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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
lockf — record locking on files
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int lockf(int fildes, int function, off_t size);
DESCRIPTION
The lockf() function shall lock sections of a file with advisory-mode locks. Calls to lockf() from
threads in other processes which attempt to lock the locked file section shall either return an error
value or block until the section becomes unlocked. All the locks for a process are removed when the
process terminates. Record locking with lockf() shall be supported for regular files and may be supported
for other files.
The fildes argument is an open file descriptor. To establish a lock with this function, the file
descriptor shall be opened with write-only permission (O_WRONLY) or with read/write permission (O_RDWR).
The function argument is a control value which specifies the action to be taken. The permissible values
for function are defined in <unistd.h> as follows:
┌─────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Function │ Description │
├─────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│F_ULOCK │ Unlock locked sections. │
│F_LOCK │ Lock a section for exclusive use. │
│F_TLOCK │ Test and lock a section for exclusive use. │
│F_TEST │ Test a section for locks by other processes. │
└─────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
F_TEST shall detect if a lock by another process is present on the specified section.
F_LOCK and F_TLOCK shall both lock a section of a file if the section is available.
F_ULOCK shall remove locks from a section of the file.
The size argument is the number of contiguous bytes to be locked or unlocked. The section to be locked
or unlocked starts at the current offset in the file and extends forward for a positive size or backward
for a negative size (the preceding bytes up to but not including the current offset). If size is 0, the
section from the current offset through the largest possible file offset shall be locked (that is, from
the current offset through the present or any future end-of-file). An area need not be allocated to the
file to be locked because locks may exist past the end-of-file.
The sections locked with F_LOCK or F_TLOCK may, in whole or in part, contain or be contained by a
previously locked section for the same process. When this occurs, or if adjacent locked sections would
occur, the sections shall be combined into a single locked section. If the request would cause the number
of locks to exceed a system-imposed limit, the request shall fail.
F_LOCK and F_TLOCK requests differ only by the action taken if the section is not available. F_LOCK shall
block the calling thread until the section is available. F_TLOCK shall cause the function to fail if the
section is already locked by another process.
File locks shall be released on first close by the locking process of any file descriptor for the file.
F_ULOCK requests may release (wholly or in part) one or more locked sections controlled by the process.
Locked sections shall be unlocked starting at the current file offset through size bytes or to the end-
of-file if size is (off_t)0. When all of a locked section is not released (that is, when the beginning or
end of the area to be unlocked falls within a locked section), the remaining portions of that section
shall remain locked by the process. Releasing the center portion of a locked section shall cause the
remaining locked beginning and end portions to become two separate locked sections. If the request would
cause the number of locks in the system to exceed a system-imposed limit, the request shall fail.
A potential for deadlock occurs if the threads of a process controlling a locked section are blocked by
accessing a locked section of another process. If the system detects that deadlock would occur, lockf()
shall fail with an [EDEADLK] error.
The interaction between fcntl() and lockf() locks is unspecified.
Blocking on a section shall be interrupted by any signal.
An F_ULOCK request in which size is non-zero and the offset of the last byte of the requested section is
the maximum value for an object of type off_t, when the process has an existing lock in which size is 0
and which includes the last byte of the requested section, shall be treated as a request to unlock from
the start of the requested section with a size equal to 0. Otherwise, an F_ULOCK request shall attempt to
unlock only the requested section.
Attempting to lock a section of a file that is associated with a buffered stream produces unspecified
results.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, lockf() shall return 0. Otherwise, it shall return −1, set errno to indicate
an error, and existing locks shall not be changed.
ERRORS
The lockf() function shall fail if:
EBADF The fildes argument is not a valid open file descriptor; or function is F_LOCK or F_TLOCK and
fildes is not a valid file descriptor open for writing.
EACCES or EAGAIN
The function argument is F_TLOCK or F_TEST and the section is already locked by another process.
EDEADLK
The function argument is F_LOCK and a deadlock is detected.
EINTR A signal was caught during execution of the function.
EINVAL The function argument is not one of F_LOCK, F_TLOCK, F_TEST, or F_ULOCK; or size plus the current
file offset is less than 0.
EOVERFLOW
The offset of the first, or if size is not 0 then the last, byte in the requested section cannot
be represented correctly in an object of type off_t.
The lockf() function may fail if:
EAGAIN The function argument is F_LOCK or F_TLOCK and the file is mapped with mmap().
EDEADLK or ENOLCK
The function argument is F_LOCK, F_TLOCK, or F_ULOCK, and the request would cause the number of
locks to exceed a system-imposed limit.
EOPNOTSUPP or EINVAL
The implementation does not support the locking of files of the type indicated by the fildes
argument.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Locking a Portion of a File
In the following example, a file named /home/cnd/mod1 is being modified. Other processes that use locking
are prevented from changing it during this process. Only the first 10000 bytes are locked, and the lock
call fails if another process has any part of this area locked already.
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int fildes;
int status;
...
fildes = open("/home/cnd/mod1", O_RDWR);
status = lockf(fildes, F_TLOCK, (off_t)10000);
APPLICATION USAGE
Record-locking should not be used in combination with the fopen(), fread(), fwrite(), and other stdio
functions. Instead, the more primitive, non-buffered functions (such as open()) should be used.
Unexpected results may occur in processes that do buffering in the user address space. The process may
later read/write data which is/was locked. The stdio functions are the most common source of unexpected
buffering.
The alarm() function may be used to provide a timeout facility in applications requiring it.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
alarm(), chmod(), close(), creat(), fcntl(), fopen(), mmap(), open(), read(), write()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, <unistd.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 been introduced
during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .