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msync(2) - phpMan

MSYNC(2) Linux Programmer's Manual 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 may have the bits MS_ASYNC, MS_SYNC, and MS_INVALIDATE set, but not
both MS_ASYNC and MS_SYNC. MS_ASYNC specifies that an update be scheduled, but the call
returns immediately. MS_SYNC asks for an update and waits for it to complete. MS_INVALI‐
DATE 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.

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_SYN‐
CHRONIZED_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. How‐
ever, Linux permits a call to msync() that specifies neither of these flags, with seman‐
tics 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.