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48 .\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/sys/kqueue.2,v 1.32 2002/12/19 09:40:25 ru Exp $
58 .Nd kernel event notification mechanism
68 .Fn kevent "int kq" "const struct kevent *changelist" "int nchanges" "struct kevent *eventlist" "int nevents" "const struct timespec *timeout"
70 .Fn kevent64 "int kq" "const struct kevent64_s *changelist" "int nchanges" "struct kevent64_s *eventlist" "int nevents" "unsigned int flags" "const struct timespec *timeout"
71 .Fn EV_SET "&kev" ident filter flags fflags data udata
72 .Fn EV_SET64 "&kev" ident filter flags fflags data udata "ext[0]" "ext[1]"
77 provides a generic method of notifying the user when an kernel
78 event (kevent) happens or a condition holds, based on the results
79 of small pieces of kernel code termed filters.
80 A kevent is identified by an (ident, filter) pair and specifies
81 the interesting conditions to be notified about for that pair.
82 An (ident, filter) pair can only appear once in a given kqueue.
83 Subsequent attempts to register the same pair for a given kqueue
84 will result in the replacement of the conditions being watched,
87 The filter identified in a kevent is executed upon the initial
88 registration of that event in order to detect whether a preexisting
89 condition is present, and is also executed whenever an event is
90 passed to the filter for evaluation.
91 If the filter determines that the condition should be reported,
92 then the kevent is placed on the kqueue for the user to retrieve.
94 The filter is also run when the user attempts to retrieve the kevent
96 If the filter indicates that the condition that triggered
97 the event no longer holds, the kevent is removed from the kqueue and
100 Multiple events which trigger the filter do not result in multiple
101 kevents being placed on the kqueue; instead, the filter will aggregate
102 the events into a single struct kevent.
105 on a file descriptor will remove any kevents that reference the descriptor.
110 creates a new kernel event queue and returns a descriptor.
111 The queue is not inherited by a child created with
119 are used to register events with the queue, and return any pending
124 is a pointer to an array of
128 structures, as defined in
130 All changes contained in the
132 are applied before any pending events are read from the queue.
141 is a pointer to an array of
149 determines the size of
153 is a non-NULL pointer, it specifies a maximum interval to wait
154 for an event, which will be interpreted as a struct timespec. If
156 is a NULL pointer, both
160 wait indefinitely. To effect a poll, the
162 argument should be non-NULL, pointing to a zero-valued
164 structure. The same array may be used for the
171 macro is provided for ease of initializing a
173 structure. Similarly,
183 structures are defined as:
186 uintptr_t ident; /* identifier for this event */
187 int16_t filter; /* filter for event */
188 uint16_t flags; /* general flags */
189 uint32_t fflags; /* filter-specific flags */
190 intptr_t data; /* filter-specific data */
191 void *udata; /* opaque user data identifier */
196 uint64_t ident; /* identifier for this event */
197 int16_t filter; /* filter for event */
198 uint16_t flags; /* general flags */
199 uint32_t fflags; /* filter-specific flags */
200 int64_t data; /* filter-specific data */
201 uint64_t udata; /* opaque user data identifier */
202 uint64_t ext[2]; /* filter-specific extensions */
211 .Fa struct kevent64_s
213 .Bl -tag -width XXXfilter
215 Value used to identify this event.
216 The exact interpretation is determined by the attached filter,
217 but often is a file descriptor.
219 Identifies the kernel filter used to process this event. The pre-defined
220 system filters are described below.
222 Actions to perform on the event.
224 Filter-specific flags.
226 Filter-specific data value.
228 Opaque user-defined value passed through the kernel unchanged.
232 .Fa struct kevent64_s
234 .Bl -tag -width XXXfilter
236 This field stores extensions for the event's filter. What type of extension depends on
237 what type of filter is being used.
244 field can contain the following values:
245 .Bl -tag -width XXXEV_ONESHOT
247 Adds the event to the kqueue. Re-adding an existing event
248 will modify the parameters of the original event, and not result
249 in a duplicate entry. Adding an event automatically enables it,
250 unless overridden by the EV_DISABLE flag.
