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NAME

       svipc - System V interprocess communication mechanisms

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/msg.h>
       #include <sys/sem.h>
       #include <sys/shm.h>

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  refers  to  the  Linux  implementation  of  the  System V interprocess
       communication  (IPC)  mechanisms:  message  queues,  semaphore  sets,  and  shared  memory
       segments.   In  the  following, the word resource means an instantiation of one among such
       mechanisms.

   Resource access permissions
       For each resource, the system uses a common structure of type  struct  ipc_perm  to  store
       information  needed  in determining permissions to perform an IPC operation.  The ipc_perm
       structure includes the following members:

           struct ipc_perm {
               uid_t          cuid;   /* creator user ID */
               gid_t          cgid;   /* creator group ID */
               uid_t          uid;    /* owner user ID */
               gid_t          gid;    /* owner group ID */
               unsigned short mode;   /* r/w permissions */
           };

       The mode member of the ipc_perm structure defines, with  its  lower  9  bits,  the  access
       permissions  to  the resource for a process executing an IPC system call.  The permissions
       are interpreted as follows:

           0400    Read by user.
           0200    Write by user.
           0040    Read by group.
           0020    Write by group.
           0004    Read by others.
           0002    Write by others.

       Bits 0100, 0010, and 0001 (the execute bits)  are  unused  by  the  system.   Furthermore,
       "write" effectively means "alter" for a semaphore set.

       The same system header file also defines the following symbolic constants:

       IPC_CREAT     Create entry if key doesn't exist.

       IPC_EXCL      Fail if key exists.

       IPC_NOWAIT    Error if request must wait.

       IPC_PRIVATE   Private key.

       IPC_RMID      Remove resource.

       IPC_SET       Set resource options.

       IPC_STAT      Get resource options.

       Note  that  IPC_PRIVATE  is  a key_t type, while all the other symbolic constants are flag
       fields and can be OR'ed into an int type variable.

   Message queues
       A message queue is uniquely identified by a  positive  integer  (its  msqid)  and  has  an
       associated  data structure of type struct msqid_ds, defined in <sys/msg.h>, containing the
       following members:

           struct msqid_ds {
               struct ipc_perm msg_perm;
               msgqnum_t       msg_qnum;    /* no of messages on queue */
               msglen_t        msg_qbytes;  /* bytes max on a queue */
               pid_t           msg_lspid;   /* PID of last msgsnd(2) call */
               pid_t           msg_lrpid;   /* PID of last msgrcv(2) call */
               time_t          msg_stime;   /* last msgsnd(2) time */
               time_t          msg_rtime;   /* last msgrcv(2) time */
               time_t          msg_ctime;   /* last change time */
           };

       msg_perm   ipc_perm structure that specifies the access permissions on the message queue.

       msg_qnum   Number of messages currently on the message queue.

       msg_qbytes Maximum number of bytes of message text allowed on the message queue.

       msg_lspid  ID of the process that performed the last msgsnd(2) system call.

       msg_lrpid  ID of the process that performed the last msgrcv(2) system call.

       msg_stime  Time of the last msgsnd(2) system call.

       msg_rtime  Time of the last msgrcv(2) system call.

       msg_ctime  Time of the last system call that changed a member of the msqid_ds structure.

   Semaphore sets
       A semaphore set is uniquely identified by a  positive  integer  (its  semid)  and  has  an
       associated  data structure of type struct semid_ds, defined in <sys/sem.h>, containing the
       following members:

           struct semid_ds {
               struct ipc_perm sem_perm;
               time_t          sem_otime;   /* last operation time */
               time_t          sem_ctime;   /* last change time */
               unsigned long   sem_nsems;   /* count of sems in set */
           };

       sem_perm   ipc_perm structure that specifies the access permissions on the semaphore set.

       sem_otime  Time of last semop(2) system call.

       sem_ctime  Time of last semctl(2) system call that changed a member of the above structure
                  or of one semaphore belonging to the set.

       sem_nsems  Number  of semaphores in the set.  Each semaphore of the set is referenced by a
                  nonnegative integer ranging from 0 to sem_nsems-1.

       A semaphore is a data structure of type struct sem containing the following members:

           struct sem {
               int semval;  /* semaphore value */
               int sempid;  /* PID for last operation */
           };

       semval     Semaphore value: a nonnegative integer.

       sempid     ID of the last process that performed a semaphore operation on this semaphore.

   Shared memory segments
       A shared memory segment is uniquely identified by a positive integer (its shmid)  and  has
       an  associated  data structure of type struct shmid_ds, defined in <sys/shm.h>, containing
       the following members:

           struct shmid_ds {
               struct ipc_perm shm_perm;
               size_t          shm_segsz;   /* size of segment */
               pid_t           shm_cpid;    /* PID of creator */
               pid_t           shm_lpid;    /* PID, last operation */
               shmatt_t        shm_nattch;  /* no. of current attaches */
               time_t          shm_atime;   /* time of last attach */
               time_t          shm_dtime;   /* time of last detach */
               time_t          shm_ctime;   /* time of last change */
           };

       shm_perm   ipc_perm structure that specifies the access permissions on the  shared  memory
                  segment.

       shm_segsz  Size in bytes of the shared memory segment.

       shm_cpid   ID of the process that created the shared memory segment.

       shm_lpid   ID of the last process that executed a shmat(2) or shmdt(2) system call.

       shm_nattch Number of current alive attaches for this shared memory segment.

       shm_atime  Time of the last shmat(2) system call.

       shm_dtime  Time of the last shmdt(2) system call.

       shm_ctime  Time of the last shmctl(2) system call that changed shmid_ds.

   IPC namespaces
       For  a  discussion  of  the  interaction  of  System V IPC objects and IPC namespaces, see
       namespaces(7).

SEE ALSO

       ipcmk(1),  ipcrm(1),  ipcs(1),  ipc(2),  msgctl(2),   msgget(2),   msgrcv(2),   msgsnd(2),
       semctl(2),   semget(2),  semop(2),  shmat(2),  shmctl(2),  shmdt(2),  shmget(2),  ftok(3),
       namespaces(7)

COLOPHON

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       project,  information  about  reporting  bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.