int shmctl(int shmid, int cmd, struct shmid_ds *buf);
DESCRIPTION
shmctl()
performs the control operation specified by
cmd
on the shared memory segment whose identifier is given in
shmid.
The
buf
argument is a pointer to a shmid_ds structure,
defined in <sys/shm.h> as follows:
struct shmid_ds {
struct ipc_perm shm_perm; /* Ownership and permissions */
size_t shm_segsz; /* Size of segment (bytes) */
time_t shm_atime; /* Last attach time */
time_t shm_dtime; /* Last detach time */
time_t shm_ctime; /* Last change time */
pid_t shm_cpid; /* PID of creator */
pid_t shm_lpid; /* PID of last shmat(2)/shmdt(2) */
shmatt_t shm_nattch; /* No. of current attaches */
...
};
The
ipc_perm
structure is defined in <sys/ipc.h> as follows
(the highlighted fields are settable using
IPC_SET):
struct ipc_perm {
key_t __key; /* Key supplied to shmget(2) */
uid_t uid; /* Effective UID of owner */
gid_t gid; /* Effective GID of owner */
uid_t cuid; /* Effective UID of creator */
gid_t cgid; /* Effective GID of creator */
unsigned short mode; /* Permissions + SHM_DEST and
SHM_LOCKED flags */
unsigned short __seq; /* Sequence number */
};
Valid values for
cmd
are:
IPC_STAT
Copy information from the kernel data structure associated with
shmid
into the
shmid_ds
structure pointed to by buf.
The caller must have read permission on the
shared memory segment.
IPC_SET
Write the values of some members of the
shmid_ds
structure pointed to by
buf
to the kernel data structure associated with this shared memory segment,
updating also its
shm_ctime
member.
The following fields can be changed:
shm_perm.uid, shm_perm.gid,
and (the least significant 9 bits of) shm_perm.mode.
The effective UID of the calling process must match the owner
(shm_perm.uid)
or creator
(shm_perm.cuid)
of the shared memory segment, or the caller must be privileged.
IPC_RMID
Mark the segment to be destroyed.
The segment will only actually be destroyed
after the last process detaches it (i.e., when the
shm_nattch
member of the associated structure
shmid_ds
is zero).
The caller must be the owner or creator, or be privileged.
If a segment has been marked for destruction, then the (non-standard)
SHM_DEST
flag of the
shm_perm.mode
field in the associated data structure retrieved by
IPC_STAT
will be set.
The caller must ensure that a segment is eventually destroyed;
otherwise its pages that were faulted in will remain in memory or swap.
IPC_INFO (Linux-specific)
Returns information about system-wide shared memory limits and
parameters in the structure pointed to by
buf.
This structure is of type
shminfo
(thus, a cast is required),
defined in
<sys/shm.h>
if the
_GNU_SOURCE
feature test macro is defined:
struct shminfo {
unsigned long shmmax; /* Maximum segment size */
unsigned long shmmin; /* Minimum segment size;
always 1 */
unsigned long shmmni; /* Maximum number of segments */
unsigned long shmseg; /* Maximum number of segments
that a process can attach;
unused within kernel */
unsigned long shmall; /* Maximum number of pages of
shared memory, system-wide */
};
The
shmmni,
shmmax,
and
shmall
settings can be changed via
/proc
files of the same name; see
proc(5)
for details.
SHM_INFO (Linux-specific)
Returns a
shm_info
structure whose fields contain information
about system resources consumed by shared memory.
This structure is defined in
<sys/shm.h>
if the
_GNU_SOURCE
feature test macro is defined:
struct shm_info {
int used_ids; /* # of currently existing
segments */
unsigned long shm_tot; /* Total number of shared
memory pages */
unsigned long shm_rss; /* # of resident shared
memory pages */
unsigned long shm_swp; /* # of swapped shared
memory pages */
unsigned long swap_attempts;
/* Unused since Linux 2.4 */
unsigned long swap_successes;
/* Unused since Linux 2.4 */
};
SHM_STAT (Linux-specific)
Returns a
shmid_ds
structure as for
IPC_STAT.
