NAME

sem_post - unlock a semaphore (REALTIME)

 SYNOPSIS

#include <semaphore.h>

int sem_post(sem_t *sem);

 DESCRIPTION

The sem_post() function unlocks the semaphore referenced by sem by performing a semaphore unlock operation on that semaphore.

If the semaphore value resulting from this operation is positive, then no threads were blocked waiting for the semaphore to become unlocked; the semaphore value is simply incremented.

If the value of the semaphore resulting from this operation is zero, then one of the threads blocked waiting for the semaphore will be allowed to return successfully from its call to sem_wait(). If the symbol _POSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING is defined, the thread to be unblocked will be chosen in a manner appropriate to the scheduling policies and parameters in effect for the blocked threads. In the case of the schedulers SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR, the highest priority waiting thread will be unblocked, and if there is more than one highest priority thread blocked waiting for the semaphore, then the highest priority thread that has been waiting the longest will be unblocked. If the symbol _POSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING is not defined, the choice of a thread to unblock is unspecified.

The sem_post() interface is reentrant with respect to signals and may be invoked from a signal-catching function.

 RETURN VALUE

If successful, the sem_post() function returns zero; otherwise the function returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error.

 ERRORS

The sem_post() function will fail if:

[EINVAL]

The sem does not refer to a valid semaphore.

[ENOSYS]

The function sem_post() is not supported by this implementation.

 EXAMPLES

None.

 APPLICATION USAGE

None.

 FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

 SEE ALSO

semctl(), semget(), semop(), sem_trywait(), sem_wait(), <semaphore.h>.

DERIVATION

Derived from the POSIX Realtime Extension (1003.1b-1993/1003.1i-1995)