Tribblix: manual page: lockf.3c

LOCKF(3C) Standard C Library Functions LOCKF(3C)

NAME

lockf - POSIX-style record locking on files

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int lockf(int fildes, int function, off_t size);

DESCRIPTION

The lockf() function allows sections of a file to be locked; advisory
or mandatory write locks depending on the mode bits of the file (see
chmod(2)). Calls to lockf() from other threads that attempt to lock
the locked file section will either return an error value or be put
to sleep until the resource becomes unlocked. All the locks for a
process are removed when the process terminates. See fcntl(2) for
more information about record locking.

The fildes argument is an open file descriptor. The file descriptor
must have O_WRONLY or O_RDWR permission in order to establish locks
with this function call.

The function argument is a control value that specifies the action to
be taken. The permissible values for function are defined in
<unistd.h> as follows:

#define F_ULOCK 0 /* unlock previously locked section */
#define F_LOCK 1 /* lock section for exclusive use */
#define F_TLOCK 2 /* test & lock section for exclusive use */
#define F_TEST 3 /* test section for other locks */

All other values of function are reserved for future extensions and
will result in an error if not implemented.

F_TEST is used to detect if a lock by another process or open file
handle is present on the specified section. F_LOCK and F_TLOCK both
lock a section of a file if the section is available. F_ULOCK removes
locks from a section of the file.

The size argument is the number of contiguous bytes to be locked or
unlocked. The resource to be locked or unlocked starts at the current
offset in the file and extends forward for a positive size and
backward for a negative size (the preceding bytes up to but not
including the current offset). If size is zero, the section from the
current offset through the largest file offset is locked (that is,
from the current offset through the present or any future end-of-
file). An area need not be allocated to the file in order to be
locked as such locks may exist past the end-of-file.

The sections locked with F_LOCK or F_TLOCK may, in whole or in part,
contain or be contained by a previously locked section for the same
process. Locked sections will be unlocked starting at the point of
the offset through size bytes or to the end of file if size is
(off_t) 0. When this situation occurs, or if this situation occurs in
adjacent sections, the sections are combined into a single section.
If the request requires that a new element be added to the table of
active locks and this table is already full, an error is returned,
and the new section is not locked.

F_LOCK and F_TLOCK requests differ only by the action taken if the
resource is not available. F_LOCK blocks the calling thread until the
resource is available. F_TLOCK causes the function to return -1 and
set errno to EAGAIN if the section is already locked by another
process.

File locks are released on first close by the locking process of any
file descriptor for the file.

F_ULOCK requests may, in whole or in part, release one or more locked
sections controlled by the process. When sections are not fully
released, the remaining sections are still locked by the process.
Releasing the center section of a locked section requires an
additional element in the table of active locks. If this table is
full, an errno is set to EDEADLK and the requested section is not
released.

An F_ULOCK request in which size is non-zero and the offset of the
last byte of the requested section is the maximum value for an object
of type off_t, when the process has an existing lock in which size is
0 and which includes the last byte of the requested section, will be
treated as a request to unlock from the start of the requested
section with a size equal to 0. Otherwise, an F_ULOCK request will
attempt to unlock only the requested section.

A potential for deadlock occurs if the threads of a process
controlling a locked resource is put to sleep by requesting another
process's locked resource. Thus calls to lockf() or fcntl(2) scan for
a deadlock prior to sleeping on a locked resource. An error return is
made if sleeping on the locked resource would cause a deadlock.

Sleeping on a resource is interrupted with any signal. The alarm(2)
function may be used to provide a timeout facility in applications
that require this facility.

RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, -1 is returned
and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

The lockf() function will fail if:

EBADF
The fildes argument is not a valid open file
descriptor; or function is F_LOCK or F_TLOCK and
fildes is not a valid file descriptor open for
writing.

EACCES or EAGAIN
The function argument is F_TLOCK or F_TEST and
the section is already locked by another process.

EDEADLK
The function argument is F_LOCK and a deadlock is
detected.

EINTR
A signal was caught during execution of the
function.

ECOMM
The fildes argument is on a remote machine and
the link to that machine is no longer active.

EINVAL
The function argument is not one of F_LOCK,
F_TLOCK, F_TEST, or F_ULOCK; or size plus the
current file offset is less than 0.

EOVERFLOW
The offset of the first, or if size is not 0 then
the last, byte in the requested section cannot be
represented correctly in an object of type off_t.

The lockf() function may fail if:

EAGAIN
The function argument is F_LOCK or F_TLOCK
and the file is mapped with mmap(2).

EDEADLK or ENOLCK
The function argument is F_LOCK, F_TLOCK, or
F_ULOCK and the request would cause the
number of locks to exceed a system-imposed
limit.

EOPNOTSUPP or EINVAL
The locking of files of the type indicated by
the fildes argument is not supported.

USAGE

Record-locking should not be used in combination with the fopen(3C),
fread(3C), fwrite(3C) and other stdio functions. Instead, the more
primitive, non-buffered functions (such as open(2)) should be used.
Unexpected results may occur in processes that do buffering in the
user address space. The process may later read/write data which
is/was locked. The stdio functions are the most common source of
unexpected buffering.

The alarm(2) function may be used to provide a timeout facility in
applications requiring it.

The lockf() function has a transitional interface for 64-bit file
offsets. See lf64(7).

ATTRIBUTES