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NAME

       timerfd_create, timerfd_settime, timerfd_gettime - timers that notify via file descriptors

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/timerfd.h>

       int timerfd_create(int clockid, int flags);

       int timerfd_settime(int fd, int flags,
                           const struct itimerspec *new_value,
                           struct itimerspec *old_value);

       int timerfd_gettime(int fd, struct itimerspec *curr_value);

DESCRIPTION

       These  system  calls  create  and  operate  on  a  timer  that  delivers  timer expiration
       notifications via  a  file  descriptor.   They  provide  an  alternative  to  the  use  of
       setitimer(2)  or  timer_create(2),  with  the  advantage  that  the file descriptor may be
       monitored by select(2), poll(2), and epoll(7).

       The use of  these  three  system  calls  is  analogous  to  the  use  of  timer_create(2),
       timer_settime(2), and timer_gettime(2).  (There is no analog of timer_getoverrun(2), since
       that functionality is provided by read(2), as described below.)

   timerfd_create()
       timerfd_create() creates a new timer object, and returns a file descriptor that refers  to
       that timer.  The clockid argument specifies the clock that is used to mark the progress of
       the timer, and must be one of the following:

       CLOCK_REALTIME
              A settable system-wide real-time clock.

       CLOCK_MONOTONIC
              A  nonsettable  monotonically  increasing  clock  that  measures  time  from   some
              unspecified point in the past that does not change after system startup.

       CLOCK_BOOTTIME (Since Linux 3.15)
              Like  CLOCK_MONOTONIC,  this is a monotonically increasing clock.  However, whereas
              the CLOCK_MONOTONIC clock does not measure the time while a  system  is  suspended,
              the  CLOCK_BOOTTIME  clock  does  include  the  time  during  which  the  system is
              suspended.  This  is  useful  for  applications  that  need  to  be  suspend-aware.
              CLOCK_REALTIME  is not suitable for such applications, since that clock is affected
              by discontinuous changes to the system clock.

       CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM (since Linux 3.11)
              This clock is like CLOCK_REALTIME, but will wake the system  if  it  is  suspended.
              The  caller must have the CAP_WAKE_ALARM capability in order to set a timer against
              this clock.

       CLOCK_BOOTTIME_ALARM (since Linux 3.11)
              This clock is like CLOCK_BOOTTIME, but will wake the system  if  it  is  suspended.
              The  caller must have the CAP_WAKE_ALARM capability in order to set a timer against
              this clock.

       See clock_getres(2) for some further details on the above clocks.

       The current value of each of these clocks can be retrieved using clock_gettime(2).

       Starting with Linux 2.6.27, the following values may be bitwise ORed in  flags  to  change
       the behavior of timerfd_create():

       TFD_NONBLOCK  Set  the  O_NONBLOCK  file  status  flag  on  the open file description (see
                     open(2)) referred to by the new file  descriptor.   Using  this  flag  saves
                     extra calls to fcntl(2) to achieve the same result.

       TFD_CLOEXEC   Set the close-on-exec (FD_CLOEXEC) flag on the new file descriptor.  See the
                     description of the O_CLOEXEC flag in open(2) for reasons  why  this  may  be
                     useful.

       In Linux versions up to and including 2.6.26, flags must be specified as zero.

   timerfd_settime()
       timerfd_settime()  arms  (starts)  or  disarms  (stops)  the timer referred to by the file
       descriptor fd.

       The new_value argument specifies the initial expiration and interval for the  timer.   The
       itimerspec  structure used for this argument contains two fields, each of which is in turn
       a structure of type timespec:

           struct timespec {
               time_t tv_sec;                /* Seconds */
               long   tv_nsec;               /* Nanoseconds */
           };

           struct itimerspec {
               struct timespec it_interval;  /* Interval for periodic timer */
               struct timespec it_value;     /* Initial expiration */
           };

       new_value.it_value  specifies  the  initial  expiration  of  the  timer,  in  seconds  and
       nanoseconds.   Setting  either  field  of  new_value.it_value  to a nonzero value arms the
       timer.  Setting both fields of new_value.it_value to zero disarms the timer.

