lockmgr(9) manual page

The lockinit() function is used to initialize a lock. It must be called before any operation can be performed on a lock. Its arguments are:

lkp
	A pointer to the lock to initialize.
prio
	The priority passed to sleep(9).
wmesg
	The lock message. This is used for both debugging output and sleep(9).
timo
	The timeout value passed to sleep(9).
flags
	The flags the lock is to be initialized with:

`LK_CANRECURSE`
	Allow recursive exclusive locks.
`LK_NOPROFILE`	Disable lock profiling for this lock.
`LK_NOSHARE`	Allow exclusive locks only.
`LK_NOWITNESS`	Instruct witness(4) to ignore this lock.
`LK_NODUP`	witness(4) should log messages about duplicate locks being acquired.
`LK_QUIET`	Disable ktr(4) logging for this lock.
`LK_TIMELOCK`	Use timo during a sleep; otherwise, 0 is used.

The lockdestroy() function is used to destroy a lock, and while it is called in a number of places in the kernel, it currently does nothing.

The lockmgr() and lockmgr_rw() functions handle general locking functionality within the kernel, including support for shared and exclusive locks, and recursion. lockmgr() and lockmgr_rw() are also able to upgrade and downgrade locks.

Their arguments are:

lkp

A pointer to the lock to manipulate.

flags

Flags indicating what action is to be taken.

LK_SHARED Acquire a shared lock. If an exclusive lock is currently held, EDEADLK will be returned.

LK_EXCLUSIVE Acquire an exclusive lock. If an exclusive lock is already held, and LK_CANRECURSE is not set, the system will panic(9).

LK_DOWNGRADE Downgrade exclusive lock to a shared lock. Downgrading a shared lock is not permitted. If an exclusive lock has been recursed, the system will panic(9).

LK_UPGRADE Upgrade a shared lock to an exclusive lock. If this call fails, the shared lock is lost, even if the LK_NOWAIT flag is specified. During the upgrade, the shared lock could be temporarily dropped. Attempts to upgrade an exclusive lock will cause a panic(9).

LK_TRYUPGRADE Try to upgrade a shared lock to an exclusive lock. The failure to upgrade does not result in the dropping of the shared lock ownership.

LK_RELEASE Release the lock. Releasing a lock that is not held can cause a panic(9).

LK_DRAIN Wait for all activity on the lock to end, then mark it decommissioned. This is used before freeing a lock that is part of a piece of memory that is about to be freed. (As documented in <sys/lockmgr.h>)

LK_SLEEPFAIL Fail if operation has slept.

LK_NOWAIT Do not allow the call to sleep. This can be used to test the lock.

LK_NOWITNESS Skip the witness(4) checks for this instance.

LK_CANRECURSE Allow recursion on an exclusive lock. For every lock there must be a release.

LK_INTERLOCK Unlock the interlock (which should be locked already).

LK_NODDLKTREAT

Normally, lockmgr() postpones serving further shared requests for shared-locked lock if there is exclusive waiter, to avoid exclusive lock starvation. But, if the thread requesting the shared lock already owns a shared lockmgr lock, the request is granted even in presence of the parallel exclusive lock request, which is done to avoid deadlocks with recursive shared acquisition.
The LK_NODDLKTREAT flag can only be used by code which requests shared non-recursive lock. The flag allows exclusive requests to preempt the current shared request even if the current thread owns shared locks. This is safe since shared lock is guaranteed to not recurse, and is used when thread is known to held unrelated shared locks, to not cause unnecessary starvation. An example is vp locking in VFS lookup(9), when dvp is already locked.

ilk

An interlock mutex for controlling group access to the lock. If LK_INTERLOCK is specified, lockmgr() and lockmgr_rw() assume ilk is currently owned and not recursed, and will return it unlocked. See mtx_assert(9).

The lockmgr_args() and lockmgr_args_rw() function work like lockmgr() and lockmgr_rw() but accepting a wmesg, timo and prio on a per-instance basis. The specified values will override the default ones, but this can still be used passing, respectively, LK_WMESG_DEFAULT, LK_PRIO_DEFAULT and LK_TIMO_DEFAULT.

The lockmgr_disown() function switches the owner from the current thread to be LK_KERNPROC, if the lock is already held.

The lockmgr_printinfo() function prints debugging information about the lock. It is used primarily by VOP_PRINT(9) functions.

The lockmgr_recursed() function returns true if the lock is recursed, 0 otherwise.

The lockstatus() function returns the status of the lock in relation to the current thread.

When compiled with options INVARIANTS and options INVARIANT_SUPPORT, the lockmgr_assert() function tests lkp for the assertions specified in what, and panics if they are not met. One of the following assertions must be specified:

KA_LOCKED Assert that the current thread has either a shared or an exclusive lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.

