<?xml version="1.0" encoding="latin1" ?> <!DOCTYPE cref SYSTEM "cref.dtd"> <cref> <header> <copyright> <year>2001</year><year>2010</year> <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder> </copyright> <legalnotice> The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License, Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/. Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations under the License. </legalnotice> <title>erl_driver</title> <prepared>Jakob Cederlund</prepared> <responsible>Jakob Cederlund</responsible> <docno>1</docno> <approved></approved> <checked></checked> <date>2000-11-27</date> <rev>PA1</rev> <file>erl_driver.xml</file> </header> <lib>erl_driver</lib> <libsummary>API functions for an Erlang driver</libsummary> <description> <p>As of erts version 5.5.3 the driver interface has been extended (see <seealso marker="driver_entry#extended_marker">extended marker</seealso>). The extended interface introduce <seealso marker="erl_driver#version_management">version management</seealso>, the possibility to pass capability flags (see <seealso marker="driver_entry#driver_flags">driver flags</seealso>) to the runtime system at driver initialization, and some new driver API functions. </p> <note> <p>Old drivers (compiled with an <c>erl_driver.h</c> from an earlier erts version than 5.5.3) have to be recompiled (but does not have to use the extended interface).</p> </note> <p>The driver calls back to the emulator, using the API functions declared in <c>erl_driver.h</c>. They are used for outputting data from the driver, using timers, etc.</p> <p>A driver is a library with a set of function that the emulator calls, in response to Erlang functions and message sending. There may be multiple instances of a driver, each instance is connected to an Erlang port. Every port has a port owner process. Communication with the port is normally done through the port owner process.</p> <p>Most of the functions takes the <c>port</c> handle as an argument. This identifies the driver instance. Note that this port handle must be stored by the driver, it is not given when the driver is called from the emulator (see <seealso marker="driver_entry#emulator">driver_entry</seealso>).</p> <p>Some of the functions takes a parameter of type <c>ErlDrvBinary</c>, a driver binary. It should be both allocated and freed by the caller. Using a binary directly avoid one extra copying of data.</p> <p>Many of the output functions has a "header buffer", with <c>hbuf</c> and <c>hlen</c> parameters. This buffer is sent as a list before the binary (or list, depending on port mode) that is sent. This is convenient when matching on messages received from the port. (Although in the latest versions of Erlang, there is the binary syntax, that enables you to match on the beginning of a binary.) <marker id="smp_support"></marker> </p> <p>In the runtime system with SMP support, drivers are locked either on driver level or port level (driver instance level). By default driver level locking will be used, i.e., only one emulator thread will execute code in the driver at a time. If port level locking is used, multiple emulator threads may execute code in the driver at the same time. There will only be one thread at a time calling driver call-backs corresponding to the same port, though. In order to enable port level locking set the <c>ERL_DRV_FLAG_USE_PORT_LOCKING</c> <seealso marker="driver_entry#driver_flags">driver flag</seealso> in the <seealso marker="driver_entry">driver_entry</seealso> used by the driver. When port level locking is used it is the responsibility of the driver writer to synchronize all accesses to data shared by the ports (driver instances).</p> <p>Most drivers written before the runtime system with SMP support existed will be able to run in the runtime system with SMP support without being rewritten if driver level locking is used.</p> <note> <p>It is assumed that drivers does not access other drivers. If drivers should access each other they have to provide their own mechanism for thread safe synchronization. Such "inter driver communication" is strongly discouraged.</p> </note> <p>Previously, in the runtime system without SMP support, specific driver call-backs were always called from the same thread. This is <em>not</em> the case in the runtime system with SMP support. Regardless of locking scheme used, calls to driver call-backs may be made from different threads, e.g., two consecutive calls to exactly the same call-back for exactly the same port may be made from two different threads. This will for <em>most</em> drivers not be a problem, but it might. Drivers that depend on all call-backs being called in the same thread, <em>have</em> to be rewritten before being used in the runtime system with SMP support.</p> <note> <p>Regardless of locking scheme used, calls to driver call-backs may be made from different threads.