How to use shared memory with Linux in C
CLinuxForkShared MemoryC Problem Overview
I have a bit of an issue with one of my projects.
I have been trying to find a well documented example of using shared memory with fork() but to no success.
Basically the scenario is that when the user starts the program, I need to store two values in shared memory: current_path which is a char* and a file_name which is also char*.
Depending on the command arguments, a new process is kicked off with fork() and that process needs to read and modify the current_path variable stored in shared memory while the file_name variable is read only.
Is there a good tutorial on shared memory with example code (if possible) that you can direct me to?
C Solutions
Solution 1 - C
There are two approaches: shmget and mmap. I'll talk about mmap, since it's more modern and flexible, but you can take a look at man shmget (or this tutorial) if you'd rather use the old-style tools.
The mmap() function can be used to allocate memory buffers with highly customizable parameters to control access and permissions, and to back them with file-system storage if necessary.
The following function creates an in-memory buffer that a process can share with its children:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
void* create_shared_memory(size_t size) {
// Our memory buffer will be readable and writable:
int protection = PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE;
// The buffer will be shared (meaning other processes can access it), but
// anonymous (meaning third-party processes cannot obtain an address for it),
// so only this process and its children will be able to use it:
int visibility = MAP_SHARED | MAP_ANONYMOUS;
// The remaining parameters to `mmap()` are not important for this use case,
// but the manpage for `mmap` explains their purpose.
return mmap(NULL, size, protection, visibility, -1, 0);
}
The following is an example program that uses the function defined above to allocate a buffer. The parent process will write a message, fork, and then wait for its child to modify the buffer. Both processes can read and write the shared memory.
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
char parent_message[] = "hello"; // parent process will write this message
char child_message[] = "goodbye"; // child process will then write this one
void* shmem = create_shared_memory(128);
memcpy(shmem, parent_message, sizeof(parent_message));
int pid = fork();
if (pid == 0) {
printf("Child read: %s\n", shmem);
memcpy(shmem, child_message, sizeof(child_message));
printf("Child wrote: %s\n", shmem);
} else {
printf("Parent read: %s\n", shmem);
sleep(1);
printf("After 1s, parent read: %s\n", shmem);
}
}
Solution 2 - C
Here is an example for shared memory :
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/ipc.h>
#include <sys/shm.h>
#define SHM_SIZE 1024 /* make it a 1K shared memory segment */
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
key_t key;
int shmid;
char *data;
int mode;
if (argc > 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "usage: shmdemo [data_to_write]\n");
exit(1);
}
/* make the key: */
if ((key = ftok("hello.txt", 'R')) == -1) /*Here the file must exist */
{
perror("ftok");
exit(1);
}
/* create the segment: */
if ((shmid = shmget(key, SHM_SIZE, 0644 | IPC_CREAT)) == -1) {
perror("shmget");
exit(1);
}
/* attach to the segment to get a pointer to it: */
if ((data = shmat(shmid, NULL, 0)) == (void *)-1) {
perror("shmat");
exit(1);
}
/* read or modify the segment, based on the command line: */
if (argc == 2) {
printf("writing to segment: \"%s\"\n", argv[1]);
strncpy(data, argv[1], SHM_SIZE);
} else
printf("segment contains: \"%s\"\n", data);
/* detach from the segment: */
if (shmdt(data) == -1) {
perror("shmdt");
exit(1);
}
return 0;
}
Steps :
-
Use ftok to convert a pathname and a project identifier to a System V IPC key
-
Use shmget which allocates a shared memory segment
-
Use shmat to attache the shared memory segment identified by shmid to the address space of the calling process
-
Do the operations on the memory area
-
Detach using shmdt
Solution 3 - C
These are includes for using shared memory
#include<sys/ipc.h>
#include<sys/shm.h>
int shmid;
