Ubuntu Manpage: kcmp - compare two processes to determine if they share a kernel resource

NAME

       kcmp - compare two processes to determine if they share a kernel resource

SYNOPSIS

       #include <linux/kcmp.h>

       int kcmp(pid_t pid1, pid_t pid2, int type,
                unsigned long idx1, unsigned long idx2);

       Note: There is no glibc wrapper for this system call; see NOTES.

DESCRIPTION

The kcmp() system call can be used to check whether the two processes identified by pid1 and pid2 share a
kernel resource such as virtual memory, file descriptors, and so on.

The type argument specifies which resource is to be compared in the two processes. It has one of the
following values:

KCMP_FILE
Check whether a file descriptor idx1 in the process pid1 refers to the same open file description
(see open(2)) as file descriptor idx2 in the process pid2.

KCMP_FILES
Check whether the process share the same set of open file descriptors. The arguments idx1 and
idx2 are ignored.

KCMP_FS
Check whether the processes share the same filesystem information (i.e., file mode creation mask,
working directory, and filesystem root). The arguments idx1 and idx2 are ignored.

KCMP_IO
Check whether the processes share I/O context. The arguments idx1 and idx2 are ignored.

KCMP_SIGHAND
Check whether the processes share the same table of signal dispositions. The arguments idx1 and
idx2 are ignored.

KCMP_SYSVSEM
Check whether the processes share the same list of System V semaphore undo operations. The
arguments idx1 and idx2 are ignored.

KCMP_VM
Check whether the processes share the same address space. The arguments idx1 and idx2 are
ignored.

Note the kcmp() is not protected against false positives which may occur if tasks are running. One
should stop tasks by sending SIGSTOP (see signal(7)) prior to inspection with this system call to obtain
meaningful results.

RETURN VALUE

       The return value of a successful call to kcmp() is simply the result of arithmetic comparison  of  kernel
       pointers (when the kernel compares resources, it uses their memory addresses).

       The  easiest  way  to  explain  is  to  consider an example.  Suppose that v1 and v2 are the addresses of
       appropriate resources, then the return value is one of the following:

           0   v1 is equal to v2; in other words, the two processes share the resource.

           1   v1 is less than v2.

           2   v1 is greater than v2.

           3   v1 is not equal to v2, but ordering information is unavailable.

       On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

       kcmp() was designed to return values suitable for sorting.  This is particularly handy if  one  needs  to
       compare a large number of file descriptors.

ERRORS

       EBADF  type is KCMP_FILE and fd1 or fd2 is not an open file descriptor.

       EINVAL type is invalid.

       EPERM  Insufficient  permission  to inspect process resources.  The CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability is required
              to inspect processes that you do not own.

       ESRCH  Process pid1 or pid2 does not exist.

VERSIONS

       The kcmp() system call first appeared in Linux 3.5.

CONFORMING TO

       kcmp() is Linux-specific and should not be used in programs intended to be portable.

NOTES

       Glibc does not provide a wrapper for this system call; call it using syscall(2).

       This system call is available only if the kernel was configured with CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE.  The main
       use of the system call is for the checkpoint/restore in user space (CRIU) feature.   The  alternative  to
       this  system call would have been to expose suitable process information via the proc(5) filesystem; this
       was deemed to be unsuitable for security reasons.

       See clone(2) for some background information on the shared resources referred to on this page.

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 4.04 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
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                                              2013-12-08                                            KCMP(2)