plibsys
Typedefs | Functions
pshmbuffer.h File Reference

Shared memory buffer. More...

#include <ptypes.h>
#include <pmacros.h>
#include <perror.h>
Include dependency graph for pshmbuffer.h:

Go to the source code of this file.

Typedefs

typedef typedefP_BEGIN_DECLS struct PShmBuffer_ PShmBuffer
 Shared memory buffer opaque data structure. More...
 

Functions

P_LIB_API PShmBufferp_shm_buffer_new (const pchar *name, psize size, PError **error)
 Creates a new PShmBuffer structure. More...
 
P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_free (PShmBuffer *buf)
 Frees PShmBuffer structure. More...
 
P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_take_ownership (PShmBuffer *buf)
 Takes ownership of a shared memory buffer. More...
 
P_LIB_API pint p_shm_buffer_read (PShmBuffer *buf, ppointer storage, psize len, PError **error)
 Tries to read data from a shared memory buffer. More...
 
P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_write (PShmBuffer *buf, ppointer data, psize len, PError **error)
 Tries to write data into a shared memory buffer. More...
 
P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_get_free_space (PShmBuffer *buf, PError **error)
 Gets free space in the shared memory buffer. More...
 
P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_get_used_space (PShmBuffer *buf, PError **error)
 Gets used space in the shared memory buffer. More...
 
P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_clear (PShmBuffer *buf)
 Clears all data in the buffer and fills it with zeros. More...
 

Detailed Description

Shared memory buffer.

Author
Alexander Saprykin

A shared memory buffer works like any other buffer but it is built upon a shared memory region instead of the process-only address space. Thus it inherits all the advantages and disadvantages of shared memory behavior. You should read about PShm before using this buffer implementation to understand underlying restrictions.

The shared memory buffer is process-wide and identified by its name across the system, thus it can be opened by any process if it knows its name. Use p_shm_buffer_new() to open the shared memory buffer and p_shm_buffer_free() to close it.

All read/write operations are completely thread- and process-safe, which means that no other synchronization primitive is required, even for inter- process access. A PShm locking mechanism is used for access synchronization.

The buffer is cyclic and non-overridable which means that you wouldn't get buffer overflow and wouldn't override previously written data until reading it.

The read operation checks whether there is any data available and reads it in case of successful check. After reading the data used space in the buffer is marked as free and any subsequent write operation may overwrite it. Thus you couldn't read the same data twice. The read operation is performed with the p_shm_buffer_read() call.

The write operation checks whether there is enough free space available and writes a given memory block only if the buffer has enough free space. Otherwise no data is written. The write operation is performed with the p_shm_buffer_write() call.

Data can be read and written into the buffer only sequentially. There is no way to access an arbitrary address inside the buffer.

You can take ownership of the shared memory buffer with p_shm_buffer_take_ownership() to explicitly remove it from the system after closing. Please refer to the PShm description to understand the intention of this action.

Typedef Documentation

◆ PShmBuffer

typedef typedefP_BEGIN_DECLS struct PShmBuffer_ PShmBuffer

Shared memory buffer opaque data structure.

Function Documentation

◆ p_shm_buffer_clear()

P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_clear ( PShmBuffer buf)

Clears all data in the buffer and fills it with zeros.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to clear.
Since
0.0.1

◆ p_shm_buffer_free()

P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_free ( PShmBuffer buf)

Frees PShmBuffer structure.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to free.
Since
0.0.1

Note that a buffer will be completely removed from the system only after the last instance of the buffer with the same name is closed.

◆ p_shm_buffer_get_free_space()

P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_get_free_space ( PShmBuffer buf,
PError **  error 
)

Gets free space in the shared memory buffer.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to check space in.
[out]errorError report object, NULL to ignore.
Returns
Free space in bytes in case of success, -1 otherwise.
Since
0.0.1

◆ p_shm_buffer_get_used_space()

P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_get_used_space ( PShmBuffer buf,
PError **  error 
)

Gets used space in the shared memory buffer.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to check space in.
[out]errorError report object, NULL to ignore.
Returns
Used space in bytes in case of success, -1 otherwise.
Since
0.0.1

◆ p_shm_buffer_new()

P_LIB_API PShmBuffer* p_shm_buffer_new ( const pchar name,
psize  size,
PError **  error 
)

Creates a new PShmBuffer structure.

Parameters
nameUnique buffer name.
sizeBuffer size in bytes, can't be changed later.
[out]errorError report object, NULL to ignore.
Returns
Pointer to the PShmBuffer structure in case of success, NULL otherwise.
Since
0.0.1

If a buffer with the same name already exists then the size will be ignored and the existing buffer will be returned.

◆ p_shm_buffer_read()

P_LIB_API pint p_shm_buffer_read ( PShmBuffer buf,
ppointer  storage,
psize  len,
PError **  error 
)

Tries to read data from a shared memory buffer.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to read data from.
[out]storageOutput buffer to put data in.
lenStorage size in bytes.
[out]errorError report object, NULL to ignore.
Returns
Number of read bytes (can be 0 if buffer is empty), or -1 if error occured.
Since
0.0.1

◆ p_shm_buffer_take_ownership()

P_LIB_API void p_shm_buffer_take_ownership ( PShmBuffer buf)

Takes ownership of a shared memory buffer.

Parameters
bufShared memory buffer.
Since
0.0.1

If you take ownership of the shared memory buffer, p_shm_buffer_free() will try to completely unlink it and remove from the system. This is useful on UNIX systems, where shared memory can survive an application crash. On the Windows and OS/2 platforms this call has no effect.

The common usage of this call is upon application startup to ensure that the memory segment from the previous crash can be removed from the system. To do that, call p_shm_buffer_new() and check if its condition is normal (used space, free space). If not, take ownership of the shared memory buffer object and remove it with the p_shm_buffer_free() call. After that, create it again.

◆ p_shm_buffer_write()

P_LIB_API pssize p_shm_buffer_write ( PShmBuffer buf,
ppointer  data,
psize  len,
PError **  error 
)

Tries to write data into a shared memory buffer.

Parameters
bufPShmBuffer to write data into.
dataData to write.
lenData size in bytes.
[out]errorError report object, NULL to ignore.
Returns
Number of written bytes (can be 0 if buffer is full), or -1 if error occured.
Since
0.0.1
Note
Write operation is performed only if the buffer has enough space for the given data size.