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SEM_OPEN(3)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                   SEM_OPEN(3)

NAME         top

       sem_open - initialize and open a named semaphore

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <fcntl.h>           /* For O_* constants */
       #include <sys/stat.h>        /* For mode constants */
       #include <semaphore.h>

       sem_t *sem_open(const char *name, int oflag);
       sem_t *sem_open(const char *name, int oflag,
                       mode_t mode, unsigned int value);

       Link with -lrt or -pthread.

DESCRIPTION         top

       sem_open() creates a new POSIX semaphore or opens an existing semaphore.  The
       semaphore is identified by name.  For details of the construction of name, see
       sem_overview(7).

       The oflag argument specifies flags that control the operation of the call.
       (Definitions of the flags values can be obtained by including <fcntl.h>.)  If
       O_CREAT is specified in oflag, then the semaphore is created if it does not
       already exist.  The owner (user ID) of the semaphore is set to the effective
       user ID of the calling process.  The group ownership (group ID) is set to the
       effective group ID of the calling process.  If both O_CREAT and O_EXCL are
       specified in oflag, then an error is returned if a semaphore with the given
       name already exists.

       If O_CREAT is specified in oflag, then two additional arguments must be
       supplied.  The mode argument specifies the permissions to be placed on the new
       semaphore, as for open(2).  (Symbolic definitions for the permissions bits can
       be obtained by including <sys/stat.h>.)  The permissions settings are masked
       against the process umask.  Both read and write permission should be granted
       to each class of user that will access the semaphore.  The value argument
       specifies the initial value for the new semaphore.  If O_CREAT is specified,
       and a semaphore with the given name already exists, then mode and value are
       ignored.

RETURN VALUE         top

       On success, sem_open() returns the address of the new semaphore; this address
       is used when calling other semaphore-related functions.  On error, sem_open()
       returns SEM_FAILED, with errno set to indicate the error.

ERRORS         top

       EACCES The semaphore exists, but the caller does not have permission to open
              it.

       EEXIST Both O_CREAT and O_EXCL were specified in oflag, but a semaphore with
              this name already exists.

       EINVAL value was greater than SEM_VALUE_MAX.

       EINVAL name consists of just "/", followed by no other characters.

       EMFILE The process already has the maximum number of files and open.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              name was too long.

       ENFILE The system limit on the total number of open files has been reached.

       ENOENT The O_CREAT flag was not specified in oflag and no semaphore with this
              name exists; or, O_CREAT was specified, but name wasn't well formed.

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory.

CONFORMING TO         top

       POSIX.1-2001.

SEE ALSO         top

       sem_close(3), sem_getvalue(3), sem_post(3), sem_unlink(3), sem_wait(3),
       sem_overview(7)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of release 3.32 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found
       at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                                 2009-02-20                          SEM_OPEN(3)

HTML rendering created 2010-12-03 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface

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