       Setting one or both fields  of  new_value.it_interval  to  nonzero  values  specifies  the
       period,  in  seconds  and  nanoseconds,  for  repeated timer expirations after the initial
       expiration.  If both fields of new_value.it_interval are  zero,  the  timer  expires  just
       once, at the time specified by new_value.it_value.

       By  default, the initial expiration time specified in new_value is interpreted relative to
       the current time on the timer's clock at the time of the  call  (i.e.,  new_value.it_value
       specifies  a  time  relative  to the current value of the clock specified by clockid).  An
       absolute timeout can be selected via the flags argument.

       The flags argument is a bit mask that can include the following values:

       TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME
              Interpret new_value.it_value as an absolute value on the timer's clock.  The  timer
              will  expire  when  the  value  of the timer's clock reaches the value specified in
              new_value.it_value.

       TFD_TIMER_CANCEL_ON_SET
              If this flag is specified along with TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME and the clock for this timer
              is  CLOCK_REALTIME  or  CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM, then mark this timer as cancelable if
              the  real-time   clock   undergoes   a   discontinuous   change   (settimeofday(2),
              clock_settime(2),  or  similar).   When  such  changes  occur,  a current or future
              read(2) from the file descriptor will fail with the error ECANCELED.

       If the old_value argument is not NULL, then the itimerspec structure that it points to  is
       used  to return the setting of the timer that was current at the time of the call; see the
       description of timerfd_gettime() following.

   timerfd_gettime()
       timerfd_gettime() returns, in  curr_value,  an  itimerspec  structure  that  contains  the
       current setting of the timer referred to by the file descriptor fd.

       The  it_value  field returns the amount of time until the timer will next expire.  If both
       fields of this structure are zero, then the  timer  is  currently  disarmed.   This  field
       always  contains  a  relative  value, regardless of whether the TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME flag was
       specified when setting the timer.

       The it_interval field returns the interval of the timer.  If both fields of this structure
       are  zero,  then  the  timer  is  set  to  expire  just  once,  at  the  time specified by
       curr_value.it_value.

   Operating on a timer file descriptor
       The file  descriptor  returned  by  timerfd_create()  supports  the  following  additional
       operations:

       read(2)
              If  the  timer  has  already expired one or more times since its settings were last
              modified using timerfd_settime(), or since the last successful  read(2),  then  the
              buffer  given  to  read(2) returns an unsigned 8-byte integer (uint64_t) containing
              the number of expirations that have occurred.  (The returned value is in host  byte
              order—that is, the native byte order for integers on the host machine.)

              If  no  timer  expirations  have occurred at the time of the read(2), then the call
              either blocks until the next timer expiration, or fails with the  error  EAGAIN  if
              the  file descriptor has been made nonblocking (via the use of the fcntl(2) F_SETFL
              operation to set the O_NONBLOCK flag).

              A read(2) fails with the error EINVAL if the size of the supplied  buffer  is  less
              than 8 bytes.

              If the associated clock is either CLOCK_REALTIME or CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM, the timer
              is absolute (TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME), and the flag TFD_TIMER_CANCEL_ON_SET was specified
              when  calling timerfd_settime(), then read(2) fails with the error ECANCELED if the
              real-time clock  undergoes  a  discontinuous  change.   (This  allows  the  reading
              application to discover such discontinuous changes to the clock.)

              If the associated clock is either CLOCK_REALTIME or CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM, the timer
              is absolute (TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME),  and  the  flag  TFD_TIMER_CANCEL_ON_SET  was  not
              specified  when  calling timerfd_settime(), then a discontinuous negative change to
              the clock (e.g., clock_settime(2)) may cause read(2) to unblock, but return a value
              of  0 (i.e., no bytes read), if the clock change occurs after the time expired, but
              before the read(2) on the file descriptor.

       poll(2), select(2) (and similar)
              The file descriptor is readable (the select(2) readfds argument; the poll(2) POLLIN
              flag) if one or more timer expirations have occurred.

