SHMGET(2)						     Linux Programmer's Manual							 SHMGET(2)

NAME

       shmget - allocates a shared memory segment

SYNOPSIS

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

       int shmget(key_t key, size_t size, int shmflg);

DESCRIPTION

       shmget()  returns  the identifier of the shared memory segment associated with the value of the argument key.  A new shared memory segment,
       with size equal to the value of size rounded up to a multiple of PAGE_SIZE, is created if key  has  the	value  IPC_PRIVATE  or	key  isn't
       IPC_PRIVATE, no shared memory segment corresponding to key exists, and IPC_CREAT is specified in shmflg.

       If  shmflg  specifies both IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL and a shared memory segment already exists for key, then shmget() fails with errno set to
       EEXIST.	(This is analogous to the effect of the combination O_CREAT | O_EXCL for open(2).)

       The value shmflg is composed of:

       IPC_CREAT   to create a new segment.  If this flag is not used, then shmget() will find the segment associated with key and check to see if
		   the user has permission to access the segment.

       IPC_EXCL    used with IPC_CREAT to ensure failure if the segment already exists.

       mode_flags  (least significant 9 bits) specifying the permissions granted to the owner, group, and world.  These bits have the same format,
		   and the same meaning, as the mode argument of open(2).  Presently, the execute permissions are not used by the system.

       SHM_HUGETLB (since Linux 2.6)
		   Allocate the segment using "huge pages."  See the Linux kernel source file Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt for further  infor-
		   mation.

       SHM_NORESERVE (since Linux 2.6.15)
		   This  flag  serves  the same purpose as the mmap(2) MAP_NORESERVE flag.  Do not reserve swap space for this segment.  When swap
		   space is reserved, one has the guarantee that it is possible to modify the segment.	When swap space is not reserved one  might
		   get	SIGSEGV upon a write if no physical memory is available.  See also the discussion of the file /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_mem-
		   ory in proc(5).

       When a new shared memory segment is created, its contents are initialized to zero values, and its associated data structure, shmid_ds  (see
       shmctl(2)), is initialized as follows:

	      shm_perm.cuid and shm_perm.uid are set to the effective user ID of the calling process.

	      shm_perm.cgid and shm_perm.gid are set to the effective group ID of the calling process.

	      The least significant 9 bits of shm_perm.mode are set to the least significant 9 bit of shmflg.

	      shm_segsz is set to the value of size.

	      shm_lpid, shm_nattch, shm_atime and shm_dtime are set to 0.

	      shm_ctime is set to the current time.

       If the shared memory segment already exists, the permissions are verified, and a check is made to see if it is marked for destruction.

RETURN VALUE

       A valid segment identifier, shmid, is returned on success, -1 on error.

ERRORS

       On failure, errno is set to one of the following:

       EACCES The user does not have permission to access the shared memory segment, and does not have the CAP_IPC_OWNER capability.

       EEXIST IPC_CREAT | IPC_EXCL was specified and the segment exists.

       EINVAL A  new  segment  was to be created and size < SHMMIN or size > SHMMAX, or no new segment was to be created, a segment with given key
	      existed, but size is greater than the size of that segment.

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

       ENOENT No segment exists for the given key, and IPC_CREAT was not specified.

       ENOMEM No memory could be allocated for segment overhead.

       ENOSPC All possible shared memory IDs have been taken (SHMMNI), or allocating a segment of the requested size would  cause  the	system	to
	      exceed the system-wide limit on shared memory (SHMALL).

       EPERM  The SHM_HUGETLB flag was specified, but the caller was not privileged (did not have the CAP_IPC_LOCK capability).

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, POSIX.1-2001.

       SHM_HUGETLB is a nonportable Linux extension.

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.

       IPC_PRIVATE  isn't  a flag field but a key_t type.  If this special value is used for key, the system call ignores everything but the least
       significant 9 bits of shmflg and creates a new shared memory segment (on success).

       The following limits on shared memory segment resources affect the shmget() call:

       SHMALL System wide maximum of shared memory pages (on Linux, this limit can be read and modified via /proc/sys/kernel/shmall).

       SHMMAX Maximum size in bytes for a shared  memory  segment:  policy  dependent  (on  Linux,  this  limit  can  be  read	and  modified  via
	      /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax).

       SHMMIN Minimum  size  in  bytes	for a shared memory segment: implementation dependent (currently 1 byte, though PAGE_SIZE is the effective
	      minimum size).

       SHMMNI System wide maximum number of shared memory segments: implementation dependent (currently 4096, was  128	before	Linux  2.3.99;	on
	      Linux, this limit can be read and modified via /proc/sys/kernel/shmmni).

       The implementation has no specific limits for the per-process maximum number of shared memory segments (SHMSEG).

   Linux Notes
       Until version 2.3.30 Linux would return EIDRM for a shmget() on a shared memory segment scheduled for deletion.

BUGS

       The name choice IPC_PRIVATE was perhaps unfortunate, IPC_NEW would more clearly show its function.

SEE ALSO

       shmat(2), shmctl(2), shmdt(2), ftok(3), capabilities(7), shm_overview(7), svipc(7)

COLOPHON

       This  page is part of release 3.44 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux								    2012-05-31								 SHMGET(2)