SEM_INIT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual SEM_INIT(3)
NAME
sem_init -- initialize an unnamed semaphore
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <semaphore.h>
int
sem_init(sem_t *sem, int pshared, unsigned int value);
DESCRIPTION
The sem_init() function initializes the unnamed semaphore pointed to by sem to have the value value.
A non-zero value for pshared specifies a shared semaphore that can be used by multiple processes, the semaphore should be located in shared
memory region (see mmap(2), shm_open(2), and shmget(2)), any process having read and write access to address sem can perform semaphore opera-
tions on sem.
Following a successful call to sem_init(), sem can be used as an argument in subsequent calls to sem_wait(3), sem_trywait(3), sem_post(3),
and sem_destroy(3). The sem argument is no longer valid after a successful call to sem_destroy(3).
RETURN VALUES
The sem_init() function returns the value 0 if successful; otherwise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indi-
cate the error.
ERRORS
The sem_init() function will fail if:
[EINVAL] The value argument exceeds SEM_VALUE_MAX.
[ENOSPC] Memory allocation error.
SEE ALSO
sem_destroy(3), sem_getvalue(3), sem_post(3), sem_trywait(3), sem_wait(3)
STANDARDS
The sem_init() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (``POSIX.1'').
BSD
January 9, 2010 BSD