              The  file  descriptor  also  supports  the other file-descriptor multiplexing APIs:
              pselect(2), ppoll(2), and epoll(7).

       ioctl(2)
              The following timerfd-specific command is supported:

              TFD_IOC_SET_TICKS (since Linux 3.17)
                     Adjust the number of timer expirations that have occurred.  The argument  is
                     a  pointer to a nonzero 8-byte integer (uint64_t*) containing the new number
                     of expirations.  Once the number is set, any waiter on the  timer  is  woken
                     up.   The only purpose of this command is to restore the expirations for the
                     purpose of checkpoint/restore.  This operation  is  available  only  if  the
                     kernel was configured with the CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE option.

       close(2)
              When  the file descriptor is no longer required it should be closed.  When all file
              descriptors associated with the same timer object have been closed,  the  timer  is
              disarmed and its resources are freed by the kernel.

   fork(2) semantics
       After   a  fork(2),  the  child  inherits  a  copy  of  the  file  descriptor  created  by
       timerfd_create().  The file descriptor refers to the same underlying timer object  as  the
       corresponding  file  descriptor  in  the  parent,  and  read(2)s  in the child will return
       information about expirations of the timer.

   execve(2) semantics
       A file descriptor created by timerfd_create() is preserved across execve(2), and continues
       to generate timer expirations if the timer was armed.

RETURN VALUE

       On  success, timerfd_create() returns a new file descriptor.  On error, -1 is returned and
       errno is set to indicate the error.

       timerfd_settime() and timerfd_gettime() return 0 on success; on error they return -1,  and
       set errno to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       timerfd_create() can fail with the following errors:

       EINVAL The clockid is not valid.

       EINVAL flags is invalid; or, in Linux 2.6.26 or earlier, flags is nonzero.

       EMFILE The per-process limit on the number of open file descriptors has been reached.

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

       ENODEV Could not mount (internal) anonymous inode device.

       ENOMEM There was insufficient kernel memory to create the timer.

       EPERM  clockid  was  CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM  or  CLOCK_BOOTTIME_ALARM but the caller did not
              have the CAP_WAKE_ALARM capability.

       timerfd_settime() and timerfd_gettime() can fail with the following errors:

       EBADF  fd is not a valid file descriptor.

       EFAULT new_value, old_value, or curr_value is not valid a pointer.

       EINVAL fd is not a valid timerfd file descriptor.

       timerfd_settime() can also fail with the following errors:

       ECANCELED
              See NOTES.

       EINVAL new_value is not properly initialized (one of the tv_nsec falls outside  the  range
              zero to 999,999,999).

       EINVAL flags is invalid.

VERSIONS

       These  system  calls  are  available  on  Linux  since  kernel 2.6.25.  Library support is
       provided by glibc since version 2.8.

CONFORMING TO

       These system calls are Linux-specific.

NOTES

       Suppose the following scenario for CLOCK_REALTIME or CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM timer  that  was
       created with timerfd_create():

       (a) The  timer  has  been  started  (timerfd_settime())  with  the  TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME  and
           TFD_TIMER_CANCEL_ON_SET flags;

       (b) A  discontinuous  change  (e.g.,  settimeofday(2))  is  subsequently   made   to   the
           CLOCK_REALTIME clock; and

       (c) the caller once more calls timerfd_settime() to rearm the timer (without first doing a
           read(2) on the file descriptor).

       In this case the following occurs:

       • The timerfd_settime() returns -1 with errno set to ECANCELED.  (This enables the  caller
         to know that the previous timer was affected by a discontinuous change to the clock.)