</p> </note> <p>Most functions in this API are <em>not</em> thread-safe, i.e., they may <em>not</em> be called from an arbitrary thread. Function that are not documented as thread-safe may only be called from driver call-backs or function calls descending from a driver call-back call. Note that driver call-backs may be called from different threads. This, however, is not a problem for any functions in this API, since the emulator have control over these threads.</p> <note> <p>Functions not explicitly documented as thread-safe are <em>not</em> thread-safe. Also note that some functions are <em>only</em> thread safe when used in a runtime system with SMP support.</p> </note> </description> <section> <title>FUNCTIONALITY</title> <p>All functions that a driver needs to do with Erlang are performed through driver API functions. There are functions for the following functionality:</p> <taglist> <tag>Timer functions</tag> <item>Timer functions are used to control the timer that a driver may use. The timer will have the emulator call the <seealso marker="driver_entry#timeout">timeout</seealso> entry function after a specified time. Only one timer is available for each driver instance.</item> <tag>Queue handling</tag> <item> <p>Every driver instance has an associated queue. This queue is a <c>SysIOVec</c> that works as a buffer. It's mostly used for the driver to buffer data that should be written to a device, it is a byte stream. If the port owner process closes the driver, and the queue is not empty, the driver will not be closed. This enables the driver to flush its buffers before closing.</p> <p>The queue can be manipulated from arbitrary threads if a port data lock is used. See documentation of the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">ErlDrvPDL</seealso> type for more information.</p> </item> <tag>Output functions</tag> <item>With the output functions, the driver sends data back the emulator. They will be received as messages by the port owner process, see <c>open_port/2</c>. The vector function and the function taking a driver binary is faster, because that avoid copying the data buffer. There is also a fast way of sending terms from the driver, without going through the binary term format.</item> <tag>Failure</tag> <item>The driver can exit and signal errors up to Erlang. This is only for severe errors, when the driver can't possibly keep open.</item> <tag>Asynchronous calls</tag> <item>The latest Erlang versions (R7B and later) has provision for asynchronous function calls, using a thread pool provided by Erlang. There is also a select call, that can be used for asynchronous drivers.</item> <tag><marker id="multi_threading">Multi-threading</marker></tag> <item> <p>A POSIX thread like API for multi-threading is provided. The Erlang driver thread API only provide a subset of the functionality provided by the POSIX thread API. The subset provided is more or less the basic functionality needed for multi-threaded programming: </p> <list> <item><seealso marker="#ErlDrvTid">Threads</seealso></item> <item><seealso marker="#ErlDrvMutex">Mutexes</seealso></item> <item><seealso marker="#ErlDrvCond">Condition variables</seealso></item> <item><seealso marker="#ErlDrvRWLock">Read/Write locks</seealso></item> <item><seealso marker="#ErlDrvTSDKey">Thread specific data</seealso></item> </list> <p>The Erlang driver thread API can be used in conjunction with the POSIX thread API on UN-ices and with the Windows native thread API on Windows. The Erlang driver thread API has the advantage of being portable, but there might exist situations where you want to use functionality from the POSIX thread API or the Windows native thread API. </p> <p>The Erlang driver thread API only return error codes when it is reasonable to recover from an error condition. If it isn't reasonable to recover from an error condition, the whole runtime system is terminated. For example, if a create mutex operation fails, an error code is returned, but if a lock operation on a mutex fails, the whole runtime system is terminated. </p> <p>Note that there exist no "condition variable wait with timeout" in the Erlang driver thread API. This is due to issues with <c>pthread_cond_timedwait()</c>. When the system clock suddenly is changed, it isn't always guaranteed that you will wake up from the call as expected. An Erlang runtime system has to be able to cope with sudden changes of the system clock. Therefore, we have omitted it from the Erlang driver thread API. In the Erlang driver case, timeouts can and should be handled with the timer functionality of the Erlang driver API. </p> <p>In order for the Erlang driver thread API to function, thread support has to be enabled in the runtime system. An Erlang driver can check if thread support is enabled by use of <seealso marker="#driver_system_info">driver_system_info()</seealso>. Note that some functions in the Erlang driver API are thread-safe only when the runtime system has SMP support, also