Minix Man Pages

Man Page or Keyword Search:
Man Architecture
Apropos Keyword Search (all sections) Output format
home | help
x minix x
x minixx
SHMCTL(2)                  Linux Programmer's Manual                 SHMCTL(2)

NAME
       shmctl - System V shared memory control

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/ipc.h>
       #include <sys/shm.h>

       int shmctl(int shmid, int cmd, struct shmid_ds *buf);

DESCRIPTION
       shmctl()  performs  the  control operation specified by cmd on the Sys-
       tem V shared memory segment whose identifier is given in shmid.

       The buf argument is a pointer  to  a  shmid_ds  structure,  defined  in
       _sys/shm.h_ as follows:

           struct shmid_ds {
               struct ipc_perm shm_perm;    /* Ownership and permissions */
               size_t          shm_segsz;   /* Size of segment (bytes) */
               time_t          shm_atime;   /* Last attach time */
               time_t          shm_dtime;   /* Last detach time */
               time_t          shm_ctime;   /* Last change time */
               pid_t           shm_cpid;    /* PID of creator */
               pid_t           shm_lpid;    /* PID of last shmat(2)/shmdt(2) */
               shmatt_t        shm_nattch;  /* No. of current attaches */
               ...
           };

       The  ipc_perm  structure  is defined as follows (the highlighted fields
       are settable using IPC_SET):

           struct ipc_perm {
               key_t          __key;    /* Key supplied to shmget(2) */
               uid_t          uid;      /* Effective UID of owner */
               gid_t          gid;      /* Effective GID of owner */
               uid_t          cuid;     /* Effective UID of creator */
               gid_t          cgid;     /* Effective GID of creator */
               unsigned short mode;     /* Permissions + SHM_DEST and
                                           SHM_LOCKED flags */
               unsigned short __seq;    /* Sequence number */
           };

       Valid values for cmd are:

       IPC_STAT  Copy information from the kernel  data  structure  associated
                 with  shmid  into  the  shmid_ds structure pointed to by buf.
                 The caller must have read permission  on  the  shared  memory
                 segment.

       IPC_SET   Write  the  values  of some members of the shmid_ds structure
                 pointed to by buf to the  kernel  data  structure  associated
                 with  this shared memory segment, updating also its shm_ctime
                 member.  The following fields can be  changed:  shm_perm.uid,
                 shm_perm.gid,   and   (the   least  significant  9  bits  of)
                 shm_perm.mode.  The effective UID of the calling process must
                 match  the owner (shm_perm.uid) or creator (shm_perm.cuid) of
                 the shared memory segment, or the caller must be privileged.

       IPC_RMID  Mark the segment to be destroyed.  The segment will  actually
                 be  destroyed  only after the last process detaches it (i.e.,
                 when  the  shm_nattch  member  of  the  associated  structure
                 shmid_ds  is  zero).  The caller must be the owner or creator
                 of the segment, or be privileged.  The buf  argument  is  ig-
                 nored.

                 If  a segment has been marked for destruction, then the (non-
                 standard) SHM_DEST flag of the shm_perm.mode field in the as-
                 sociated data structure retrieved by IPC_STAT will be set.

                 The  caller  must  ensure  that  a  segment is eventually de-
                 stroyed; otherwise its pages that were faulted in will remain
                 in memory or swap.

                 See  also the description of /proc/sys/kernel/shm_rmid_forced
                 in proc(5).

       IPC_INFO (Linux-specific)
                 Return information about system-wide shared memory limits and
                 parameters  in  the structure pointed to by buf.  This struc-
                 ture is of type shminfo (thus, a cast is  required),  defined
                 in  _sys/shm.h_  if the _GNU_SOURCE feature test macro is de-
                 fined:

                     struct shminfo {
                         unsigned long shmmax; /* Maximum segment size */
                         unsigned long shmmin; /* Minimum segment size;
                                                  always 1 */
                         unsigned long shmmni; /* Maximum number of segments */
                         unsigned long shmseg; /* Maximum number of segments
                                                  that a process can attach;
                                                  unused within kernel */
                         unsigned long shmall; /* Maximum number of pages of
                                                  shared memory, system-wide */
                     };

                 The shmmni, shmmax, and shmall settings can  be  changed  via
                 /proc files of the same name; see proc(5) for details.

       SHM_INFO (Linux-specific)
                 Return  a shm_info structure whose fields contain information
                 about system  resources  consumed  by  shared  memory.   This
                 structure  is  defined in _sys/shm.h_ if the _GNU_SOURCE fea-
                 ture test macro is defined:

                     struct shm_info {
                         int           used_ids; /* # of currently existing
                                                    segments */
                         unsigned long shm_tot;  /* Total number of shared
                                                    memory pages */
                         unsigned long shm_rss;  /* # of resident shared
                                                    memory pages */
                         unsigned long shm_swp;  /* # of swapped shared
                                                    memory pages */
                         unsigned long swap_attempts;
                                                 /* Unused since Linux 2.4 */
                         unsigned long swap_successes;
                                                 /* Unused since Linux 2.4 */
                     };

       SHM_STAT (Linux-specific)
                 Return a shmid_ds structure as for  IPC_STAT.   However,  the
                 shmid  argument  is  not a segment identifier, but instead an
                 index into the kernel's internal array that maintains  infor-
                 mation about all shared memory segments on the system.

