GET_ROBUST_LIST(2)                                              Linux System Calls                                              GET_ROBUST_LIST(2)

NAME

       get_robust_list, set_robust_list - get/set list of robust futexes

SYNOPSIS

       #include <linux/futex.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <syscall.h>

       long get_robust_list(int pid, struct robust_list_head **head_ptr,
                            size_t *len_ptr);
       long set_robust_list(struct robust_list_head *head, size_t len);

       Note: There are no glibc wrappers for these system calls; see NOTES.

DESCRIPTION

       These  system  calls deal with per-thread robust futex lists.  These lists are managed in user space: the kernel knows only about the loca-
       tion of the head of the list.  A thread can inform the kernel of the location of  its  robust  futex  list  using  set_robust_list().   The
       address of a thread's robust futex list can be obtained using get_robust_list().

       The  purpose  of  the  robust  futex  list is to ensure that if a thread accidentally fails to unlock a futex before terminating or calling
       execve(2), another thread that is waiting on that futex is notified that the former owner of the futex has died.   This  notification  con-
       sists  of  two pieces: the FUTEX_OWNER_DIED bit is set in the futex word, and the kernel performs a futex(2) FUTEX_WAKE operation on one of
       the threads waiting on the futex.

       The get_robust_list() system call returns the head of the robust futex list of the thread whose thread ID is specified in pid.  If  pid  is
       0,  the  head of the list for the calling thread is returned.  The list head is stored in the location pointed to by head_ptr.  The size of
       the object pointed to by **head_ptr is stored in len_ptr.

       Permission to employ get_robust_list() is governed by a ptrace access mode PTRACE_MODE_READ_REALCREDS check; see ptrace(2).

       The set_robust_list() system call requests the kernel to record the head of the list of robust futexes owned by the  calling  thread.   The
       head argument is the list head to record.  The len argument should be sizeof(*head).

RETURN VALUE

       The set_robust_list() and get_robust_list() system calls return zero when the operation is successful, an error code otherwise.

ERRORS

       The set_robust_list() system call can fail with the following error:

       EINVAL len does not equal sizeof(struct robust_list_head).

       The get_robust_list() system call can fail with the following errors:

       EPERM  The  calling  process  does not have permission to see the robust futex list of the thread with the thread ID pid, and does not have
              the CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability.

       ESRCH  No thread with the thread ID pid could be found.

       EFAULT The head of the robust futex list can't be stored at the location head.

VERSIONS

       These system calls were added in Linux 2.6.17.

NOTES

       These system calls are not needed by normal applications.  No support for them is provided in glibc.  In the unlikely event that  you  want
       to call them directly, use syscall(2).

       A thread can have only one robust futex list; therefore applications that wish to use this functionality should use the robust mutexes pro-
       vided by glibc.

       In the initial implementation, a thread waiting on a futex was notified that the owner had died only if  the  owner  terminated.   Starting
       with Linux 2.6.28, notification was extended to include the case where the owner performs an execve(2).

       The thread IDs mentioned in the main text are kernel thread IDs of the kind returned by clone(2) and gettid(2).

SEE ALSO

       futex(2), pthread_mutexattr_setrobust(3)

       Documentation/robust-futexes.txt and Documentation/robust-futex-ABI.txt in the Linux kernel source tree

COLOPHON

       This  page is part of release 4.15 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                                                               2017-09-15                                                  GET_ROBUST_LIST(2)