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NAME

       msgrcv, msgsnd - message operations

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/ipc.h>
       #include <sys/msg.h>

       int msgsnd(int msqid, const void *msgp, size_t msgsz, int msgflg);

       ssize_t msgrcv(int msqid, void *msgp, size_t msgsz, long msgtyp,
                      int msgflg);

DESCRIPTION

       The  msgsnd() and msgrcv() system calls are used, respectively, to send
       messages to, and receive messages from, a message queue.   The  calling
       process  must  have  write  permission on the message queue in order to
       send a message, and read permission to receive a message.

       The msgp argument is a  pointer  to  caller-defined  structure  of  the
       following general form:

           struct msgbuf {
               long mtype;       /* message type, must be > 0 */
               char mtext[1];    /* message data */
           };

       The  mtext  field  is  an  array  (or  other  structure)  whose size is
       specified by msgsz, a nonnegative  integer  value.   Messages  of  zero
       length (i.e., no mtext field) are permitted.  The mtype field must have
       a strictly positive integer value.  This  value  can  be  used  by  the
       receiving  process  for  message  selection  (see  the  description  of
       msgrcv() below).

   msgsnd()
       The msgsnd() system call appends a copy of the message  pointed  to  by
       msgp to the message queue whose identifier is specified by msqid.

       If  sufficient  space  is  available  in  the  queue, msgsnd() succeeds
       immediately.  (The queue capacity is defined by the msg_bytes field  in
       the  associated  data  structure  for  the message queue.  During queue
       creation this field is initialized to MSGMNB bytes, but this limit  can
       be  modified  using  msgctl(2).)  If insufficient space is available in
       the queue, then the default behavior of  msgsnd()  is  to  block  until
       space  becomes  available.   If IPC_NOWAIT is specified in msgflg, then
       the call instead fails with the error EAGAIN.

       A blocked msgsnd() call may also fail if:

       * the queue is removed, in which case the system call fails with  errno
         set to EIDRM; or

       * a  signal  is  caught, in which case the system call fails with errno
         set  to  EINTR;see  signal(7).   (msgsnd()  is  never   automatically
         restarted  after being interrupted by a signal handler, regardless of
         the setting  of  the  SA_RESTART  flag  when  establishing  a  signal
         handler.)

       Upon  successful completion the message queue data structure is updated
       as follows:

              msg_lspid is set to the process ID of the calling process.

              msg_qnum is incremented by 1.

              msg_stime is set to the current time.

   msgrcv()
       The msgrcv() system call removes a message from the queue specified  by
       msqid and places it in the buffer pointed to by msgp.

       The  argument  msgsz specifies the maximum size in bytes for the member
       mtext of the structure pointed to by the msgp argument.  If the message
       text  has  length  greater  than  msgsz,  then  the behavior depends on
       whether  MSG_NOERROR  is  specified  in  msgflg.   If  MSG_NOERROR   is
       specified,  then  the message text will be truncated (and the truncated
       part will be lost); if MSG_NOERROR is not specified, then  the  message
       isn’t  removed  from  the  queue and the system call fails returning -1
       with errno set to E2BIG.

       The argument msgtyp specifies the type of message requested as follows:

       * If msgtyp is 0, then the first message in the queue is read.

       * If  msgtyp  is greater than 0, then the first message in the queue of
         type msgtyp is read, unless MSG_EXCEPT was specified  in  msgflg,  in
         which case the first message in the queue of type not equal to msgtyp
         will be read.

       * If msgtyp is less than 0, then the first message in  the  queue  with
         the  lowest  type  less than or equal to the absolute value of msgtyp
         will be read.

       The msgflg argument is a bit mask constructed by ORing together zero or
       more of the following flags:

       IPC_NOWAIT
              Return immediately if no message of the requested type is in the
              queue.  The system call fails with errno set to ENOMSG.

       MSG_EXCEPT
              Used with msgtyp greater than 0 to read the first message in the
              queue with message type that differs from msgtyp.

