POSIX_FALLOCATE

Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (3P)
Updated: 2003
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PROLOG

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.  

NAME

posix_fallocate - file space control (ADVANCED REALTIME)  

SYNOPSIS

#include <fcntl.h>

int posix_fallocate(int fd, off_t offset, size_t len);
 

DESCRIPTION

The posix_fallocate() function shall ensure that any required storage for regular file data starting at offset and continuing for len bytes is allocated on the file system storage media. If posix_fallocate() returns successfully, subsequent writes to the specified file data shall not fail due to the lack of free space on the file system storage media.

If the offset+ len is beyond the current file size, then posix_fallocate() shall adjust the file size to offset+ len. Otherwise, the file size shall not be changed.

It is implementation-defined whether a previous posix_fadvise() call influences allocation strategy.

Space allocated via posix_fallocate() shall be freed by a successful call to creat() or open() that truncates the size of the file. Space allocated via posix_fallocate() may be freed by a successful call to ftruncate() that reduces the file size to a size smaller than offset+ len.  

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, posix_fallocate() shall return zero; otherwise, an error number shall be returned to indicate the error.  

ERRORS

The posix_fallocate() function shall fail if:

EBADF
The fd argument is not a valid file descriptor.
EBADF
The fd argument references a file that was opened without write permission.
EFBIG
The value of offset+ len is greater than the maximum file size.
EINTR
A signal was caught during execution.
EINVAL
The len argument was zero or the offset argument was less than zero.
EIO
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to a file system.
ENODEV
The fd argument does not refer to a regular file.
ENOSPC
There is insufficient free space remaining on the file system storage media.
ESPIPE
The fd argument is associated with a pipe or FIFO.

The following sections are informative.  

EXAMPLES

None.  

APPLICATION USAGE

The posix_fallocate() function is part of the Advisory Information option and need not be provided on all implementations.  

RATIONALE

None.  

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.  

SEE ALSO

creat(), ftruncate(), open(), unlink(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <fcntl.h>  

COPYRIGHT

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .