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SEMOP(2)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  SEMOP(2)




NAME

       semop, semtimedop - semaphore operations


SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/ipc.h>
       #include <sys/sem.h>

       int semop(int semid, struct sembuf *sops, unsigned nsops);

       int  semtimedop(int  semid, struct sembuf *sops, unsigned nsops, struct
       timespec *timeout);


DESCRIPTION

       Each semaphore in a semaphore set has the following associated values:

           unsigned short  semval;   /* semaphore value */
           unsigned short  semzcnt;  /* # waiting for zero */
           unsigned short  semncnt;  /* # waiting for increase */
           pid_t           sempid;   /* process that did last op */

       semop() performs operations on selected semaphores in the set indicated
       by  semid.   Each of the nsops elements in the array pointed to by sops
       specifies an operation to be performed on a single semaphore.  The ele-
       ments  of this structure are of type struct sembuf, containing the fol-
       lowing members:

           unsigned short sem_num;  /* semaphore number */
           short          sem_op;   /* semaphore operation */
           short          sem_flg;  /* operation flags */

       Flags recognized in sem_flg are IPC_NOWAIT and SEM_UNDO.  If an  opera-
       tion  specifies SEM_UNDO, it will be automatically undone when the pro-
       cess terminates.

       The set of operations contained in sops is performed  atomically,  that
       is, the operations are performed at the same time, and only if they can
       all be simultaneously performed.  The behaviour of the system  call  if
       not all operations can be performed immediately depends on the presence
       of the IPC_NOWAIT flag in  the  individual  sem_flg  fields,  as  noted
       below.

       Each  operation  is  performed  on  the  sem_num-th  semaphore  of  the
       semaphore set, where the first semaphore of  the  set  is  numbered  0.
       There  are  three  types  of  operation,  distinguished by the value of
       sem_op.

       If sem_op is a positive integer, the operation adds this value  to  the
       semaphore  value  (semval).   Furthermore, if SEM_UNDO is specified for
       this operation, the system updates the process undo count (semadj)  for
       this  semaphore.  This operation can always proceed — it never forces a
       process to wait.  The calling process must have alter permission on the
       semaphore set.

       If  sem_op  is  zero,  the  process  must  have  read permission on the
       semaphore set.  This is a "wait-for-zero" operation: if semval is zero,
       the  operation  can  immediately  proceed.  Otherwise, if IPC_NOWAIT is
       specified in sem_flg, semop() fails with errno set to EAGAIN (and  none
       of  the operations in sops is performed).  Otherwise semzcnt (the count
       of processes waiting until this  semaphore's  value  becomes  zero)  is
       incremented  by  one  and the process sleeps until one of the following
       occurs:

       ·      semval becomes 0, at which time the value of semzcnt  is  decre-
              mented.

       ·      The  semaphore  set is removed: semop() fails, with errno set to
              EIDRM.

       ·      The calling process catches a signal: the value  of  semzcnt  is
              decremented and semop() fails, with errno set to EINTR.

       ·      The  time  limit  specified  by  timeout  in a semtimedop() call
              expires: semop() fails, with errno set to EAGAIN.

       If sem_op is less than zero, the process must have alter permission  on
       the  semaphore set.  If semval is greater than or equal to the absolute
       value of sem_op, the operation can proceed  immediately:  the  absolute
       value  of  sem_op is subtracted from semval, and, if SEM_UNDO is speci-
       fied for this operation, the system  updates  the  process  undo  count
       (semadj)  for  this  semaphore.   If  the  absolute  value of sem_op is
       greater than semval, and IPC_NOWAIT is specified  in  sem_flg,  semop()
       fails,  with errno set to EAGAIN (and none of the operations in sops is
       performed).  Otherwise semncnt (the counter of  processes  waiting  for
       this  semaphore's value to increase) is incremented by one and the pro-
       cess sleeps until one of the following occurs:

       ·      semval becomes greater than or equal to the  absolute  value  of
              sem_op,  at  which time the value of semncnt is decremented, the
              absolute value of sem_op  is  subtracted  from  semval  and,  if
              SEM_UNDO is specified for this operation, the system updates the
              process undo count (semadj) for this semaphore.

       ·      The semaphore set is removed from  the  system:  semop()  fails,
              with errno set to EIDRM.

       ·      The  calling  process  catches a signal: the value of semncnt is
              decremented and semop() fails, with errno set to EINTR.

       ·      The time limit specified  by  timeout  in  a  semtimedop()  call
              expires: the system call fails, with errno set to EAGAIN.