       MSG_NOERROR
              To truncate the message text if longer than msgsz bytes.

       If  no  message of the requested type is available and IPC_NOWAIT isn’t
       specified in msgflg, the calling process is blocked until  one  of  the
       following conditions occurs:

       * A message of the desired type is placed in the queue.

       * The  message  queue  is  removed  from  the system.  In this case the
         system call fails with errno set to EIDRM.

       * The calling process catches a signal.  In this case the  system  call
         fails  with  errno  set  to  EINTR.  (msgrcv() is never automatically
         restarted after being interrupted by a signal handler, regardless  of
         the  setting  of  the  SA_RESTART  flag  when  establishing  a signal
         handler.)

       Upon successful completion the message queue data structure is  updated
       as follows:

              msg_lrpid is set to the process ID of the calling process.

              msg_qnum is decremented by 1.

              msg_rtime is set to the current time.

RETURN VALUE

       On  failure  both  functions return -1 with errno indicating the error,
       otherwise msgsnd() returns 0 and msgrcv() returns the number  of  bytes
       actually copied into the mtext array.

ERRORS

       When  msgsnd()  fails,  errno  will  be  set to one among the following
       values:

       EACCES The calling process  does  not  have  write  permission  on  the
              message queue, and does not have the CAP_IPC_OWNER capability.

       EAGAIN The  message  can’t  be sent due to the msg_qbytes limit for the
              queue and IPC_NOWAIT was specified in msgflg.

       EFAULT The address pointed to by msgp isn’t accessible.

       EIDRM  The message queue was removed.

       EINTR  Sleeping on a full message queue condition, the process caught a
              signal.

       EINVAL Invalid  msqid  value,  or  nonpositive  mtype value, or invalid
              msgsz value (less than  0  or  greater  than  the  system  value
              MSGMAX).

       ENOMEM The  system  does  not  have enough memory to make a copy of the
              message pointed to by msgp.

       When msgrcv() fails, errno will be  set  to  one  among  the  following
       values:

       E2BIG  The  message  text  length is greater than msgsz and MSG_NOERROR
              isn’t specified in msgflg.

       EACCES The calling process does not have read permission on the message
              queue, and does not have the CAP_IPC_OWNER capability.

       EAGAIN No  message  was  available  in  the  queue  and  IPC_NOWAIT was
              specified in msgflg.

       EFAULT The address pointed to by msgp isn’t accessible.

       EIDRM  While the process was sleeping to receive a message, the message
              queue was removed.

       EINTR  While the process was sleeping to receive a message, the process
              caught a signal; see signal(7).

       EINVAL msgqid was invalid, or msgsz was less than 0.

       ENOMSG IPC_NOWAIT was  specified  in  msgflg  and  no  message  of  the
              requested type existed on the message queue.

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES

       The  msgp  argument  is  declared as struct msgbuf * with libc4, libc5,
       glibc 2.0, glibc 2.1.  It is declared as void  *  with  glibc  2.2  and
       later, as required by SUSv2 and SUSv3.

       The  following  limits  on  message queue resources affect the msgsnd()
       call:

       MSGMAX Maximum size for a message text:  8192  bytes  (on  Linux,  this
              limit can be read and modified via /proc/sys/kernel/msgmax).

       MSGMNB Default  maximum  size  in bytes of a message queue: 16384 bytes
              (on  Linux,  this  limit  can   be   read   and   modified   via
              /proc/sys/kernel/msgmnb).   The  superuser can increase the size
              of a message queue beyond MSGMNB by a msgctl(2) system call.

       The implementation has no intrinsic limits for the system wide  maximum
       number of message headers (MSGTQL) and for the system wide maximum size
       in bytes of the message pool (MSGPOOL).

SEE ALSO

       msgctl(2), msgget(2), capabilities(7), mq_overview(7), svipc(7)

COLOPHON

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