Open Source Software

msync(2)



NAME

   msync - synchronize a file with a memory map

SYNOPSIS

   #include <sys/mman.h>

   int msync(void *addr, size_t length, int flags);

DESCRIPTION

   msync()  flushes  changes  made  to the in-core copy of a file that was
   mapped into memory using mmap(2) back to the filesystem.   Without  use
   of  this  call,  there  is  no  guarantee that changes are written back
   before munmap(2) is called.  To be more precise, the part of  the  file
   that  corresponds to the memory area starting at addr and having length
   length is updated.

   The flags argument should specify exactly one of MS_ASYNC and  MS_SYNC,
   and  may  additionally  include the MS_INVALIDATE bit.  These bits have
   the following meanings:

   MS_ASYNC
          Specifies that an update be  scheduled,  but  the  call  returns
          immediately.

   MS_SYNC
          Requests an update and waits for it to complete.

   MS_INVALIDATE
          Asks to invalidate other mappings of the same file (so that they
          can be updated with the fresh values just written).

RETURN VALUE

   On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and  errno  is
   set appropriately.

ERRORS

   EBUSY  MS_INVALIDATE  was  specified in flags, and a memory lock exists
          for the specified address range.

   EINVAL addr is not a multiple  of  PAGESIZE;  or  any  bit  other  than
          MS_ASYNC  |  MS_INVALIDATE  |  MS_SYNC  is set in flags; or both
          MS_SYNC and MS_ASYNC are set in flags.

   ENOMEM The indicated memory (or part of it) was not mapped.

CONFORMING TO

   POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

   This call was introduced in Linux 1.3.21, and then used EFAULT  instead
   of  ENOMEM.   In  Linux  2.4.19,  this  was  changed to the POSIX value
   ENOMEM.

AVAILABILITY

   On   POSIX   systems   on   which   msync()    is    available,    both
   _POSIX_MAPPED_FILES   and   _POSIX_SYNCHRONIZED_IO   are   defined   in
   <unistd.h> to a value greater than 0.  (See also sysconf(3).)

NOTES

   According to POSIX, either MS_SYNC or MS_ASYNC  must  be  specified  in
   flags,  and  indeed  failure  to  include one of these flags will cause
   msync() to fail on some systems.  However,  Linux  permits  a  call  to
   msync()  that specifies neither of these flags, with semantics that are
   (currently) equivalent to specifying MS_ASYNC.   (Since  Linux  2.6.19,
   MS_ASYNC  is  in  fact  a no-op, since the kernel properly tracks dirty
   pages and flushes them to storage as necessary.)   Notwithstanding  the
   Linux  behavior, portable, future-proof applications should ensure that
   they specify either MS_SYNC or MS_ASYNC in flags.

SEE ALSO

   mmap(2)

   B.O. Gallmeister, POSIX.4, O'Reilly, pp. 128-129 and 389-391.

COLOPHON

   This page is part of release 4.09 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
   description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
   latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
   https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



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