Ubuntu Manpage: libpmemobj - persistent memory transactional object store

Provided by: libpmemobj-dev_1.8-1ubuntu1_amd64

NAME

       libpmemobj - persistent memory transactional object store

SYNOPSIS

              #include <libpmemobj.h>
              cc -std=gnu99 ... -lpmemobj -lpmem

   Library API versioning:
              const char *pmemobj_check_version(
                  unsigned major_required,
                  unsigned minor_required);

   Managing library behavior:
              void pmemobj_set_funcs(
                  void *(*malloc_func)(size_t size),
                  void (*free_func)(void *ptr),
                  void *(*realloc_func)(void *ptr, size_t size),
                  char *(*strdup_func)(const char *s));

   Error handling:
              const char *pmemobj_errormsg(void);

   Other library functions:
       A description of other libpmemobj functions can be found on the following manual pages:

       • control and statistics: pmemobj_ctl_get(3)

       • create, open, close and validate: pmemobj_open(3)

       • low-level memory manipulation: pmemobj_memcpy_persist(3)

       • locking: pmemobj_mutex_zero(3)

       • persistent object identifier: OID_IS_NULL(3)

       • type-safety: TOID_DECLARE(3)

       • layout declaration: POBJ_LAYOUT_BEGIN(3)

       • non-transactional atomic allocations: pmemobj_alloc(3)

       • root object management: pmemobj_root(3)

       • object containers: pmemobj_first(3)

       • non-transactional persistent atomic circular doubly-linked list: pmemobj_list_insert(3),
         POBJ_LIST_HEAD(3)

       • transactional   object   manipulation:   pmemobj_tx_begin(3),   pmemobj_tx_add_range(3),
         pmemobj_tx_alloc(3)

       • delayed atomicity actions: pmemobj_action(3) (EXPERIMENTAL)

DESCRIPTION

libpmemobj provides a transactional object store in persistent memory (pmem) for
applications that require transactions and persistent memory management using direct
access storage (DAX), which is storage that supports load/store access without paging
blocks from a block storage device. Some types of non-volatile memory DIMMs (NVDIMMs)
provide this type of byte addressable access to storage. A persistent memory aware file
system is typically used to expose the direct access to applications. Memory mapping a
file from this type of file system results in load/store, non-paged access to pmem.
libpmemobj builds on this type of memory mapped file using the low-level pmem support
provided by libpmem(7), handling the transactional updates, flushing changes to
persistence, and managing recovery for the application.

libpmemobj requires the -std=gnu99 compilation flag to build properly.

libpmemobj is one of a collection of persistent memory libraries available. The others
are:

• libpmemblk(7), providing pmem-resident arrays of fixed-sized blocks with atomic updates.

• libpmemlog(7), providing a pmem-resident log file.

• libpmem(7), low-level persistent memory support.

Under normal usage, libpmemobj will never print messages or intentionally cause the
process to exit. The only exception to this is the debugging information, when enabled,
as described under DEBUGGING AND ERROR HANDLING, below.

LIBRARY API VERSIONING

       This  section  describes  how  the library API is versioned, allowing applications to work
       with an evolving API.

       The pmemobj_check_version() function is used to see if the installed  libpmemobj  supports
       the  version of the library API required by an application.  The easiest way to do this is
       for the application to supply the compile-time version information, supplied by defines in
       <libpmemobj.h>, like this:

              reason = pmemobj_check_version(PMEMOBJ_MAJOR_VERSION,
                                             PMEMOBJ_MINOR_VERSION);
              if (reason != NULL) {
                  /* version check failed, reason string tells you why */
              }

       Any  mismatch  in  the  major version number is considered a failure, but a library with a
       newer minor version number will pass this check  since  increasing  minor  versions  imply
       backwards compatibility.

       An  application  can also check specifically for the existence of an interface by checking
       for the version where that interface was introduced.  These  versions  are  documented  in
       this  man  page  as follows: unless otherwise specified, all interfaces described here are
       available in version 1.0 of the library.  Interfaces added after version 1.0 will  contain
       the text introduced in version x.y in the section of this manual describing the feature.