this information can be retrieved via <seealso marker="#driver_system_info">driver_system_info()</seealso>. Also note that a lot of functions in the Erlang driver API are <em>not</em> thread-safe regardless of whether SMP support is enabled or not. If a function isn't documented as thread-safe it is <em>not</em> thread-safe. </p> <p><em>NOTE</em>: When executing in an emulator thread, it is <em>very important</em> that you unlock <em>all</em> locks you have locked before letting the thread out of your control; otherwise, you are <em>very likely</em> to deadlock the whole emulator. If you need to use thread specific data in an emulator thread, only have the thread specific data set while the thread is under your control, and clear the thread specific data before you let the thread out of your control. </p> <p>In the future there will probably be debug functionality integrated with the Erlang driver thread API. All functions that create entities take a <c>name</c> argument. Currently the <c>name</c> argument is unused, but it will be used when the debug functionality has been implemented. If you name all entities created well, the debug functionality will be able to give you better error reports. </p> </item> <tag>Adding / remove drivers</tag> <item>A driver can add and later remove drivers.</item> <tag>Monitoring processes</tag> <item>A driver can monitor a process that does not own a port.</item> <tag><marker id="version_management">Version management</marker></tag> <item> <p>Version management is enabled for drivers that have set the <seealso marker="driver_entry#extended_marker">extended_marker</seealso> field of their <seealso marker="driver_entry">driver_entry</seealso> to <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MARKER</c>. <c>erl_driver.h</c> defines <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MARKER</c>, <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MAJOR_VERSION</c>, and <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MINOR_VERSION</c>. <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MAJOR_VERSION</c> will be incremented when driver incompatible changes are made to the Erlang runtime system. Normally it will suffice to recompile drivers when the <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MAJOR_VERSION</c> has changed, but it could, under rare circumstances, mean that drivers have to be slightly modified. If so, this will of course be documented. <c>ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MINOR_VERSION</c> will be incremented when new features are added. The runtime system use the minor version of the driver to determine what features to use. The runtime system will refuse to load a driver if the major versions differ, or if the major versions are equal and the minor version used by the driver is greater than the one used by the runtime system.</p> <p>The emulator tries to check that a driver that doesn't use the extended driver interface isn't incompatible when loading it. It can, however, not make sure that it isn't incompatible. Therefore, when loading a driver that doesn't use the extended driver interface, there is a risk that it will be loaded also when the driver is incompatible. When the driver use the extended driver interface, the emulator can verify that it isn't of an incompatible driver version. You are therefore advised to use the extended driver interface.</p> </item> </taglist> </section> <section> <title>DATA TYPES</title> <taglist> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvSysInfo"/>ErlDrvSysInfo</tag> <item> <p/> <code type="none"> typedef struct ErlDrvSysInfo { int driver_major_version; int driver_minor_version; char *erts_version; char *otp_release; int thread_support; int smp_support; int async_threads; int scheduler_threads; int nif_major_version; int nif_minor_version; } ErlDrvSysInfo; </code> <p> The <c>ErlDrvSysInfo</c> structure is used for storage of information about the Erlang runtime system. <seealso marker="#driver_system_info">driver_system_info()</seealso> will write the system information when passed a reference to a <c>ErlDrvSysInfo</c> structure. A description of the fields in the structure follow: </p> <taglist> <tag><c>driver_major_version</c></tag> <item>The value of <seealso marker="#version_management">ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MAJOR_VERSION</seealso> when the runtime system was compiled. This value is the same as the value of <seealso marker="#version_management">ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MAJOR_VERSION</seealso> used when compiling the driver; otherwise, the runtime system would have refused to load the driver. </item> <tag><c>driver_minor_version</c></tag> <item>The value of <seealso marker="#version_management">ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MINOR_VERSION</seealso> when the runtime system was compiled. This value might differ from the value of <seealso marker="#version_management">ERL_DRV_EXTENDED_MINOR_VERSION</seealso> used when compiling the driver. </item> <tag><c>erts_version</c></tag> <item>A string containing the version number of the runtime system (the same as returned by <seealso marker="erts:erlang#system_info_version">erlang:system_info(version)</seealso>). </item> <tag><c>otp_release</c></tag> <item>A string containing the OTP release number (the same as returned by <seealso marker="erts:erlang#system_info_otp_release">erlang:system_info(otp_release)</seealso>). </item> <tag><c>thread_support</c></tag> <item>A value <c>!