int shmkey = 12222;//u can choose it as your choice
int main()
{
//now your main starting
shmid = shmget(shmkey,1024,IPC_CREAT);
// 1024 = your preferred size for share memory
// IPC_CREAT its a flag to create shared memory
//now attach a memory to this share memory
char *shmpointer = shmat(shmid,NULL);
//do your work with the shared memory
//read -write will be done with the *shmppointer
//after your work is done deattach the pointer
shmdt(&shmpointer, NULL);
Solution 4 - C
try this code sample, I tested it, source: http://www.makelinux.net/alp/035
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/shm.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
int main ()
{
int segment_id;
char* shared_memory;
struct shmid_ds shmbuffer;
int segment_size;
const int shared_segment_size = 0x6400;
/* Allocate a shared memory segment. */
segment_id = shmget (IPC_PRIVATE, shared_segment_size,
IPC_CREAT | IPC_EXCL | S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR);
/* Attach the shared memory segment. */
shared_memory = (char*) shmat (segment_id, 0, 0);
printf ("shared memory attached at address %p\n", shared_memory);
/* Determine the segment's size. */
shmctl (segment_id, IPC_STAT, &shmbuffer);
segment_size = shmbuffer.shm_segsz;
printf ("segment size: %d\n", segment_size);
/* Write a string to the shared memory segment. */
sprintf (shared_memory, "Hello, world.");
/* Detach the shared memory segment. */
shmdt (shared_memory);
/* Reattach the shared memory segment, at a different address. */
shared_memory = (char*) shmat (segment_id, (void*) 0x5000000, 0);
printf ("shared memory reattached at address %p\n", shared_memory);
/* Print out the string from shared memory. */
printf ("%s\n", shared_memory);
/* Detach the shared memory segment. */
shmdt (shared_memory);
/* Deallocate the shared memory segment. */
shmctl (segment_id, IPC_RMID, 0);
return 0;
}
Solution 5 - C
Here's a mmap example:
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
/*
* pvtmMmapAlloc - creates a memory mapped file area.
* The return value is a page-aligned memory value, or NULL if there is a failure.
* Here's the list of arguments:
* @mmapFileName - the name of the memory mapped file
* @size - the size of the memory mapped file (should be a multiple of the system page for best performance)
* @create - determines whether or not the area should be created.
*/
void* pvtmMmapAlloc (char * mmapFileName, size_t size, char create)
{
void * retv = NULL;
if (create)
{
mode_t origMask = umask(0);
int mmapFd = open(mmapFileName, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 00666);
umask(origMask);
if (mmapFd < 0)
{
perror("open mmapFd failed");
return NULL;
}
if ((ftruncate(mmapFd, size) == 0))
{
int result = lseek(mmapFd, size - 1, SEEK_SET);
if (result == -1)
{
perror("lseek mmapFd failed");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
/* Something needs to be written at the end of the file to
* have the file actually have the new size.
* Just writing an empty string at the current file position will do.
* Note:
* - The current position in the file is at the end of the stretched
* file due to the call to lseek().
* - The current position in the file is at the end of the stretched
* file due to the call to lseek().
* - An empty string is actually a single '\0' character, so a zero-byte
* will be written at the last byte of the file.
*/
result = write(mmapFd, "", 1);
if (result != 1)
{
perror("write mmapFd failed");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
retv = mmap(NULL, size,
PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, mmapFd, 0);
if (retv == MAP_FAILED || retv == NULL)
{
perror("mmap");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
}
}
else
{
int mmapFd = open(mmapFileName, O_RDWR, 00666);
if (mmapFd < 0)
{
return NULL;
}
int result = lseek(mmapFd, 0, SEEK_END);
if (result == -1)
{
perror("lseek mmapFd failed");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
if (result == 0)
{
perror("The file has 0 bytes");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
retv = mmap(NULL, size,
PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, mmapFd, 0);
if (retv == MAP_FAILED || retv == NULL)
{
perror("mmap");
close(mmapFd);
return NULL;
}
close(mmapFd);
}
return retv;
}