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MQ_SEND

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2017-09-15
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NAME

mq_send, mq_timedsend - send a message to a message queue

SYNOPSIS

#include <mqueue.h>

int mq_send(mqd_t mqdes, const char *msg_ptr,
              size_t msg_len, unsigned int msg_prio);

#include <time.h>
#include <mqueue.h>

int mq_timedsend(mqd_t mqdes, const char *msg_ptr,
              size_t msg_len, unsigned int msg_prio,
              const struct timespec *abs_timeout);

Link with -lrt.

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

mq_timedsend():

: _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L

DESCRIPTION

mq_send() adds the message pointed to by msg_ptr to the message queue referred to by the message queue descriptor mqdes. The msg_len argument specifies the length of the message pointed to by msg_ptr; this length must be less than or equal to the queue's mq_msgsize attribute. Zero-length messages are allowed.

The msg_prio argument is a nonnegative integer that specifies the priority of this message. Messages are placed on the queue in decreasing order of priority, with newer messages of the same priority being placed after older messages with the same priority. See mq_overview(7) for details on the range for the message priority.

If the message queue is already full (i.e., the number of messages on the queue equals the queue's mq_maxmsg attribute), then, by default, mq_send() blocks until sufficient space becomes available to allow the message to be queued, or until the call is interrupted by a signal handler. If the O_NONBLOCK flag is enabled for the message queue description, then the call instead fails immediately with the error EAGAIN.

mq_timedsend() behaves just like mq_send(), except that if the queue is full and the O_NONBLOCK flag is not enabled for the message queue description, then abs_timeout points to a structure which specifies how long the call will block. This value is an absolute timeout in seconds and nanoseconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC), specified in the following structure:

struct timespec {
time_t tv_sec; /* seconds */
long tv_nsec; /* nanoseconds */ };

If the message queue is full, and the timeout has already expired by the time of the call, mq_timedsend() returns immediately.

RETURN VALUE

On success, mq_send() and mq_timedsend() return zero; on error, -1 is returned, with errno set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

EAGAIN: The queue was full, and the O_NONBLOCK flag was set for the message queue description referred to by mqdes.
EBADF: The descriptor specified in mqdes was invalid or not opened for writing.
EINTR: The call was interrupted by a signal handler; see signal(7).
EINVAL: The call would have blocked, and abs_timeout was invalid, either because tv_sec was less than zero, or because tv_nsec was less than zero or greater than 1000 million.
EMSGSIZE: msg_len was greater than the mq_msgsize attribute of the message queue.
ETIMEDOUT: The call timed out before a message could be transferred.

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface	Attribute	Value
mq_send(), mq_timedsend()	Thread safety	MT-Safe

CONFORMING TO

POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES

On Linux, mq_timedsend() is a system call, and mq_send() is a library function layered on top of that system call.

COLOPHON

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