flockfile

LOCKFILE(3)                Linux Programmer's Manual               LOCKFILE(3)



NAME
       flockfile, ftrylockfile, funlockfile - lock FILE for stdio

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>

       void flockfile(FILE *filehandle);
       int ftrylockfile(FILE *filehandle);
       void funlockfile(FILE *filehandle);

DESCRIPTION
       The  stdio  functions are thread-safe. This is achieved by assigning to
       each FILE object a lockcount and (if the lockcount is nonzero) an  own-
       ing thread.  For each library call, these functions wait until the FILE
       object is no longer locked by a different thread, then lock it, do  the
       requested I/O, and unlock the object again.

       (Note:  this  locking  has  nothing to do with the file locking done by
       functions like flock(2) and lockf(3).)

       All this is invisible to the C-programmer, but there may be two reasons
       to  wish  for more detailed control. On the one hand, maybe a series of
       I/O actions by one thread belongs together, and should  not  be  inter-
       rupted  by  the I/O of some other thread.  On the other hand, maybe the
       locking overhead should be avoided for greater efficiency.

       To this end, a thread can explicitly lock the FILE object, then do  its
       series  of  I/O  actions, then unlock. This prevents other threads from
       coming in between. If the reason for doing this was to achieve  greater
       efficiency, one does the I/O with the non-locking versions of the stdio
       functions: with getc_unlocked() and putc_unlocked() instead  of  getc()
       and putc().

       The  flockfile()  function waits for *filehandle to be no longer locked
       by a different thread, then makes the current thread owner of *filehan-
       dle, and increments the lockcount.

       The funlockfile() function decrements the lock count.

       The  ftrylockfile()  function is a non-blocking version of flockfile().
       It does nothing in case some other  thread  owns  *filehandle,  and  it
       obtains ownership and increments the lockcount otherwise.

RETURN VALUE
       The  ftrylockfile()  function  returns  zero  for success (the lock was
       obtained), and nonzero for failure.

ERRORS
       None.

AVAILABILITY
       These functions  are  available  when  _POSIX_THREAD_SAFE_FUNCTIONS  is
       defined.  They  are  in  libc since libc 5.1.1 and in glibc since glibc
       2.0.

CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1

SEE ALSO
       unlocked_stdio(3)




                                  2001-10-18                       LOCKFILE(3)