= 0</c> if the runtime system has thread support; otherwise, <c>0</c>. </item> <tag><c>smp_support</c></tag> <item>A value <c>!= 0</c> if the runtime system has SMP support; otherwise, <c>0</c>. </item> <tag><c>thread_support</c></tag> <item>A value <c>!= 0</c> if the runtime system has thread support; otherwise, <c>0</c>. </item> <tag><c>smp_support</c></tag> <item>A value <c>!= 0</c> if the runtime system has SMP support; otherwise, <c>0</c>. </item> <tag><c>async_threads</c></tag> <item>The number of async threads in the async thread pool used by <seealso marker="#driver_async">driver_async()</seealso> (the same as returned by <seealso marker="erts:erlang#system_info_thread_pool_size">erlang:system_info(thread_pool_size)</seealso>). </item> <tag><c>scheduler_threads</c></tag> <item>The number of scheduler threads used by the runtime system (the same as returned by <seealso marker="erts:erlang#system_info_schedulers">erlang:system_info(schedulers)</seealso>). </item> <tag><c>nif_major_version</c></tag> <item>The value of <c>ERL_NIF_MAJOR_VERSION</c> when the runtime system was compiled. </item> <tag><c>nif_minor_version</c></tag> <item>The value of <c>ERL_NIF_MINOR_VERSION</c> when the runtime system was compiled. </item> </taglist> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvBinary"/>ErlDrvBinary</tag> <item> <p/> <code type="none"> typedef struct ErlDrvBinary { int orig_size; char orig_bytes[]; } ErlDrvBinary; </code> <p>The <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> structure is a binary, as sent between the emulator and the driver. All binaries are reference counted; when <c>driver_binary_free</c> is called, the reference count is decremented, when it reaches zero, the binary is deallocated. The <c>orig_size</c> is the size of the binary, and <c>orig_bytes</c> is the buffer. The <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> does not have a fixed size, its size is <c>orig_size + 2 * sizeof(int)</c>.</p> <note> <p>The <c>refc</c> field has been removed. The reference count of an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> is now stored elsewhere. The reference count of an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> can be accessed via <seealso marker="#driver_binary_get_refc">driver_binary_get_refc()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#driver_binary_inc_refc">driver_binary_inc_refc()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#driver_binary_dec_refc">driver_binary_dec_refc()</seealso>.</p> </note> <p>Some driver calls, such as <c>driver_enq_binary</c>, increments the driver reference count, and others, such as <c>driver_deq</c> decrements it.</p> <p>Using a driver binary instead of a normal buffer, is often faster, since the emulator doesn't need to copy the data, only the pointer is used.</p> <p>A driver binary allocated in the driver, with <c>driver_alloc_binary</c>, should be freed in the driver (unless otherwise stated), with <c>driver_free_binary</c>. (Note that this doesn't necessarily deallocate it, if the driver is still referred in the emulator, the ref-count will not go to zero.)</p> <p>Driver binaries are used in the <c>driver_output2</c> and <c>driver_outputv</c> calls, and in the queue. Also the driver call-back <seealso marker="driver_entry#outputv">outputv</seealso> uses driver binaries.</p> <p>If the driver of some reason or another, wants to keep a driver binary around, in a static variable for instance, the reference count should be incremented, and the binary can later be freed in the <seealso marker="driver_entry#stop">stop</seealso> call-back, with <c>driver_free_binary</c>.</p> <p>Note that since a driver binary is shared by the driver and the emulator, a binary received from the emulator or sent to the emulator, must not be changed by the driver.</p> <p>From erts version 5.5 (OTP release R11B), orig_bytes is guaranteed to be properly aligned for storage of an array of doubles (usually 8-byte aligned).</p> </item> <tag>ErlDrvData</tag> <item> <p>The <c>ErlDrvData</c> is a handle to driver-specific data, passed to the driver call-backs. It is a pointer, and is most often casted to a specific pointer in the driver.</p> </item> <tag>SysIOVec</tag> <item> <p>This is a system I/O vector, as used by <c>writev</c> on unix and <c>WSASend</c> on Win32. It is used in <c>ErlIOVec</c>.