SEMOP(2)                  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                 SEMOP(2)

NAME
     semop - semaphore operations



SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/ipc.h>
     #include <sys/sem.h>

     int
     semop(int semid, struct sembuf *sops, int nsops);

DESCRIPTION
     semop() provides a number of atomic operations on a set of semaphores.
     The semaphore set is specified by semid. sops is an array of semaphore
     operations, nsops is the number of operations in this array. The sembuf
     structures in the array contain the following members:

             u_short sem_num;        /* semaphore # */
             short   sem_op;         /* semaphore operation */
             short   sem_flg;        /* operation flags */

     Each operation (specified in sem_op) is applied to semaphore number
     sem_num in the set of semaphores specified by semid. The value of sem_op
     determines the action taken in the following way:

     -   sem_op is less than 0. The current process is blocked until the value
         of the semaphore is greater than or equal to the absolute value of
         sem_op. The absolute value of sem_op is then subtracted from the val-
         ue of the semaphore, and the calling process continues. Negative val-
         ues of sem_op are thus used to enter critical regions.

     -   sem_op is greater than 0. Its value is added to the value of the
         specified semaphore. This is used to leave critical regions.

     -   sem_op is equal to 0. The calling process is blocked until the value
         of the specified semaphore reaches 0.

     The behavior of each operation is influenced by the flags set in sem_flg
     in the following way:

     IPC_NOWAIT   In the case where the calling process would normally block,
                  waiting for a semaphore to reach a certain value, IPC_NOWAIT
                  makes the call return immediately, returning a value of -1
                  and setting errno to EAGAIN.

     SEM_UNDO     Keep track of the changes that this call makes to the value
                  of a semaphore, so that they can be undone when the calling
                  process terminates. This is useful to prevent other process-
                  es waiting on a semaphore to block forever, should the pro-
                  cess that has the semaphore locked terminate in a critical
                  section.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, -1 is
     returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     semop() will fail if:

     [EINVAL]      There is no semaphore associated with semid.

                   The semaphore set was removed while the process was waiting
                   for one of its semaphores to reach a certain value.


     [EACCES]      The calling process has no permission to access the speci-
                   fied semaphore set.

     [E2BIG]       The value of nsops is too big. The maximum is specified in
                   MAX_SOPS in <sys/sem.h>

     [EFBIG]       sem_num in one of the sem_buf structures is less than 0, or
                   greater than the actual number of semaphores in the set
                   specified by semid.

     [ENOSPC]      SEM_UNDO was requested, and there is not enough space left
                   in the kernel to store the unfo information.

     [EAGAIN]      The requested operation can not immediately be performed,
                   and IPC_NOWAIT was set in sem_flg.

     [EFAULT]      sops points to an illegal address.

SEE ALSO
     semctl(2),  semget(2)

BUGS
     In case of a removed semaphore identifier, errno should be set to EIDRM,
     but OpenBSD does not define this error.

OpenBSD 2.6                     August 17, 1995                              2