shmctl(2) System Calls Manual shmctl(2)
NAME
shmctl - System V shared memory control
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/shm.h>
int shmctl(int shmid, int cmd, struct shmid_ds *buf);
DESCRIPTION
shmctl() performs the control operation specified by cmd on the Sys-
tem V 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; /* Creation time/time of last
modification via shmctl() */
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 fields of the shmid_ds structure are as follows:
shm_perm This is an ipc_perm structure (see below) that specifies
the access permissions on the shared memory segment.
shm_segsz Size in bytes of the shared memory segment.
shm_atime Time of the last shmat(2) system call that attached this
segment.
shm_dtime Time of the last shmdt(2) system call that detached tgis
segment.
shm_ctime Time of creation of segment or time of the last shmctl()
IPC_SET operation.
shm_cpid ID of the process that created the shared memory segment.
shm_lpid ID of the last process that executed a shmat(2) or shmdt(2)
system call on this segment.
shm_nattch Number of processes that have this segment attached.
The ipc_perm structure is defined 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 */
};
The least significant 9 bits of the mode field of the ipc_perm struc-
ture define the access permissions for the shared memory segment. The
permission bits are as follows:
0400 Read by user
0200 Write by user
0040 Read by group
0020 Write by group
0004 Read by others
0002 Write by others
Bits 0100, 0010, and 0001 (the execute bits) are unused by the system.
(It is not necessary to have execute permission on a segment in order
to perform a shmat(2) call with the SHM_EXEC flag.)
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 are updated: 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 actually be
destroyed only 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 of the segment,
or be privileged. The buf argument is ignored.
If a segment has been marked for destruction, then the (nonstan-
dard) 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.
See also the description of /proc/sys/kernel/shm_rmid_forced in
proc(5).
IPC_INFO (Linux-specific)
Return 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)
Return a shm_info structure whose fields contain information
about system resources consumed by shared memory. This struc-
ture 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)
Return 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.
SHM_STAT_ANY (Linux-specific, since Linux 4.17)
Return a shmid_ds structure as for SHM_STAT. However,
shm_perm.mode is not checked for read access for shmid, meaning
that any user can employ this operation (just as any user may
read /proc/sysvipc/shm to obtain the same information).
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 (nonstan-
dard) SHM_LOCKED flag of the shm_perm.mode field in the associ-
ated data structure retrieved by IPC_STAT will be set.
SHM_UNLOCK (Linux-specific)
Unlock the segment, allowing it to be swapped out.
Before Linux 2.6.10, only a privileged process could employ SHM_LOCK
and SHM_UNLOCK. Since Linux 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 or SHM_STAT_ANY 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 in-
dex was given in shmid. Other operations return 0 on success.
On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
EACCES IPC_STAT or SHM_STAT is requested and shm_perm.mode does not al-
low read access for shmid, and the calling process does not have
the CAP_IPC_OWNER capability in the user namespace that governs
its IPC namespace.
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 or SHM_STAT_ANY operation, the index value
specified in shmid referred to an array slot that is currently
unused.
ENOMEM (Since Linux 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_AD-
MIN capability).
Or (before Linux 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.)
STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4.
NOTES
The IPC_INFO, SHM_STAT, and SHM_INFO operations are used by the ipcs(1)
program to provide information on allocated resources. In the future,
these may modified or moved to a /proc filesystem 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 appli-
cations 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 re-
compilation under glibc-2.1.91 or later should suffice. (The kernel
distinguishes old and new calls by an IPC_64 flag in cmd.)
SEE ALSO
mlock(2), setrlimit(2), shmget(2), shmop(2), capabilities(7),
sysvipc(7)
Linux man-pages 6.03 2022-12-15 shmctl(2)
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