</p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlIOVec"/>ErlIOVec</tag> <item> <p/> <code type="none"> typedef struct ErlIOVec { int vsize; int size; SysIOVec* iov; >ErlDrvBinary** binv; } ErlIOVec; </code> <p>The I/O vector used by the emulator and drivers, is a list of binaries, with a <c>SysIOVec</c> pointing to the buffers of the binaries. It is used in <c>driver_outputv</c> and the <seealso marker="driver_entry#outputv">outputv</seealso> driver call-back. Also, the driver queue is an <c>ErlIOVec</c>.</p> </item> <tag>ErlDrvMonitor</tag> <item> <p>When a driver creates a monitor for a process, a <c>ErlDrvMonitor</c> is filled in. This is an opaque data-type which can be assigned to but not compared without using the supplied compare function (i.e. it behaves like a struct).</p> <p>The driver writer should provide the memory for storing the monitor when calling <seealso marker="#driver_monitor_process">driver_monitor_process</seealso>. The address of the data is not stored outside of the driver, so the <c>ErlDrvMonitor</c> can be used as any other datum, it can be copied, moved in memory, forgotten etc.</p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvNowData"/>ErlDrvNowData</tag> <item> <p>The <c>ErlDrvNowData</c> structure holds a timestamp consisting of three values measured from some arbitrary point in the past. The three structure members are:</p> <taglist> <tag>megasecs</tag> <item>The number of whole megaseconds elapsed since the arbitrary point in time</item> <tag>secs</tag> <item>The number of whole seconds elapsed since the arbitrary point in time</item> <tag>microsecs</tag> <item>The number of whole microseconds elapsed since the arbitrary point in time</item> </taglist> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvPDL"/>ErlDrvPDL</tag> <item> <p>If certain port specific data have to be accessed from other threads than those calling the driver call-backs, a port data lock can be used in order to synchronize the operations on the data. Currently, the only port specific data that the emulator associates with the port data lock is the driver queue.</p> <p>Normally a driver instance does not have a port data lock. If the driver instance want to use a port data lock, it has to create the port data lock by calling <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_create">driver_pdl_create()</seealso>. <em>NOTE</em>: Once the port data lock has been created, every access to data associated with the port data lock have to be done while having the port data lock locked. The port data lock is locked, and unlocked, respectively, by use of <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_lock">driver_pdl_lock()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_unlock">driver_pdl_unlock()</seealso>.</p> <p>A port data lock is reference counted, and when the reference count reach zero, it will be destroyed. The emulator will at least increment the reference count once when the lock is created and decrement it once when the port associated with the lock terminates. The emulator will also increment the reference count when an async job is enqueued and decrement it after an async job has been invoked, or canceled. Besides this, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that the reference count does not reach zero before the last use of the lock by the driver has been made. The reference count can be read, incremented, and decremented, respectively, by use of <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_get_refc">driver_pdl_get_refc()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_inc_refc">driver_pdl_inc_refc()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#driver_pdl_dec_refc">driver_pdl_dec_refc()</seealso>.</p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvTid"/>ErlDrvTid</tag> <item> <p>Thread identifier.</p> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_exit">erl_drv_thread_exit()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_join">erl_drv_thread_join()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_self">erl_drv_thread_self()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_equal_tids">erl_drv_equal_tids()</seealso>. </p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvThreadOpts"/>ErlDrvThreadOpts</tag> <item> <p/> <code type="none"> int suggested_stack_size; </code> <p>Thread options structure passed to <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>. Currently the following fields exist: </p> <taglist> <tag>suggested_stack_size</tag> <item>A suggestion, in kilo-words, on how large stack to use. A value less than zero means default size. </item> </taglist> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_opts_create">erl_drv_thread_opts_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_opts_destroy">erl_drv_thread_opts_destroy()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>. </p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvMutex"/>ErlDrvMutex</tag> <item> <p>Mutual