       On successful completion, the sempid value for each semaphore specified
       in the array pointed to by sops is set to the process ID of the calling
       process.  In addition, the sem_otime is set to the current time.

       semtimedop()  behaves identically to semop() except that in those cases
       were the calling process would sleep, the duration  of  that  sleep  is
       limited  by the amount of elapsed time specified by the timespec struc-
       ture whose address is passed in the timeout parameter.  If  the  speci-
       fied  time limit has been reached, semtimedop() fails with errno set to
       EAGAIN (and none of the operations in sops is performed).  If the time
       out parameter isNULL, then semtimedop() behaves exactly like semop().


RETURN VALUE

       If  successful semop() and semtimedop() return 0; otherwise they return
       -1 with errno indicating the error.


ERRORS

       On failure, errno is set to one of the following:

       E2BIG  The argument nsops is greater than SEMOPM, the maximum number of
              operations allowed per system call.

       EACCES The  calling  process  does not have the permissions required to
              perform the specified semaphore operations, and  does  not  have
              the CAP_IPC_OWNER capability.

       EAGAIN An operation could not proceed immediately and either IPC_NOWAIT
              was specified in sem_flg or the time limit specified in  timeout
              expired.

       EFAULT An  address  specified  in either the sops or timeout parameters
              isn't accessible.

       EFBIG  For some operation the value  of  sem_num  is  less  than  0  or
              greater than or equal to the number of semaphores in the set.

       EIDRM  The semaphore set was removed.

       EINTR  While  blocked in this system call, the process caught a signal.

       EINVAL The semaphore set doesn't exist, or semid is less than zero,  or
              nsops has a non-positive value.

       ENOMEM The  sem_flg of some operation specified SEM_UNDO and the system
              does not have enough memory to allocate the undo structure.

       ERANGE For some operation sem_op+semval is  greater  than  SEMVMX,  the
              implementation dependent maximum value for semval.


NOTES

       The  sem_undo structures of a process aren't inherited across a fork(2)
       system call, but they are inherited across an execve(2) system call.

       semop() is never automatically restarted after being interrupted  by  a
       signal  handler,  regardless of the setting of the SA_RESTART flag when
       establishing a signal handler.

       semadj is a per-process integer which is simply the (negative) count of
       all  semaphore operations performed specifying the SEM_UNDO flag.  When
       a semaphore's value is directly set using the SETVAL or SETALL  request
       to  semctl(2),  the  corresponding  semadj  values in all processes are
       cleared.

       The semval, sempid, semzcnt, and semnct values for a semaphore can  all
       be retrieved using appropriate semctl(2) calls.

       The  following  limits  on  semaphore  set resources affect the semop()
       call:

       SEMOPM Maximum number of operations allowed for one semop()  call  (32)
              (on  Linux,  this  limit  can be read and modified via the third
              field of /proc/sys/kernel/sem).

       SEMVMX Maximum allowable value  for  semval:  implementation  dependent
              (32767).

       The implementation has no intrinsic limits for the adjust on exit maxi-
       mum value (SEMAEM), the system wide maximum number of  undo  structures
       (SEMMNU)  and  the  per-process  maximum  number of undo entries system
       parameters.

       semtimedop() first appeared in Linux 2.5.52, and was subsequently back-
       ported into kernel 2.4.22.


BUGS

       When  a  process terminates, its set of associated semadj structures is
       used to undo the effect of all of the semaphore operations it performed
       with  the SEM_UNDO flag.  This raises a difficulty: if one (or more) of
       these semaphore adjustments would result in an attempt  to  decrease  a
       semaphore's  value  below  zero, what should an implementation do?  One
       possible approach would be to block until all the semaphore adjustments
       could  be  performed.  This is however undesirable since it could force
       process termination to block for  arbitrarily  long  periods.   Another
       possibility  is  that such semaphore adjustments could be ignored alto-
       gether (somewhat analogously to failing when  IPC_NOWAIT  is  specified
       for  a semaphore operation).  Linux adopts a third approach: decreasing
       the semaphore value as far as possible (i.e.,  to  zero)  and  allowing
       process termination to proceed immediately.

       In  kernels  2.6.x,  x <= 10, there is a bug that in some circumstances
       prevents a process that is waiting for a semaphore value to become zero
       from being woken up when the value does actually become zero.  This bug
       is fixed in kernel 2.6.11.


CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, SVID.  SVr4 documents additional error conditions EINVAL,  EFBIG,
       ENOSPC.


SEE ALSO

       semctl(2),    semget(2),    sigaction(2),    ipc(5),   capabilities(7),
       sem_overview(7)



Linux 2.6.9                       2004-11-10                          SEMOP(2)


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