shmctl(2) System Calls Manual shmctl(2)
Name
shmctl - shared memory control operations
Syntax
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/ipc.h>
#include <sys/shm.h>
int shmctl (shmid, cmd, buf)
int shmid, cmd;
struct shmid_ds *buf;
Description
The system call provides a variety of shared memory control operations, as specified by cmd. The following cmds are available:
IPC_STAT Place the current value of each member of the data structure associated with shmid into the structure pointed to by buf.
The contents of this structure are defined in
IPC_SET Set the value of the following members of the data structure associated with shmid to the corresponding value found in the
structure pointed to by buf:
shm_perm.uid
shm_perm.gid
shm_perm.mode /* only low 9 bits */
This cmd can only be executed by a process that has an effective user ID equal to either that of the superuser or to the
value of in the data structure associated with shmid.
IPC_RMID Remove the shared memory identifier specified by shmid from the system and destroy the shared memory segment and data struc-
ture associated with it. This cmd can only be executed by a process that has an effective user ID equal to either that of
the superuser or to the value of in the data structure associated with shmid.
SHM_LOCK Lock the shared memory segment specified by shmid in memory. Lock prevents the shared memory segment from being swapped or
paged. This cmd can only be executed by a process that has an effective user ID equal to the superuser.
SHM_UNLOCK Unlock the shared memory segment specified by shmid. This cmd can only be executed by a process that has an effective user
ID equal to the superuser.
Return Values
Upon successful completion, a value of zero (0) is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicated the
error.
Diagnostics
The system call fails if any of the following is true:
[EINVAL] The shmid is not a valid shared memory identifier.
[EINVAL] The cmd is not a valid command.
[EACCES] The cmd is equal to IPC_STAT, and read permission is denied to the calling process. For further information, see
[EPERM] The cmd is equal to IPC_RMID or IPC_SET, and the effective user ID of the calling process is not equal to that of the supe-
ruser or to the value of in the data structure associated with shmid.
[EPERM] The cmd is equal to SHM_LOCK or SHM_UNLOCK and the effective user ID of the calling process is not equal to that of the
superuser.
[EINVAL] The cmd is equal to SHM_LOCK, and the shared memory segment is currently locked by this process.
[EINVAL] The cmd is equal to SHM_UNLOCK, and the shared memory segment specified by shmid is not currently locked in memory by this
process.
[EFAULT] The buf points to an illegal address.
See Also
shmget(2), shmop(2)
shmctl(2)