SEM_OVERVIEW(7) Linux Programmers Manual SEM_OVERVIEW(7)
NAME
sem_overview - Overview of POSIX semaphores
DESCRIPTION
POSIX semaphores allow processes and threads to synchronize their
actions.
A semaphore is an integer whose value is never allowed to fall below
zero. Two operations can be performed on semaphores: increment the
semaphore value by one (sem_post(3)); and decrement the semaphore value
by one (sem_wait(3)). If the value of a semaphore is currently zero,
then a sem_wait(3) operation will block until the value becomes greater
than zero.
POSIX semaphores come in two forms: named semaphores and unnamed
semaphores.
Named semaphores
A named semaphore is identified by a name of the form /somename.
Two processes can operate on the same named semaphore by passing
the same name to sem_open(3).
The sem_open(3) function creates a new named semaphore or opens
an existing named semaphore. After the semaphore has been
opened, it can be operated on using sem_post(3) and sem_wait(3).
When a process has finished using the semaphore, it can use
sem_close(3) to close the semaphore. When all processes have
finished using the semaphore, it can be removed from the system
using sem_unlink(3).
Unnamed semaphores (memory-based semaphores)
An unnamed semaphore does not have a name. Instead the
semaphore is placed in a region of memory that is shared between
multiple threads (a thread-shared semaphore) or processes (a
process-shared semaphore). A thread-shared semaphore is placed
in an area of memory shared between by the threads of a process,
for example, a global variable. A process-shared semaphore must
be placed in a shared memory region (e.g., a System V shared
memory segment created using semget(2), or a POSIX shared memory
object built created using shm_open(3)).
Before being used, an unnamed semaphore must be initialized
using sem_init(3). It can then be operated on using sem_post(3)
and sem_wait(3). When the semaphore is no longer required, and
before the memory in which it is located is deallocated, the
semaphore should be destroyed using sem_destroy(3).
The remainder of this section describes some specific details of the
Linux implementation of POSIX semaphores.
Versions
Prior to kernel 2.6, Linux only supported unnamed, thread-shared
semaphores. On a system with Linux 2.6 and a glibc that provides the
NPTL threading implementation, a complete implementation of POSIX
semaphores is provided.
Persistence
POSIX named semaphores have kernel persistence: if not removed by
sem_unlink(3), a semaphore will exist until the system is shut down.
Linking
Programs using the POSIX semaphores API must be compiled with cc -lrt
to link against the real-time library, librt.
Accessing named semaphores via the file system
On Linux, named semaphores are created in a virtual file system, nor
mally mounted under /dev/shm, with names of the form sem.name.
Since Linux 2.6.19, ACLs can be placed on files under this directory,
to control object permissions on a per-user and per-group basis.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.1-2001.
NOTES
System V semaphores (semget(2), semop(2), etc.) are an older semaphore
API. POSIX semaphores provide a simpler, and better designed interface
than System V semaphores; on the other hand POSIX semaphores are less
widely available (especially on older systems) than System V
semaphores.
EXAMPLE
An example of the use of various POSIX semaphore functions is shown in
sem_wait(3).
SEE ALSO
sem_close(3), sem_destroy(3), sem_getvalue(3), sem_init(3),
sem_open(3), sem_post(3), sem_unlink(3), sem_wait(3), pthreads(7)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.05 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/.
Linux 2008-06-15 SEM_OVERVIEW(7)
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