exclusion lock. Used for synchronizing access to shared data. Only one thread at a time can lock a mutex. </p> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_create">erl_drv_mutex_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_destroy">erl_drv_mutex_destroy()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_lock">erl_drv_mutex_lock()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_trylock">erl_drv_mutex_trylock()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_unlock">erl_drv_mutex_unlock()</seealso>. </p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvCond"/>ErlDrvCond</tag> <item> <p>Condition variable. Used when threads need to wait for a specific condition to appear before continuing execution. Condition variables need to be used with associated mutexes. </p> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_create">erl_drv_cond_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_destroy">erl_drv_cond_destroy()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_signal">erl_drv_cond_signal()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_broadcast">erl_drv_cond_broadcast()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_wait">erl_drv_cond_wait()</seealso>. </p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvRWLock"/>ErlDrvRWLock</tag> <item> <p>Read/write lock. Used to allow multiple threads to read shared data while only allowing one thread to write the same data. Multiple threads can read lock an rwlock at the same time, while only one thread can read/write lock an rwlock at a time. </p> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_create">erl_drv_rwlock_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_destroy">erl_drv_rwlock_destroy()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_rlock">erl_drv_rwlock_rlock()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_tryrlock">erl_drv_rwlock_tryrlock()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_runlock">erl_drv_rwlock_runlock()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_rwlock">erl_drv_rwlock_rwlock()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_tryrwlock">erl_drv_rwlock_tryrwlock()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_rwunlock">erl_drv_rwlock_rwunlock()</seealso>. </p> </item> <tag><marker id="ErlDrvTSDKey"/>ErlDrvTSDKey</tag> <item> <p>Key which thread specific data can be associated with.</p> <p>See also: <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_key_create">erl_drv_tsd_key_create()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_key_destroy">erl_drv_tsd_key_destroy()</seealso>, <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_set">erl_drv_tsd_set()</seealso>, and <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_get">erl_drv_tsd_get()</seealso>. </p> </item> </taglist> </section> <funcs> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>driver_system_info(ErlDrvSysInfo *sys_info_ptr, size_t size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get information about the Erlang runtime system</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_system_info"></marker> <p>This function will write information about the Erlang runtime system into the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvSysInfo">ErlDrvSysInfo</seealso> structure referred to by the first argument. The second argument should be the size of the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvSysInfo">ErlDrvSysInfo</seealso> structure, i.e., <c>sizeof(ErlDrvSysInfo)</c>.</p> <p>See the documentation of the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvSysInfo">ErlDrvSysInfo</seealso> structure for information about specific fields.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_output(ErlDrvPort port, char *buf, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send data from driver to port owner</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_output"></marker> <p>The <c>driver_output</c> function is used to send data from the driver up to the emulator. The data will be received as terms or binary data, depending on how the driver port was opened.</p> <p>The data is queued in the port owner process' message queue. Note that this does not yield to the emulator. (Since the driver and the emulator runs in the same thread.)</p> <p>The parameter <c>buf</c> points to the data to send, and <c>len</c> is the number of bytes.</p> <p>The return value for all output functions is 0. (Unless the driver is used for distribution, in which case it can fail and return -1. For normal use, the output function always returns 0.)</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_output2(ErlDrvPort port, char *hbuf, int hlen, char *buf, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send data and binary data to port owner</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_output2"></marker> <p>The <c>driver_output2</c> function first sends <c>hbuf</c> (length in <c>hlen</c>) data as a list, regardless of port settings. Then <c>buf</c> is sent as a binary or list. E.g. if <c>hlen</c> is 3 then the port owner process will receive <c>[H1, H2, H3 | T]</c>.