FTOK

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2001-11-28
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NAME

ftok - convert a pathname and a project identifier to a System V IPC key

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/ipc.h>

key_t ftok(const char *pathname, int proj_id);

DESCRIPTION

The ftok() function uses the identity of the file named by the given pathname (which must refer to an existing, accessible file) and the least significant 8 bits of proj_id (which must be non-zero) to generate a key_t type System V IPC key, suitable for use with msgget(2), semget(2), or shmget(2).

The resulting value is the same for all pathnames that name the same file, when the same value of proj_id is used. The value returned should be different when the (simultaneously existing) files or the project IDs differ.

RETURN VALUE

On success the generated key_t value is returned. On failure -1 is returned, with errno indicating the error as for the stat(2) system call.

CONFORMING TO

POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES

Under libc4 and libc5 (and under SunOS 4.x) the prototype was:

: key_t ftok(char *pathname, char proj_id);

Today proj_id is an int, but still only 8 bits are used. Typical usage has an ASCII character proj_id, that is why the behavior is said to be undefined when proj_id is zero.

Of course no guarantee can be given that the resulting key_t is unique. Typically, a best effort attempt combines the given proj_id byte, the lower 16 bits of the inode number, and the lower 8 bits of the device number into a 32-bit result. Collisions may easily happen, for example between files on /dev/hda1 and files on /dev/sda1.

COLOPHON

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