xref: /netbsd/share/man/man9/kthread.9 (revision c4a72b64)
1.\"     $NetBSD: kthread.9,v 1.9 2002/10/14 13:43:25 wiz Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2000 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
4.\" All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
7.\" by Gregory McGarry.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11.\" are met:
12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
18.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
19.\"        This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
20.\"        Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
21.\" 4. Neither the name of The NetBSD Foundation nor the names of its
22.\"    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
23.\"    from this software without specific prior written permission.
24.\"
25.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
26.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
27.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
28.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS
29.\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
30.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
31.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
32.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
33.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
34.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
35.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
36.\"
37.Dd July 9, 2000
38.Dt KTHREAD 9
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm kthread_create1 ,
42.Nm kthread_exit ,
43.Nm kthread_create
44.Nd kernel threads
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include \*[Lt]sys/kthread.h\*[Gt]
47.Ft void
48.Fn kthread_create "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg"
49.Ft void
50.Fn kthread_exit "int ecode"
51.Ft int
52.Fn kthread_create1 "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg" "struct proc **newpp" \
53"const char *fmt" "..."
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55Kernel threads are light-weight processes which execute entirely
56within the kernel.
57Any process can request the creation of a new kernel thread.
58Kernel threads are not swapped out during memory congestion.
59The VM space and limits are shared with proc0 (usually swapper).
60.Sh FUNCTIONS
61.Bl -tag -width compact
62.It Fn kthread_create1 "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg" "struct proc **newpp" "const char *fmt" "..."
63Fork a kernel thread.
64.Fa newpp
65is a pointer the the new proc structure for the kernel thread.
66The function
67.Fa func
68is called with arguments
69.Fa arg
70to commence execution.
71.Fa fmt
72is a string containing format information used to display the kernel
73thread name.
74.It Fn kthread_create "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg"
75Register function
76.Fa func
77to defer creation of the kernel thread.
78Deferral of kernel thread creation is required during system startup
79when kernel thread resources are not available.
80.It Fn kthread_exit "int ecode"
81Exit from a kernel thread.
82.El
83.Sh RETURN VALUES
84Upon successful completion,
85.Fn kthread_create1
86returns 0.
87Otherwise, the following error values are returned:
88.Bl -tag -width [EAGAIN]
89.It Bq Er EAGAIN
90The limit on the total number of system processes would be exceeded.
91.It Bq Er EAGAIN
92The limit
93.Dv RLIMIT_NPROC
94on the total number of processes under execution by this
95user id would be exceeded.
96.El
97.Sh CODE REFERENCES
98This section describes places within the
99.Nx
100source tree where actual code implementing or utilising the kthread
101framework can be found.
102All pathnames are relative to
103.Pa /usr/src .
104.Pp
105The kthread framework itself is implemented within the file
106.Pa sys/kern/kern_kthread.c .
107Data structures and function prototypes for the framework are located in
108.Pa sys/sys/kthread.h .
109.Sh SEE ALSO
110.Xr driver 9 ,
111.Xr fork1 9
112.Sh HISTORY
113The kthread framework appeared in
114.Nx 1.4 .
115