netbsd man page for sync

SYNC(2) 						      BSD System Calls Manual							   SYNC(2)

NAME
     sync -- synchronize disk block in-core status with that on disk

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

     void
     sync(void);

DESCRIPTION
     The sync() function forces a write of dirty (modified) buffers in the block buffer cache out to disk.  The kernel keeps this information in
     core to reduce the number of disk I/O transfers required by the system.  As information in the cache is lost after a system crash, kernel
     thread ioflush ensures that dirty buffers are synced to disk eventually.  By default, a dirty buffer is synced after 30 seconds, but some
     filesystems exploit ioflush features to sync directory data and metadata faster (after 15 and 10 seconds, respectively).

     The function fsync(2) may be used to synchronize individual file descriptor attributes.

CAUTIONS
     Many modern disks contain write-back caches.  In theory sync() flushes these.  In practice there are many possible ways for this mechanism to
     go astray.  It is prudent (where possible) to allow a few seconds after syncing for everything to settle before e.g. turning off the power.

     It may also be desirable to use dkctl(8) or scsictl(8) to disable the write-back cache entirely.

SEE ALSO
     fsync(2), dkctl(8), scsictl(8), sync(8)

HISTORY
     A sync() function call appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

     Historically, sync() would schedule buffers for writing but not actually wait for the writes to finish.  It was necessary to issue a second
     or sometimes a third call to ensure that all buffers had in fact been written out.  In NetBSD, sync() does not return until all buffers have
     been written.

BSD
								  March 25, 2009							       BSD