256 to return the event if it is triggered.
262 will not return it. The filter itself is not disabled.
264 Removes the event from the kqueue. Events which are attached to
265 file descriptors are automatically deleted on the last close of
268 This flag is useful for making bulk changes to a kqueue without draining any
269 pending events. When passed as input, it forces EV_ERROR to always be returned.
270 When a filter is successfully added. The
274 Causes the event to return only the first occurrence of the filter
275 being triggered. After the user retrieves the event from the kqueue,
278 After the event is retrieved by the user, its state is reset.
279 This is useful for filters which report state transitions
280 instead of the current state. Note that some filters may automatically
281 set this flag internally.
283 Filters may set this flag to indicate filter-specific EOF condition.
292 The predefined system filters are listed below.
293 Arguments may be passed to and from the filter via the
302 .Bl -tag -width EVFILT_MACHPORT
304 Takes a file descriptor as the identifier, and returns whenever
305 there is data available to read.
306 The behavior of the filter is slightly different depending
307 on the descriptor type.
311 Sockets which have previously been passed to
313 return when there is an incoming connection pending.
315 contains the size of the listen backlog.
317 Other socket descriptors return when there is data to be read,
320 value of the socket buffer.
321 This may be overridden with a per-filter low water mark at the
322 time the filter is added by setting the
326 and specifying the new low water mark in
330 contains the number of bytes of protocol data available to read.
332 If the read direction of the socket has shutdown, then the filter
335 and returns the socket error (if any) in
337 It is possible for EOF to be returned (indicating the connection is gone)
338 while there is still data pending in the socket buffer.
340 Returns when the file pointer is not at the end of file.
342 contains the offset from current position to end of file,
345 Returns when the there is data to read;
347 contains the number of bytes available.
349 When the last writer disconnects, the filter will set EV_EOF in
351 This may be cleared by passing in EV_CLEAR, at which point the
352 filter will resume waiting for data to become available before
356 Takes a file descriptor as the identifier, and returns whenever
357 it is possible to write to the descriptor. For sockets, pipes
360 will contain the amount of space remaining in the write buffer.
361 The filter will set EV_EOF when the reader disconnects, and for
362 the fifo case, this may be cleared by use of EV_CLEAR.
363 Note that this filter is not supported for vnodes.
365 For sockets, the low water mark and socket error handling is
366 identical to the EVFILT_READ case.
368 This filter is currently unsupported.
369 .\"The sigevent portion of the AIO request is filled in, with
370 .\".Va sigev_notify_kqueue
371 .\"containing the descriptor of the kqueue that the event should
374 .\"containing the udata value, and
376 .\"set to SIGEV_KEVENT.
379 .\"system call is made, the event will be registered
380 .\"with the specified kqueue, and the
382 .\"argument set to the
387 .\"The filter returns under the same conditions as aio_error.
389 .\"Alternatively, a kevent structure may be initialized, with
391 .\"containing the descriptor of the kqueue, and the
392 .\"address of the kevent structure placed in the
393 .\".Va aio_lio_opcode
394 .\"field of the AIO request. However, this approach will not work on
395 .\"architectures with 64-bit pointers, and should be considered deprecated.
397 Takes a file descriptor as the identifier and the events to watch for in
399 and returns when one or more of the requested events occurs on the descriptor.
400 The events to monitor are:
401 .Bl -tag -width XXNOTE_RENAME
406 was called on the file referenced by the descriptor.
408 A write occurred on the file referenced by the descriptor.
410 The file referenced by the descriptor was extended.
412 The file referenced by the descriptor had its attributes changed.
414 The link count on the file changed.
416 The file referenced by the descriptor was renamed.
418 Access to the file was revoked via
420 or the underlying fileystem was unmounted.
425 contains the events which triggered the filter.
427 Takes the process ID to monitor as the identifier and the events to watch for
430 and returns when the process performs one or more of the requested events.
