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man:getitimer

GETITIMER(2) Linux Programmer's Manual GETITIMER(2)

NAME

     getitimer, setitimer - get or set value of an interval timer

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/time.h>
     int getitimer(int which, struct itimerval *curr_value);
     int setitimer(int which, const struct itimerval *new_value,
                   struct itimerval *old_value);

DESCRIPTION

     These  system  calls provide access to interval timers, that is, timers
     that initially expire at some point in the future, and (optionally)  at
     regular intervals after that.  When a timer expires, a signal is gener-
     ated for the calling process, and the timer is reset to  the  specified
     interval (if the interval is nonzero).
     Three  types of timers--specified via the which argument--are provided,
     each of which counts against a different clock and generates a  differ-
     ent signal on timer expiration:
     ITIMER_REAL    This  timer counts down in real (i.e., wall clock) time.
                    At each expiration, a SIGALRM signal is generated.
     ITIMER_VIRTUAL This timer counts down against the  user-mode  CPU  time
                    consumed  by the process.  (The measurement includes CPU
                    time consumed by all threads in the process.)   At  each
                    expiration, a SIGVTALRM signal is generated.
     ITIMER_PROF    This  timer  counts  down  against the total (i.e., both
                    user and system) CPU time consumed by the process.  (The
                    measurement includes CPU time consumed by all threads in
                    the process.)  At each expiration, a SIGPROF  signal  is
                    generated.
                    In  conjunction  with  ITIMER_VIRTUAL, this timer can be
                    used to profile user and system CPU time consumed by the
                    process.
     A process has only one of each of the three types of timers.
     Timer values are defined by the following structures:
         struct itimerval {
             struct timeval it_interval; /* Interval for periodic timer */
             struct timeval it_value;    /* Time until next expiration */ };
         struct timeval {
             time_t      tv_sec;         /* seconds */
             suseconds_t tv_usec;        /* microseconds */ };
 getitimer()
     The function getitimer() places the current value of the  timer  speci-
     fied by which in the buffer pointed to by curr_value.
     The  it_value substructure is populated with the amount of time remain-
     ing until the next expiration  of  the  specified  timer.   This  value
     changes as the timer counts down, and will be reset to it_interval when
     the timer expires.  If both fields of  it_value  are  zero,  then  this
     timer is currently disarmed (inactive).
     The  it_interval substructure is populated with the timer interval.  If
     both fields of it_interval are zero, then this is a  single-shot  timer
     (i.e., it expires just once).
 setitimer()
     The  function setitimer() arms or disarms the timer specified by which,
     by setting the timer to the value specified by new_value.  If old_value
     is  non-NULL,  the  buffer  it points to is used to return the previous
     value of the timer (i.e., the same  information  that  is  returned  by
     getitimer()).
     If  either  field  in  new_value.it_value is nonzero, then the timer is
     armed to initially expire at the specified time.   If  both  fields  in
     new_value.it_value are zero, then the timer is disarmed.
     The  new_value.it_interval  field  specifies  the  new interval for the
     timer; if both of its subfields are zero, the timer is single-shot.

RETURN VALUE

     On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and  errno  is
     set appropriately.

ERRORS

     EFAULT new_value, old_value, or curr_value is not valid a pointer.
     EINVAL which is not one of ITIMER_REAL, ITIMER_VIRTUAL, or ITIMER_PROF;
            or (since Linux 2.6.22) one of the tv_usec fields in the  struc-
            ture  pointed to by new_value contains a value outside the range
            0 to 999999.

CONFORMING TO

     POSIX.1-2001, SVr4,  4.4BSD  (this  call  first  appeared  in  4.2BSD).
     POSIX.1-2008  marks  getitimer() and setitimer() obsolete, recommending
     the use of the POSIX timers  API  (timer_gettime(2),  timer_settime(2),
     etc.) instead.

NOTES

     Timers will never expire before the requested time, but may expire some
     (short) time afterward, which depends on the  system  timer  resolution
     and  on  the  system  load; see time(7).  (But see BUGS below.)  If the
     timer expires while the process is active (always true for  ITIMER_VIR-
     TUAL), the signal will be delivered immediately when generated.
     A  child  created  via  fork(2)  does not inherit its parent's interval
     timers.  Interval timers are preserved across an execve(2).
     POSIX.1 leaves the interaction between setitimer() and the three inter-
     faces alarm(2), sleep(3), and usleep(3) unspecified.
     The standards are silent on the meaning of the call:
         setitimer(which, NULL, &old_value);
     Many  systems  (Solaris,  the  BSDs,  and perhaps others) treat this as
     equivalent to:
         getitimer(which, &old_value);
     In Linux, this is treated as being equivalent to a call  in  which  the
     new_value  fields  are zero; that is, the timer is disabled.  Don't use
     this Linux misfeature: it is nonportable and unnecessary.

BUGS

     The generation and delivery of a signal  are  distinct,  and  only  one
     instance  of  each  of  the  signals  listed above may be pending for a
     process.  Under very heavy loading, an  ITIMER_REAL  timer  may  expire
     before  the  signal from a previous expiration has been delivered.  The
     second signal in such an event will be lost.
     On Linux  kernels  before  2.6.16,  timer  values  are  represented  in
     jiffies.   If  a request is made set a timer with a value whose jiffies
     representation     exceeds     MAX_SEC_IN_JIFFIES      (defined      in
     include/linux/jiffies.h),  then the timer is silently truncated to this
     ceiling value.  On Linux/i386 (where, since Linux 2.6.13,  the  default
     jiffy  is 0.004 seconds), this means that the ceiling value for a timer
     is approximately 99.42 days.  Since Linux 2.6.16,  the  kernel  uses  a
     different  internal  representation  for  times,  and  this  ceiling is
     removed.
     On certain systems  (including  i386),  Linux  kernels  before  version
     2.6.12  have a bug which will produce premature timer expirations of up
     to one jiffy under some circumstances.  This bug  is  fixed  in  kernel
     2.6.12.
     POSIX.1-2001  says  that  setitimer() should fail if a tv_usec value is
     specified that is outside of the range 0 to 999999.  However,  in  ker-
     nels  up  to  and  including  2.6.21, Linux does not give an error, but
     instead silently adjusts the corresponding seconds value for the timer.
     From  kernel  2.6.22  onward, this nonconformance has been repaired: an
     improper tv_usec value results in an EINVAL error.

SEE ALSO

     gettimeofday(2), sigaction(2), signal(2), timer_create(2), timerfd_cre-
     ate(2), time(7)

COLOPHON

     This  page  is  part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
     description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
     latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
     https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux 2017-09-15 GETITIMER(2)

/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/man/getitimer.txt · Last modified: 2019/05/17 09:47 by 127.0.0.1

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