semget(2) [opensolaris man page]
semget(2) System Calls semget(2) NAME
semget - get set of semaphores SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/ipc.h> #include <sys/sem.h> int semget(key_t key, int nsems, int semflg); DESCRIPTION
The semget() function returns the semaphore identifier associated with key. A semaphore identifier and associated data structure and set containing nsems semaphores (see Intro(2)) are created for key if one of the following is true: o key is equal to IPC_PRIVATE. o key does not already have a semaphore identifier associated with it, and (semflg&IPC_CREAT) is true. On creation, the data structure associated with the new semaphore identifier is initialized as follows: o sem_perm.cuid, sem_perm.uid, sem_perm.cgid, and sem_perm.gid are set equal to the effective user ID and effective group ID, respectively, of the calling process. o The access permission bits of sem_perm.mode are set equal to the access permission bits of semflg. o sem_nsems is set equal to the value of nsems. o sem_otime is set equal to 0 and sem_ctime is set equal to the current time. RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, a non-negative integer representing a semaphore identifier is returned. Otherwise, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS
The semget() function will fail if: EACCES A semaphore identifier exists for key, but operation permission (see Intro(2)) as specified by the low-order 9 bits of semflg would not be granted. EEXIST A semaphore identifier exists for key but both (semflg&IPC_CREAT) and (semflg&IPC_EXCL) are both true. EINVAL The nsems argument is either less than or equal to 0 or greater than the system-imposed limit. See NOTES. A semaphore identifier exists for key, but the number of semaphores in the set associated with it is less than nsems and nsems is not equal to 0. ENOENT A semaphore identifier does not exist for key and (semflg&IPC_CREAT) is false. ENOSPC A semaphore identifier is to be created but the system-imposed limit on the maximum number of allowed semaphores or semaphore identifiers system-wide would be exceeded. See NOTES. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Interface Stability |Standard | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
ipcrm(1), ipcs(1), rctladm(1M), Intro(2), semctl(2), semop(2), setrctl(2), ftok(3C), attributes(5), standards(5) NOTES
The system-imposed limit on the value of the nsems argument is the maintained on a per-process basis using the process.max-sem-nsems resource control. The system-imposed limit on the number of semaphore identifiers is maintained on a per-project basis using the project.max-sem-ids resource control. The zone.max-sem-ids resource control limis the total number of semaphore identifiers that can be allocated by a zone. See rctladm(1M) and setrctl(2) for information about using resource controls. SunOS 5.11 14 Aug 2006 semget(2)
Check Out this Related Man Page
SEMGET(2) Linux Programmer's Manual SEMGET(2) NAME
semget - get a semaphore set identifier SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/ipc.h> #include <sys/sem.h> int semget(key_t key, int nsems, int semflg); DESCRIPTION
This function returns the semaphore set identifier associated with the argument key. A new set of nsems semaphores is created if key has the value IPC_PRIVATE or if no existing semaphore set is associated to key and IPC_CREAT is asserted in semflg (i.e. semflg & IPC_CREAT isn't zero). The presence in semflg of the fields IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL plays the same role, with respect to the existence of the semaphore set, as the presence of O_CREAT and O_EXCL in the mode argument of the open(2) system call: i.e. the semget function fails if semflg asserts both IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL and a semaphore set already exists for key. Upon creation, the low-order 9 bits of the argument semflg define the access permissions (for owner, group and others) for the semaphore set. These bits have the same format, and the same meaning, as the mode argument in the open(2) or creat(2) system calls (though the exe- cute permissions are not meaningful for semaphores, and write permissions mean permission to alter semaphore values). When creating a new semaphore set, semget initializes the semaphore set's associated data structure semid_ds as follows: sem_perm.cuid and sem_perm.uid are set to the effective user-ID of the calling process. sem_perm.cgid and sem_perm.gid are set to the effective group-ID of the calling process. The low-order 9 bits of sem_perm.mode are set to the low-order 9 bits of semflg. sem_nsems is set to the value of nsems. sem_otime is set to 0. sem_ctime is set to the current time. The argument nsems can be 0 (a don't care) when a semaphore set is not being created. Otherwise nsems must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to the maximum number of semaphores per semaphore set (SEMMSL). If the semaphore set already exists, the access permissions are verified. RETURN VALUE
If successful, the return value will be the semaphore set identifier (a nonnegative integer), otherwise -1 is returned, with errno indicat- ing the error. ERRORS
On failure errno will be set to one of the following: EACCES A semaphore set exists for key, but the calling process does not have permission to access the set. EEXIST A semaphore set exists for key and semflg was asserting both IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL. ENOENT No semaphore set exists for key and semflg wasn't asserting IPC_CREAT. EINVAL nsems is less than 0 or greater than the limit on the number of semaphores per semaphore set (SEMMSL), or a semaphore set corre- sponding to key already exists, and nsems is larger than the number of semaphores in that set. ENOMEM A semaphore set has to be created but the system has not enough memory for the new data structure. ENOSPC A semaphore set has to be created but the system limit for the maximum number of semaphore sets (SEMMNI), or the system wide maximum number of semaphores (SEMMNS), would be exceeded. NOTES
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 low- order 9 bits of semflg and creates a new semaphore set (on success). The followings are limits on semaphore set resources affecting a semget call: SEMMNI System wide maximum number of semaphore sets: policy dependent. SEMMSL Maximum number of semaphores per semid: implementation dependent (500 currently). SEMMNS System wide maximum number of semaphores: policy dependent. Values greater than SEMMSL * SEMMNI makes it irrelevant. BUGS
Use of IPC_PRIVATE doesn't inhibit to other processes the access to the allocated semaphore set. There is currently no intrinsic way for a process to ensure exclusive access to a semaphore set. Asserting both IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL in semflg only ensures (on success) that a new semaphore set will be created, it doesn't imply exclusive access to the semaphore set. The data structure associated with each semaphore in the set isn't initialized by the system call. In order to initialize those data structures, one has to execute a subsequent call to semctl(2) to perform a SETVAL or a SETALL command on the semaphore set. CONFORMING TO
SVr4, SVID. SVr4 documents additional error conditions EFBIG, E2BIG, EAGAIN, ERANGE, EFAULT. SEE ALSO
ftok(3), ipc(5), semctl(2), semop(2) Linux 2.5 2002-01-04 SEMGET(2)