However, the
shmid
argument is not a segment identifier, but instead an index into
the kernel's internal array that maintains information about
all shared memory segments on the system.
The caller can prevent or allow swapping of a shared
memory segment with the following cmd values:
SHM_LOCK (Linux-specific)
Prevent swapping of the shared memory segment.
The caller must fault in
any pages that are required to be present after locking is enabled.
If a segment has been locked, then the (non-standard)
SHM_LOCKED
flag of the
shm_perm.mode
field in the associated data structure retrieved by
IPC_STAT
will be set.
SHM_UNLOCK (Linux-specific)
Unlock the segment, allowing it to be swapped out.
In kernels before 2.6.10, only a privileged process
could employ
SHM_LOCK
and
SHM_UNLOCK.
Since kernel 2.6.10, an unprivileged process can employ these operations
if its effective UID matches the owner or creator UID of the segment, and
(for
SHM_LOCK)
the amount of memory to be locked falls within the
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK
resource limit (see
setrlimit(2)).
RETURN VALUE
A successful
IPC_INFO
or
SHM_INFO
operation returns the index of the highest used entry in the
kernel's internal array recording information about all
shared memory segments.
(This information can be used with repeated
SHM_STAT
operations to obtain information about all shared memory segments
on the system.)
A successful
SHM_STAT
operation returns the identifier of the shared memory segment
whose index was given in
shmid.
Other operations return 0 on success.
On error, -1 is returned, and
errno
is set appropriately.
ERRORS
EACCES
IPC_STAT or SHM_STAT is requested and
shm_perm.mode does not allow read access for
shmid,
and the calling process does not have the
CAP_IPC_OWNER
capability.
EFAULT
The argument
cmd
has value
IPC_SET
or
IPC_STAT
but the address pointed to by
buf
isn't accessible.
EIDRM
shmid points to a removed identifier.
EINVAL
shmid is not a valid identifier, or cmd
is not a valid command.
Or: for a
SHM_STAT
operation, the index value specified in
shmid
referred to an array slot that is currently unused.
ENOMEM
(In kernels since 2.6.9),
SHM_LOCK
was specified and the size of the to-be-locked segment would mean
that the total bytes in locked shared memory segments would exceed
the limit for the real user ID of the calling process.
This limit is defined by the
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK
soft resource limit (see
setrlimit(2)).
EOVERFLOW
IPC_STAT is attempted, and the GID or UID value
is too large to be stored in the structure pointed to by
buf.
EPERM
IPC_SET or IPC_RMID is attempted, and the
effective user ID of the calling process is not that of the creator
(found in
shm_perm.cuid),
or the owner
(found in
shm_perm.uid),
and the process was not privileged (Linux: did not have the
CAP_SYS_ADMIN
capability).
Or (in kernels before 2.6.9),
SHM_LOCK
or
SHM_UNLOCK
was specified, but the process was not privileged
(Linux: did not have the
CAP_IPC_LOCK
capability).
(Since Linux 2.6.9, this error can also occur if the
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK
is 0 and the caller is not privileged.)
CONFORMING TO
SVr4, POSIX.1-2001.
NOTES
The
IPC_INFO,
SHM_STAT
and
SHM_INFO
operations are used by the
ipcs(8)
program to provide information on allocated resources.
In the future these may modified or moved to a /proc file system
interface.
Linux permits a process to attach
(shmat(2))
a shared memory segment that has already been marked for deletion
using
shmctl(IPC_RMID).
This feature is not available on other Unix implementations;
portable applications should avoid relying on it.
Various fields in a struct shmid_ds were typed as
short
under Linux 2.2
and have become
long
under Linux 2.4.
To take advantage of this,
a recompilation under glibc-2.1.91 or later should suffice.
(The kernel distinguishes old and new calls by an
IPC_64
flag in
cmd.)
This page is part of release 3.14 of the Linux
man-pages
project.
A description of the project,
and information about reporting bugs,
can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.