       SHM_STAT_ANY (Linux-specific, since Linux 4.17)
                 Return  a  shmid_ds  structure  as  for  SHM_STAT.   However,
                 shm_perm.mode is not checked for read access for shmid, mean-
                 ing that any user can employ this operation (just as any user
                 may read /proc/sysvipc/shm to obtain the same information).

       The caller can prevent or allow swapping of  a  shared  memory  segment
       with the following cmd values:

       SHM_LOCK (Linux-specific)
                 Prevent  swapping  of  the shared memory segment.  The caller
                 must fault in any pages that are required to be present after
                 locking  is  enabled.  If a segment has been locked, then the
                 (nonstandard) SHM_LOCKED flag of the shm_perm.mode  field  in
                 the  associated  data structure retrieved by IPC_STAT will be
                 set.

       SHM_UNLOCK (Linux-specific)
                 Unlock the segment, allowing it to be swapped out.

       In kernels before  2.6.10,  only  a  privileged  process  could  employ
       SHM_LOCK  and SHM_UNLOCK.  Since kernel 2.6.10, an unprivileged process
       can employ these operations if its effective UID matches the  owner  or
       creator  UID of the segment, and (for SHM_LOCK) the amount of memory to
       be locked falls within the RLIMIT_MEMLOCK  resource  limit  (see  setr-
       limit(2)).

RETURN VALUE
       A  successful  IPC_INFO  or SHM_INFO operation returns the index of the
       highest used entry in the kernel's internal array recording information
       about  all  shared memory segments.  (This information can be used with
       repeated SHM_STAT or  SHM_STAT_ANY  operations  to  obtain  information
       about all shared memory segments on the system.)  A successful SHM_STAT
       operation returns the identifier of the shared memory segment whose in-
       dex was given in shmid.  Other operations return 0 on success.

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

ERRORS
       EACCES IPC_STAT or SHM_STAT is requested and shm_perm.mode does not al-
              low read access for shmid, and the calling process does not have
              the  CAP_IPC_OWNER capability in the user namespace that governs
              its IPC namespace.

       EFAULT The argument cmd has value IPC_SET or IPC_STAT but  the  address
              pointed to by buf isn't accessible.

       EIDRM  shmid points to a removed identifier.

       EINVAL shmid  is not a valid identifier, or cmd is not a valid command.
              Or: for a SHM_STAT or SHM_STAT_ANY operation,  the  index  value
              specified  in  shmid referred to an array slot that is currently
              unused.

       ENOMEM (In kernels since 2.6.9), SHM_LOCK was specified and the size of
              the  to-be-locked  segment  would  mean  that the total bytes in
              locked shared memory segments would exceed  the  limit  for  the
              real  user  ID of the calling process.  This limit is defined by
              the RLIMIT_MEMLOCK soft resource limit (see setrlimit(2)).

       EOVERFLOW
              IPC_STAT is attempted, and the GID or UID value is too large  to
              be stored in the structure pointed to by buf.

       EPERM  IPC_SET  or  IPC_RMID is attempted, and the effective user ID of
              the calling process  is  not  that  of  the  creator  (found  in
              shm_perm.cuid),  or  the  owner (found in shm_perm.uid), and the
              process was not privileged (Linux: did not have the  CAP_SYS_AD-
              MIN capability).

              Or  (in kernels before 2.6.9), SHM_LOCK or SHM_UNLOCK was speci-
              fied, but the process was not privileged (Linux:  did  not  have
              the  CAP_IPC_LOCK  capability).   (Since Linux 2.6.9, this error
              can also occur if the RLIMIT_MEMLOCK is 0 and the caller is  not
              privileged.)

CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4.

NOTES
       The  inclusion of _sys/types.h_ and _sys/ipc.h_ isn't required on Linux
       or by any version of POSIX.  However, some old implementations required
       the inclusion of these header files, and the SVID also documented their
       inclusion.  Applications intended to be portable to  such  old  systems
       may need to include these header files.

       The  IPC_INFO, SHM_STAT and SHM_INFO operations are used by the ipcs(1)
       program to provide information on allocated resources.  In the  future,
       these may modified or moved to a /proc filesystem interface.

       Linux  permits  a  process to attach (shmat(2)) a shared memory segment
       that has already been marked for deletion using shmctl(IPC_RMID).  This
       feature is not available on other UNIX implementations; portable appli-
       cations should avoid relying on it.

       Various fields in a struct shmid_ds were typed as short under Linux 2.2
       and have become long under Linux 2.4.  To take advantage of this, a re-
       compilation under glibc-2.1.91 or later should  suffice.   (The  kernel
       distinguishes old and new calls by an IPC_64 flag in cmd.)

SEE ALSO
       mlock(2),    setrlimit(2),    shmget(2),   shmop(2),   capabilities(7),
       sysvipc(7)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 5.05 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/.

Linux                             2019-08-02                         SHMCTL(2)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | CONFORMING TO | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON