissions
For each resource, the system uses a common structure of type
.BR "struct ipc_perm"
to store information needed in determining permissions to perform an
ipc operation.
The
.B ipc_perm
structure, defined by the
.I <sys/ipc.h>
system header file, includes the following members:
.sp
.B
	ushort cuid;	 
/* creator user id */
.br
.B
	ushort cgid;	 
/* creator group id */
.br
.B
	ushort uid;	 
/* owner user id */
.br
.B
	ushort gid;	
/* owner group id */
.br
.B
	ushort mode;	
/* r/w permissions */
.PP
The
.B mode
member of the
.B ipc_perm
structure defines, with its lower 9 bits, the access permissions to the
resource for a process executing an ipc system call.
The permissions are interpreted as follows:
.sp
.nf
	0400	Read by user.
	0200	Write by user.
.sp .5
	0040	Read by group.
	0020	Write by group.
.sp .5
	0004	Read by others.
	0002	Write by others.
.fi
.PP
Bits 0100, 0010, and 0001 (the execute bits) are unused by the system.
Furthermore,
"write"
effectively means
"alter"
for a semaphore set.
.PP
The same system header file also defines the following symbolic
constants:
.TP 14
.B IPC_CREAT
Create entry if key doesn't exist.
.TP
.B IPC_EXCL
Fail if key exists.
.TP
.B IPC_NOWAIT
Error if request must wait.
.TP
.B IPC_PRIVATE
Private key.
.TP
.B IPC_RMID
Remove resource.
.TP
.B IPC_SET
Set resource options.
.TP
.B IPC_STAT
Get resource options.
.PP
Note that
.B IPC_PRIVATE
is a
.B key_t
type, while all the other symbolic constants are flag fields and can
be OR'ed into an
.B int
type variable.
.SS Message Queues
A message queue is uniquely identified by a positive integer
.RI "(its " msqid )
and has an associated data structure of type
.BR "struct msqid_ds" ,
defined in
.IR <sys/msg.h> ,
containing the following members:
.sp
.B
	struct ipc_perm msg_perm;
.br
.B
	ushort msg_qnum;	
/* no of messages on queue */
.br
.B
	ushort msg_qbytes;	
/* bytes max on a queue */
.br
.B
	ushort msg_lspid;	
/* pid of last msgsnd call */
.br
.B
	ushort msg_lrpid;	
/* pid of last msgrcv call */
.br
.B
	time_t msg_stime;	
/* last msgsnd time */
.br
.B
	time_t msg_rtime;	
/* last msgrcv time */
.br
.B
	time_t msg_ctime;	
/* last change time */
.TP 11
.B msg_perm
.B ipc_perm
structure that specifies the access permissions on the message
queue.
.TP
.B msg_qnum
Number of messages currently on the message queue.
.TP
.B msg_qbytes
Maximum number of bytes of message text allowed on the message
queue.
.TP
.B msg_lspid
ID of the process that performed the last
.B msgsnd
system call.
.TP
.B msg_lrpid
ID of the process that performed the last
.B msgrcv
system call.
.TP
.B msg_stime
Time of the last
.B msgsnd
system call.
.TP
.B msg_rtime
Time of the last
.B msgcv
system call.
.TP
.B msg_ctime
Time of the last
system call that changed a member of the
.B msqid_ds
structure.
.SS Semaphore Sets
A semaphore set is uniquely identified by a positive integer
.RI "(its " semid )
and has an associated data structure of type
.BR "struct semid_ds" ,
defined in
.IR <sys/sem.h> ,
containing the following members:
.sp
.B
	struct ipc_perm sem_perm;
.br
.B
	time_t sem_otime;	
/* last operation time */
.br
.B
	time_t sem_ctime;	
/* last change time */
.br
.B
	ushort sem_nsems;	
/* count of sems in set */
.TP 11
.B sem_perm
.B ipc_perm
structure that specifies the access permissions on the semaphore
set.
.TP
.B sem_otime
Time of last
.B semop
system call.
.TP
.B sem_ctime
Time of last
.B semctl
system call that changed a member of the above structure or of one
semaphore belonging to the set.
.TP
.B sem_nsems
Number of semaphores in the set.
Each semaphore of the set is referenced by a non-negative integer
ranging from
.B 0
to
.BR sem_nsems\-1 .
.PP
A semaphore is a data structure of type
.B "struct sem"
containing the following members:
.sp
.B
	ushort semval;	
/* semaphore value */
.br
.B
	short sempid;	
/* pid for last operation */
.br
.B
	ushort semncnt;
/* nr awaiting semval to increase */
.br
.B
	ushort semzcnt;
/* nr awaiting semval = 0 */
.TP 11
.B semval
Semaphore value: a non-negative integer.
.TP
.B sempid
ID of the last process that performed a semaphore operation
on this semaphore.
.TP
.B semncnt
Number of processes suspended awaiting for
.B semval
to increase.
.TP
.B semznt
Number of processes suspended awaiting for
.B semval
to become zero.
.SS Shared Memory Segments
A shared memory segment is uniquely identified by a positive integer
.RI "(its " shmid )
and has an associated data structure of type
.BR "struct shmid_ds" ,
defined in
.IR <sys/shm.h> ,
containing the following members:
.sp
.B
	struct ipc_perm shm_perm;
.br
.B
	int shm_segsz; 	
/* size of segment */
.br
.B
	ushort shm_cpid;	
/* pid of creator */
.br
.B
	ushort shm_lpid;	
/* pid, last operation */
.br
.B
	short shm_nattch;	
/* no. of current attaches */
.br
.B
	time_t shm_atime;	
/* time of last attach */
.br
.B
	time_t shm_dtime;	
/* time of last detach */
.br
.B
	time_t shm_ctime;	
/* time of last change */
.TP 11
.B shm_perm
.B ipc_perm
structure that specifies the access permissions on the shared memory
segment.
.TP
.B shm_segsz
Size in bytes of the shared memory segment.
.TP
.B shm_cpid
ID of the process that created the shared memory segment.
.TP
.B shm_lpid
ID of the last process that executed a
.B shmat
or
.B shmdt
system call.
.TP
.B shm_nattch
Number of current alive attaches for this shared memory segment.
.TP
.B shm_atime
Time of the last
.B shmat
system call.
.TP
.B shm_dtime
Time of the last
.B shmdt
system call.
.TP
.B shm_ctime
Time of the last
.B shmctl
system call that changed
.BR shmid_ds .
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR msgctl (2),
.BR msgget (2),
.BR msgrcv (2),
.BR msgsnd (2),
.BR semctl (2),
.BR semget (2),
.BR semop (2),
.BR shmat (2),
.BR shmctl (2),
.BR shmdt (2),
.BR shmget (2),
.BR ftok (3)