The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6
IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition
Copyright © 2001-2004 The IEEE and The Open Group, All Rights reserved.

NAME

sem_unlink - remove a named semaphore (REALTIME)

SYNOPSIS

[SEM] [Option Start] #include <semaphore.h>

int sem_unlink(const char *
name); [Option End]

DESCRIPTION

The sem_unlink() function shall remove the semaphore named by the string name. If the semaphore named by name is currently referenced by other processes, then sem_unlink() shall have no effect on the state of the semaphore. If one or more processes have the semaphore open when sem_unlink() is called, destruction of the semaphore is postponed until all references to the semaphore have been destroyed by calls to sem_close(), _exit(), or exec. Calls to sem_open() to recreate or reconnect to the semaphore refer to a new semaphore after sem_unlink() is called. The sem_unlink() call shall not block until all references have been destroyed; it shall return immediately.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, the sem_unlink() function shall return a value of 0. Otherwise, the semaphore shall not be changed and the function shall return a value of -1 and set errno to indicate the error.

ERRORS

The sem_unlink() function shall fail if:

[EACCES]
Permission is denied to unlink the named semaphore.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
The length of the name argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname component is longer than {NAME_MAX}.
[ENOENT]
The named semaphore does not exist.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

The sem_unlink() function is part of the Semaphores option and need not be available on all implementations.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

semctl(), semget(), semop() , sem_close(), sem_open(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <semaphore.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 5. Included for alignment with the POSIX Realtime Extension.

Issue 6

The sem_unlink() function is marked as part of the Semaphores option.

The [ENOSYS] error condition has been removed as stubs need not be provided if an implementation does not support the Semaphores option.

End of informative text.

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