431 If a process can normally see another process, it can attach an event to it.
432 The events to monitor are:
433 .Bl -tag -width NOTE_SIGNAL
435 The process has exited.
437 The process created a child process via
441 The process executed a new process via
445 The process was sent a signal. Status can be checked via
449 The process was reaped by the parent via
456 contains the events which triggered the filter.
458 Takes the signal number to monitor as the identifier and returns
459 when the given signal is generated for the process.
460 This coexists with the
464 facilities, and has a lower precedence. Only signals sent to the process,
465 not to a particular thread, will trigger the filter. The filter will record
466 all attempts to deliver a signal to a process, even if the signal has
467 been marked as SIG_IGN. Event notification happens before normal
468 signal delivery processing.
470 returns the number of times the signal has been generated since the last call to
472 This filter automatically sets the EV_CLEAR flag internally.
474 Takes the name of a mach port, or port set, in
476 and waits until a message is received on the port or port set. When a message
477 is recieved, the size of the message is returned in
481 is set to MACH_RCV_MSG, a pointer to the message is returned in ext[0].
483 Establishes an interval timer with the data
488 specifies the timeout period and
490 can be set to one of the following:
491 .Bl -tag -width NOTE_ABSOLUTE
495 data is in microseconds
497 data is in nanoseconds
499 data is an absolute timeout
502 If fflags is not set, the default is milliseconds. The timer will be periodic unless EV_ONESHOT is specified.
505 contains the number of times the timeout has expired since the last call to
509 This filter automatically sets the EV_CLEAR flag internally.
511 Takes the audit session ID to monitor as the identifier and the events to watch for in
513 and returns when one or more of the requested session events occurs.
514 To monitor for events for any audit session the value AS_ANY_ASID
515 should be used as the identifier. With AS_ANY_ASID, as new audit
516 sessions are created they are included as if the were added
517 individually. The events to monitor are:
518 .Bl -tag -width NOTE_AS_UPDATE
520 A new audit session has started.
522 All the processes in the audit session have exited.
524 This audit session is no longer valid in the kernel. In other words, it
525 is now safe to dispose of any cached information about this session or
526 reuse its session ID for a new audit session.
528 The audit session information was updated. The audit session information is
529 considered immutable once initially set. If this becomes enforced in
530 the kernel then this event may no longer be needed and may become
533 This flag is returned if the system was unable to attach an event to a
534 new session when the audit session ID of AS_ANY_ASID
535 is used. This is usually due to resource limitations.
540 contains the events which triggered the filter,
542 contains the audit session ID, and
544 contains the audit user ID.
545 This filter automatically sets the EV_CLEAR flag internally.
556 is only used with the EVFILT_MACHPORT filter.
564 can always be used like
566 For the use of ext[0], see the EVFILT_MACHPORT filter above.
571 creates a new kernel event queue and returns a file descriptor.
572 If there was an error creating the kernel event queue, a value of -1 is
573 returned and errno set.
580 return the number of events placed in the
582 up to the value given by
584 If an error occurs while processing an element of the
586 and there is enough room in the
588 then the event will be placed in the
594 and the system error in
598 will be returned, and
600 will be set to indicate the error condition.
601 If the time limit expires, then
609 system call fails if:
612 The kernel failed to allocate enough memory for the kernel queue.
614 The per-process descriptor table is full.
616 The system file table is full.
623 system calls fail if:
626 The process does not have permission to register a filter.
628 There was an error reading or writing the
634 The specified descriptor is invalid.
636 A signal was delivered before the timeout expired and before any
637 events were placed on the kqueue for return.
639 The specified time limit or filter is invalid.
641 The event could not be found to be modified or deleted.
643 No memory was available to register the event.
645 The specified process to attach to does not exist.
661 system calls first appeared in
666 system and this manual page were written by
667 .An Jonathan Lemon Aq jlemon@FreeBSD.org .
669 Not all filesystem types support kqueue-style notifications.
670 And even some that do, like some remote filesystems, may only
671 support a subset of the notification semantics described