       • The   timer   is   successfully  rearmed  with  the  settings  provided  in  the  second
         timerfd_settime() call.  (This was probably an implementation  accident,  but  won't  be
         fixed now, in case there are applications that depend on this behaviour.)

BUGS

       Currently, timerfd_create() supports fewer types of clock IDs than timer_create(2).

EXAMPLES

       The following program creates a timer and then monitors its progress.  The program accepts
       up to three command-line arguments.  The first argument specifies the  number  of  seconds
       for  the  initial expiration of the timer.  The second argument specifies the interval for
       the timer, in seconds.  The third argument specifies  the  number  of  times  the  program
       should  allow  the  timer to expire before terminating.  The second and third command-line
       arguments are optional.

       The following shell session demonstrates the use of the program:

           $ a.out 3 1 100
           0.000: timer started
           3.000: read: 1; total=1
           4.000: read: 1; total=2
           ^Z                  # type control-Z to suspend the program
           [1]+  Stopped                 ./timerfd3_demo 3 1 100
           $ fg                # Resume execution after a few seconds
           a.out 3 1 100
           9.660: read: 5; total=7
           10.000: read: 1; total=8
           11.000: read: 1; total=9
           ^C                  # type control-C to suspend the program

   Program source

       #include <sys/timerfd.h>
       #include <time.h>
       #include <unistd.h>
       #include <inttypes.h>      /* Definition of PRIu64 */
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdint.h>        /* Definition of uint64_t */

       #define handle_error(msg) \
               do { perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (0)

       static void
       print_elapsed_time(void)
       {
           static struct timespec start;
           struct timespec curr;
           static int first_call = 1;
           int secs, nsecs;

           if (first_call) {
               first_call = 0;
               if (clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &start) == -1)
                   handle_error("clock_gettime");
           }

           if (clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &curr) == -1)
               handle_error("clock_gettime");

           secs = curr.tv_sec - start.tv_sec;
           nsecs = curr.tv_nsec - start.tv_nsec;
           if (nsecs < 0) {
               secs--;
               nsecs += 1000000000;
           }
           printf("%d.%03d: ", secs, (nsecs + 500000) / 1000000);
       }

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
           struct itimerspec new_value;
           int max_exp, fd;
           struct timespec now;
           uint64_t exp, tot_exp;
           ssize_t s;

           if ((argc != 2) && (argc != 4)) {
               fprintf(stderr, "%s init-secs [interval-secs max-exp]\n",
                       argv[0]);
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           if (clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &now) == -1)
               handle_error("clock_gettime");

           /* Create a CLOCK_REALTIME absolute timer with initial
              expiration and interval as specified in command line */

           new_value.it_value.tv_sec = now.tv_sec + atoi(argv[1]);
           new_value.it_value.tv_nsec = now.tv_nsec;
           if (argc == 2) {
               new_value.it_interval.tv_sec = 0;
               max_exp = 1;
           } else {
               new_value.it_interval.tv_sec = atoi(argv[2]);
               max_exp = atoi(argv[3]);
           }
           new_value.it_interval.tv_nsec = 0;

           fd = timerfd_create(CLOCK_REALTIME, 0);
           if (fd == -1)
               handle_error("timerfd_create");

           if (timerfd_settime(fd, TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME, &new_value, NULL) == -1)
               handle_error("timerfd_settime");

           print_elapsed_time();
           printf("timer started\n");

           for (tot_exp = 0; tot_exp < max_exp;) {
               s = read(fd, &exp, sizeof(uint64_t));
               if (s != sizeof(uint64_t))
                   handle_error("read");

               tot_exp += exp;
               print_elapsed_time();
               printf("read: %" PRIu64 "; total=%" PRIu64 "\n", exp, tot_exp);
           }

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       eventfd(2),  poll(2),  read(2),  select(2),  setitimer(2),  signalfd(2),  timer_create(2),
       timer_gettime(2), timer_settime(2), epoll(7), time(7)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 5.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.