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SEM_OPEN(3)		     Library Functions Manual		     SEM_OPEN(3)

NAME
     sem_open, sem_close, sem_unlink -- named semaphore operations

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <semaphore.h>

     sem_t *
     sem_open(const char *name, int oflag, ...);

     int
     sem_close(sem_t *sem);

     int
     sem_unlink(const char *name);

DESCRIPTION
     The  sem_open()  function creates or opens the named semaphore specified by
     name.  The returned semaphore may be used in subsequent calls  to	sem_get-
     value(3), sem_wait(3), sem_trywait(3), sem_post(3), and sem_close().

     The following bits may be set in the oflag argument:

     O_CREAT  Create the semaphore if it does not already exist.

	      The  third  argument  to	the  call  to sem_open() must be of type
	      mode_t and  specifies  the  mode	for  the  semaphore.   Only  the
	      S_IWUSR,	S_IWGRP, and S_IWOTH bits are examined; it is not possi-
	      ble to grant only "read" permission on a semaphore.  The	mode  is
	      modified	according  to  the  process's  file  creation  mask; see
	      umask(2).

	      The fourth argument must be an unsigned int and specifies the ini-
	      tial value  for  the  semaphore,	and  must  be  no  greater  than
	      SEM_VALUE_MAX.

     O_EXCL   Create  the  semaphore if it does not exist.  If the semaphore al-
	      ready exists, sem_open() will fail.  This flag is  ignored  unless
	      O_CREAT is also specified.

     The sem_close() function closes a named semaphore that was opened by a call
     to sem_open().

     The  sem_unlink() function removes the semaphore named name.  Resources al-
     located to the semaphore are only deallocated when all processes that  have
     the semaphore open close it.

RETURN VALUES
     If  successful,  the  sem_open() function returns the address of the opened
     semaphore.  If the same  name  argument  is  given  to  multiple  calls  to
     sem_open()  by the same process without an intervening call to sem_close(),
     the same address is returned each time.  If the semaphore cannot be opened,
     sem_open() returns SEM_FAILED and the global variable errno is set to indi-
     cate the error.

     The sem_close() and sem_unlink() functions return the value 0  if	success-
     ful;  otherwise  the  value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is
     set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     The sem_open() function will fail if:

     [EACCES]		The semaphore exists and the  permissions  specified  by
			oflag  at  the	time  it was created deny access to this
			process.

     [EACCES]		The semaphore does not exist, but permission  to  create
			it is denied.

     [EEXIST]		O_CREAT and O_EXCL are set but the semaphore already ex-
			ists.

     [EINTR]		The call was interrupted by a signal.

     [EINVAL]		The  sem_open() operation is not supported for the given
			name.

     [EINVAL]		The value argument is greater than SEM_VALUE_MAX.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]	The name argument is too long.

     [ENFILE]		The system limit on semaphores has been reached.

     [ENOENT]		O_CREAT is not set but the named semaphore does not  ex-
			ist.

     [ENOSPC]		There is not enough space to create the semaphore.

     The sem_close() function will fail if:

     [EINVAL]		The sem argument is not a valid semaphore.

     The sem_unlink() function will fail if:

     [EACCES]		Permission is denied to unlink the semaphore.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]	The specified name is too long.

     [ENOENT]		The named semaphore does not exist.

SEE ALSO
     close(2),	 open(2),  umask(2),  unlink(2),  sem_getvalue(3),  sem_post(3),
     sem_trywait(3), sem_wait(3), sem(4)

STANDARDS
     The sem_open(), sem_close(), and sem_unlink() functions conform to  ISO/IEC
     9945-1:1996 ("POSIX.1").

HISTORY
     Support for named semaphores first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.

BUGS
     This  implementation  places  strict  requirements on the value of name: it
     must begin with a slash (`/'), contain no other slash  characters,  and  be
     less  than 14 characters in length not including the terminating null char-
     acter.

FreeBSD 7.0			January 15, 2003		     SEM_OPEN(3)

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