KA_SLOCKED Assert that the current thread has a shared lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.

KA_XLOCKED Assert that the current thread has an exclusive lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.

KA_UNLOCKED

Assert that the current thread has no lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.

In addition, one of the following optional assertions can be used with either an KA_LOCKED, KA_SLOCKED, or KA_XLOCKED assertion:

KA_RECURSED Assert that the current thread has a recursed lock on lkp.

KA_NOTRECURSED

Assert that the current thread does not have a recursed lock on lkp.

`LK_EXCLUSIVE`
	An exclusive lock is held by the current thread.
`LK_EXCLOTHER`
	An exclusive lock is held by someone other than the current thread.
`LK_SHARED`	A shared lock is held.
`0`	The lock is not held by anyone.

[`EBUSY`]
	`LK_FORCEUPGRADE` was requested and another thread had already requested a lock upgrade.
[`EBUSY`]
	`LK_NOWAIT` was set, and a sleep would have been required, or `LK_TRYUPGRADE` operation was not able to upgrade the lock.
[`ENOLCK`]
	`LK_SLEEPFAIL` was set and `lockmgr()` or `lockmgr_rw()` did sleep.
[`EINTR`]
	`PCATCH` was set in the lock priority, and a signal was delivered during a sleep. Note the `ERESTART` error below.
[`ERESTART`]
	`PCATCH` was set in the lock priority, a signal was delivered during a sleep, and the system call is to be restarted.
[`EWOULDBLOCK`]
	a non-zero timeout was given, and the timeout expired.

Manual Pages — LOCK

NAME

CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUES

ERRORS

LOCKS

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS

lkp
	A pointer to the lock to manipulate.
flags
	Flags indicating what action is to be taken.

`LK_SHARED`	Acquire a shared lock. If an exclusive lock is currently held, `EDEADLK` will be returned.
`LK_EXCLUSIVE`	Acquire an exclusive lock. If an exclusive lock is already held, and `LK_CANRECURSE` is not set, the system will panic(9).
`LK_DOWNGRADE`	Downgrade exclusive lock to a shared lock. Downgrading a shared lock is not permitted. If an exclusive lock has been recursed, the system will panic(9).
`LK_UPGRADE`	Upgrade a shared lock to an exclusive lock. If this call fails, the shared lock is lost, even if the `LK_NOWAIT` flag is specified. During the upgrade, the shared lock could be temporarily dropped. Attempts to upgrade an exclusive lock will cause a panic(9).
`LK_TRYUPGRADE`	Try to upgrade a shared lock to an exclusive lock. The failure to upgrade does not result in the dropping of the shared lock ownership.
`LK_RELEASE`	Release the lock. Releasing a lock that is not held can cause a panic(9).
`LK_DRAIN`	Wait for all activity on the lock to end, then mark it decommissioned. This is used before freeing a lock that is part of a piece of memory that is about to be freed. (As documented in `<sys/lockmgr.h>`)
`LK_SLEEPFAIL`	Fail if operation has slept.
`LK_NOWAIT`	Do not allow the call to sleep. This can be used to test the lock.
`LK_NOWITNESS`	Skip the witness(4) checks for this instance.
`LK_CANRECURSE`	Allow recursion on an exclusive lock. For every lock there must be a release.
`LK_INTERLOCK`	Unlock the interlock (which should be locked already).
`LK_NODDLKTREAT`
	Normally, `lockmgr()` postpones serving further shared requests for shared-locked lock if there is exclusive waiter, to avoid exclusive lock starvation. But, if the thread requesting the shared lock already owns a shared lockmgr lock, the request is granted even in presence of the parallel exclusive lock request, which is done to avoid deadlocks with recursive shared acquisition. The `LK_NODDLKTREAT` flag can only be used by code which requests shared non-recursive lock. The flag allows exclusive requests to preempt the current shared request even if the current thread owns shared locks. This is safe since shared lock is guaranteed to not recurse, and is used when thread is known to held unrelated shared locks, to not cause unnecessary starvation. An example is `vp` locking in VFS lookup(9), when `dvp` is already locked.

ilk
	An interlock mutex for controlling group access to the lock. If `LK_INTERLOCK` is specified, `lockmgr()` and `lockmgr_rw()` assume ilk is currently owned and not recursed, and will return it unlocked. See mtx_assert(9).

`KA_LOCKED`	Assert that the current thread has either a shared or an exclusive lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.
`KA_SLOCKED`	Assert that the current thread has a shared lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.
`KA_XLOCKED`	Assert that the current thread has an exclusive lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.
`KA_UNLOCKED`
	Assert that the current thread has no lock on the lkp lock pointed to by the first argument.

`KA_RECURSED`	Assert that the current thread has a recursed lock on lkp.
`KA_NOTRECURSED`
	Assert that the current thread does not have a recursed lock on lkp.