</p> <p>The point of sending data as a list header, is to facilitate matching on the data received.</p> <p>The return value is 0 for normal use.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_output_binary(ErlDrvPort port, char *hbuf, int hlen, ErlDrvBinary* bin, int offset, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send data from a driver binary to port owner</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_output_binary"></marker> <p>This function sends data to port owner process from a driver binary, it has a header buffer (<c>hbuf</c> and <c>hlen</c>) just like <c>driver_output2</c>. The <c>hbuf</c> parameter can be <c>NULL</c>.</p> <p>The parameter <c>offset</c> is an offset into the binary and <c>len</c> is the number of bytes to send.</p> <p>Driver binaries are created with <c>driver_alloc_binary</c>.</p> <p>The data in the header is sent as a list and the binary as an Erlang binary in the tail of the list.</p> <p>E.g. if <c>hlen</c> is 2, then the port owner process will receive <c><![CDATA[[H1, H2 | <<T>>]]]></c>.</p> <p>The return value is 0 for normal use.</p> <p>Note that, using the binary syntax in Erlang, the driver application can match the header directly from the binary, so the header can be put in the binary, and hlen can be set to 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_outputv(ErlDrvPort port, char* hbuf, int hlen, ErlIOVec *ev, int skip)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send vectorized data to port owner</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_outputv"></marker> <p>This function sends data from an IO vector, <c>ev</c>, to the port owner process. It has a header buffer (<c>hbuf</c> and <c>hlen</c>), just like <c>driver_output2</c>.</p> <p>The <c>skip</c> parameter is a number of bytes to skip of the <c>ev</c> vector from the head.</p> <p>You get vectors of <c>ErlIOVec</c> type from the driver queue (see below), and the <seealso marker="driver_entry#outputv">outputv</seealso> driver entry function. You can also make them yourself, if you want to send several <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> buffers at once. Often it is faster to use <c>driver_output</c> or <c>driver_output_binary</c>.</p> <p>E.g. if <c>hlen</c> is 2 and <c>ev</c> points to an array of three binaries, the port owner process will receive <c><![CDATA[[H1, H2, <<B1>>, <<B2>> | <<B3>>]]]></c>.</p> <p>The return value is 0 for normal use.</p> <p>The comment for <c>driver_output_binary</c> applies for <c>driver_outputv</c> too.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_vec_to_buf(ErlIOVec *ev, char *buf, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Collect data segments into a buffer</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_vec_to_buf"></marker> <p>This function collects several segments of data, referenced by <c>ev</c>, by copying them in order to the buffer <c>buf</c>, of the size <c>len</c>.</p> <p>If the data is to be sent from the driver to the port owner process, it is faster to use <c>driver_outputv</c>.</p> <p>The return value is the space left in the buffer, i.e. if the <c>ev</c> contains less than <c>len</c> bytes it's the difference, and if <c>ev</c> contains <c>len</c> bytes or more, it's 0. This is faster if there is more than one header byte, since the binary syntax can construct integers directly from the binary.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_set_timer(ErlDrvPort port, unsigned long time)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Set a timer to call the driver</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_set_timer"></marker> <p>This function sets a timer on the driver, which will count down and call the driver when it is timed out. The <c>time</c> parameter is the time in milliseconds before the timer expires.</p> <p>When the timer reaches 0 and expires, the driver entry function <seealso marker="driver_entry#emulator">timeout</seealso> is called.</p> <p>Note that there is only one timer on each driver instance; setting a new timer will replace an older one.</p> <p>Return value i 0 (-1 only when the <c>timeout</c> driver function is <c>NULL</c>).</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_cancel_timer(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Cancel a previously set timer</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_cancel_timer"></marker> <p>This function cancels a timer set with <c>driver_set_timer</c>.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_read_timer(ErlDrvPort port, unsigned long *time_left)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read the time left before timeout</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_read_timer"></marker> <p>This function reads the current time of a timer, and places the result in <c>time_left</c>. This is the time in milliseconds, before the timeout will occur.