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NAME

       flockfile, ftrylockfile, funlockfile - lock FILE for stdio

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

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

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       All functions shown above: _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 1 || _XOPEN_SOURCE ||
       _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _POSIX_SOURCE

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
       owning 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
       interrupted 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 nonlocking versions of the  stdio
       functions:   with  getc_unlocked(3)  and  putc_unlocked(3)  instead  of
       getc(3) and putc(3).

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

       The funlockfile() function decrements the lock count.

       The ftrylockfile() function is a nonblocking  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.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001.

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.

SEE ALSO

       unlocked_stdio(3)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 3.24 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

                                  2008-08-29                      FLOCKFILE(3)