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PROLOG

       This  manual  page  is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of
       this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux  manual  page  for  details  of
       Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       semctl — XSI semaphore control operations

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/sem.h>

       int semctl(int semid, int semnum, int cmd, ...);

DESCRIPTION

       The  semctl()  function  operates  on  XSI  semaphores (see the Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1‐2008,  Section  4.16,  Semaphore).   It  is  unspecified  whether  this   function
       interoperates  with  the realtime interprocess communication facilities defined in Section
       2.8, Realtime.

       The semctl() function provides a variety of semaphore control operations as  specified  by
       cmd.   The  fourth  argument  is  optional  and  depends  upon the operation requested. If
       required, it is of type union semun, which the application shall explicitly declare:

           union semun {
               int val;
               struct semid_ds *buf;
               unsigned short  *array;
           } arg;

       The following semaphore control operations as specified by cmd are executed  with  respect
       to the semaphore specified by semid and semnum.  The level of permission required for each
       operation is shown with each command; see Section  2.7,  XSI  Interprocess  Communication.
       The symbolic names for the values of cmd are defined in the <sys/sem.h> header:

       GETVAL      Return the value of semval; see <sys/sem.h>.  Requires read permission.

       SETVAL      Set  the  value  of  semval  to  arg.val, where arg is the value of the fourth
                   argument to semctl().  When this command is successfully executed, the  semadj
                   value  corresponding  to  the specified semaphore in all processes is cleared.
                   Also, the sem_ctime timestamp shall be set to the current time,  as  described
                   in  Section  2.7.1,  IPC  General Description.  Requires alter permission; see
                   Section 2.7, XSI Interprocess Communication.

       GETPID      Return the value of sempid.  Requires read permission.

       GETNCNT     Return the value of semncnt.  Requires read permission.

       GETZCNT     Return the value of semzcnt.  Requires read permission.

       The following values of cmd operate on each semval in the set of semaphores:

       GETALL      Return the value of semval for each semaphore in the semaphore set  and  place
                   into  the  array  pointed to by arg.array, where arg is the fourth argument to
                   semctl().  Requires read permission.

       SETALL      Set the value of semval for each semaphore in the semaphore set  according  to
                   the  array  pointed  to  by  arg.array,  where  arg  is the fourth argument to
                   semctl().  When this command  is  successfully  executed,  the  semadj  values
                   corresponding  to each specified semaphore in all processes are cleared. Also,
                   the sem_ctime timestamp shall be set to the  current  time,  as  described  in
                   Section 2.7.1, IPC General Description.  Requires alter permission.

       The following values of cmd are also available:

       IPC_STAT    Place  the  current  value  of  each  member  of  the  semid_ds data structure
                   associated with semid into the structure pointed to by arg.buf, where  arg  is
                   the  fourth  argument to semctl().  The contents of this structure are defined
                   in <sys/sem.h>.  Requires read permission.

       IPC_SET     Set the value  of  the  following  members  of  the  semid_ds  data  structure
                   associated  with  semid  to  the  corresponding  value  found in the structure
                   pointed to by arg.buf, where arg is the fourth argument to semctl():

                       sem_perm.uid
                       sem_perm.gid
                       sem_perm.mode

                   The mode bits specified in Section 2.7.1, IPC General Description  are  copied
                   into  the  corresponding bits of the sem_perm.mode associated with semid.  The
                   stored values of any other bits are unspecified. The sem_ctime timestamp shall
                   be  set  to  the  current  time,  as  described  in Section 2.7.1, IPC General
                   Description.

                   This command can only be executed by a process that has an effective  user  ID
                   equal  to either that of a process with appropriate privileges or to the value
                   of sem_perm.cuid or sem_perm.uid in the  semid_ds  data  structure  associated
                   with semid.

       IPC_RMID    Remove the semaphore identifier specified by semid from the system and destroy
                   the set of semaphores and semid_ds data structure  associated  with  it.  This
                   command  can only be executed by a process that has an effective user ID equal
                   to either that of a process with appropriate privileges or  to  the  value  of
                   sem_perm.cuid  or  sem_perm.uid in the semid_ds data structure associated with
                   semid.

RETURN VALUE

       If successful, the value returned by semctl() depends on cmd as follows:

       GETVAL      The value of semval.

       GETPID      The value of sempid.

       GETNCNT     The value of semncnt.

       GETZCNT     The value of semzcnt.

       All others  0.

       Otherwise, semctl() shall return −1 and set errno to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The semctl() function shall fail if:

       EACCES Operation permission is denied  to  the  calling  process;  see  Section  2.7,  XSI
              Interprocess Communication.

       EINVAL The  value  of semid is not a valid semaphore identifier, or the value of semnum is
              less than 0 or greater than or equal to sem_nsems, or the value of  cmd  is  not  a
              valid command.

       EPERM  The  argument  cmd is equal to IPC_RMID or IPC_SET and the effective user ID of the
              calling process is not equal to that of a process with appropriate  privileges  and
              it is not equal to the value of sem_perm.cuid or sem_perm.uid in the data structure
              associated with semid.

       ERANGE The argument cmd is equal to SETVAL or SETALL and the value to which semval  is  to
              be set is greater than the system-imposed maximum.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       Refer to semop().

APPLICATION USAGE

       The fourth parameter in the SYNOPSIS section is now specified as "..." in order to avoid a
       clash with the ISO C standard when referring to the union semun (as defined  in  Issue  3)
       and for backwards-compatibility.

       The   POSIX   Realtime   Extension   defines   alternative   interfaces  for  interprocess
       communication. Application developers who need to use IPC should design their applications
       so  that  modules  using  the  IPC  routines  described  in  Section 2.7, XSI Interprocess
       Communication can be easily modified to use the alternative interfaces.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       Section 2.7, XSI Interprocess Communication, Section 2.8, Realtime, semget(), semop(),
       sem_close(), sem_destroy(), sem_getvalue(), sem_init(), sem_open(), sem_post(),
       sem_trywait(), sem_unlink()

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 4.16, Semaphore, <sys_sem.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and  reproduced  in  electronic  form  from  IEEE  Std
       1003.1,  2013  Edition,  Standard  for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System
       Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013  by  the
       Institute  of  Electrical  and  Electronics  Engineers,  Inc and The Open Group.  (This is
       POSIX.1-2008 with the  2013  Technical  Corrigendum  1  applied.)  In  the  event  of  any
       discrepancy  between  this  version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the
       original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The  original  Standard
       can be obtained online at http://www.unix.org/online.html .

       Any  typographical  or  formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have
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