       On success, pmemobj_check_version() returns NULL.  Otherwise, the return value is a static
       string  describing  the  reason  the  version  check  failed.   The  string  returned   by
       pmemobj_check_version() must not be modified or freed.

MANAGING LIBRARY BEHAVIOR

       The pmemobj_set_funcs() function allows an application to override memory allocation calls
       used internally by libpmemobj.  Passing in NULL for any of the  handlers  will  cause  the
       libpmemobj default function to be used.  The library does not make heavy use of the system
       malloc functions, but it does allocate approximately 4-8 kilobytes for each memory pool in
       use.

       By  default,  libpmemobj  supports  up  to  1024  parallel  transactions/allocations.  For
       debugging purposes it is possible to decrease this value  by  setting  the  PMEMOBJ_NLANES
       environment variable to the desired limit.

DEBUGGING AND ERROR HANDLING

       If  an  error  is  detected  during the call to a libpmemobj function, the application may
       retrieve an error message describing the reason for the failure  from  pmemobj_errormsg().
       This  function  returns  a  pointer  to  a static buffer containing the last error message
       logged for the current thread.  If  errno  was  set,  the  error  message  may  include  a
       description of the corresponding error code as returned by strerror(3).  The error message
       buffer is thread-local; errors encountered in one thread do not affect its value in  other
       threads.   The buffer is never cleared by any library function; its content is significant
       only when the return value of the immediately preceding  call  to  a  libpmemobj  function
       indicated  an  error,  or  if  errno was set.  The application must not modify or free the
       error message string, but it  may  be  modified  by  subsequent  calls  to  other  library
       functions.

       Two  versions  of  libpmemobj are typically available on a development system.  The normal
       version, accessed when a program is linked using the -lpmemobj option,  is  optimized  for
       performance.   That  version skips checks that impact performance and never logs any trace
       information or performs any run-time assertions.

       A second version  of  libpmemobj,  accessed  when  a  program  uses  the  libraries  under
       /usr/lib/pmdk_debug,  contains  run-time  assertions and trace points.  The typical way to
       access  the  debug  version  is  to  set  the  environment  variable  LD_LIBRARY_PATH   to
       /usr/lib/pmdk_debug   or  /usr/lib64/pmdk_debug,  as  appropriate.   Debugging  output  is
       controlled using the following environment variables.  These variables have no  effect  on
       the non-debug version of the library.

              NOTE:  On Debian/Ubuntu systems, this extra debug version of the library is shipped
              in the respective -debug Debian package and placed in the  /usr/lib/$ARCH/pmdk_dbg/
              directory.

       • PMEMOBJ_LOG_LEVEL

       The  value  of PMEMOBJ_LOG_LEVEL enables trace points in the debug version of the library,
       as follows:

       • 0 - This is the default level when PMEMOBJ_LOG_LEVEL is not set.  No  log  messages  are
         emitted at this level.

       • 1  -  Additional details on any errors detected are logged, in addition to returning the
         errno-based  errors  as  usual.   The  same   information   may   be   retrieved   using
         pmemobj_errormsg().

       • 2 - A trace of basic operations is logged.

       • 3 - Enables a very verbose amount of function call tracing in the library.

       • 4 - Enables voluminous and fairly obscure tracing information that is likely only useful
         to the libpmemobj developers.

       Unless PMEMOBJ_LOG_FILE is set, debugging output is written to stderr.

       • PMEMOBJ_LOG_FILE

       Specifies the name of a file where all logging information should be written.  If the last
       character  in the name is “-”, the PID of the current process will be appended to the file
       name when the log file is created.  If PMEMOBJ_LOG_FILE is  not  set,  logging  output  is
       written to stderr.

       See  also  libpmem(7)  to  get  information  about  other  environment variables affecting
       libpmemobj behavior.

EXAMPLE

       See <https://pmem.io/pmdk/libpmemobj> for examples using the libpmemobj API.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       libpmemobj builds on the persistent memory programming model recommended by the  SNIA  NVM
       Programming Technical Work Group: <https://snia.org/nvmp>