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_get_now(ErlDrvNowData *now)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read a system timestamp</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_get_now"></marker> <p>This function reads a timestamp into the memory pointed to by the parameter <c>now</c>. See the description of <seealso marker="#ErlDrvNowData">ErlDrvNowData</seealso> for specification of its fields. </p> <p>The return value is 0 unless the <c>now</c> pointer is not valid, in which case it is < 0. </p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_select(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvEvent event, int mode, int on)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Provide an event for having the emulator call the driver</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_select"></marker> <p>This function is used by drivers to provide the emulator with events to check for. This enables the emulator to call the driver when something has happened asynchronously.</p> <p>The <c>event</c> argument identifies an OS-specific event object. On Unix systems, the functions <c>select</c>/<c>poll</c> are used. The event object must be a socket or pipe (or other object that <c>select</c>/<c>poll</c> can use). On windows, the Win32 API function <c>WaitForMultipleObjects</c> is used. This places other restriction on the event object. Refer to the Win32 SDK documentation.</p> <p>The <c>on</c> parameter should be <c>1</c> for setting events and <c>0</c> for clearing them.</p> <p>The <c>mode</c> argument is bitwise-or combination of <c>ERL_DRV_READ</c>, <c>ERL_DRV_WRITE</c> and <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c>. The first two specifies whether to wait for read events and/or write events. A fired read event will call <seealso marker="driver_entry#ready_input">ready_input</seealso> while a fired write event will call <seealso marker="driver_entry#ready_output">ready_output</seealso>. </p> <note> <p>Some OS (Windows) does not differ between read and write events. The call-back for a fired event then only depends on the value of <c>mode</c>.</p> </note> <p><c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> specifies if we are using the event object or if we want to close it. On an emulator with SMP support, it is not safe to clear all events and then close the event object after <c>driver_select</c> has returned. Another thread may still be using the event object internally. To safely close an event object call <c>driver_select</c> with <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> and <c>on==0</c>. That will clear all events and then call <seealso marker="driver_entry#stop_select">stop_select</seealso> when it is safe to close the event object. <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> should be set together with the first event for an event object. It is harmless to set <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> even though it already has been done. Clearing all events but keeping <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> set will indicate that we are using the event object and probably will set events for it again.</p> <note> <p>ERL_DRV_USE was added in OTP release R13. Old drivers will still work as before. But it is recommended to update them to use <c>ERL_DRV_USE</c> and <c>stop_select</c> to make sure that event objects are closed in a safe way.</p> </note> <p>The return value is 0 (Failure, -1, only if the <c>ready_input</c>/<c>ready_output</c> is <c>NULL</c>.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void *</ret><nametext>driver_alloc(size_t size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Allocate memory</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_alloc"></marker> <p>This function allocates a memory block of the size specified in <c>size</c>, and returns it. This only fails on out of memory, in that case <c>NULL</c> is returned. (This is most often a wrapper for <c>malloc</c>).</p> <p>Memory allocated must be explicitly freed with a corresponding call to <c>driver_free</c> (unless otherwise stated).</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void *</ret><nametext>driver_realloc(void *ptr, size_t size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Resize an allocated memory block</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_realloc"></marker> <p>This function resizes a memory block, either in place, or by allocating a new block, copying the data and freeing the old block. A pointer is returned to the reallocated memory. On failure (out of memory), <c>NULL</c> is returned. (This is most often a wrapper for <c>realloc</c>.)</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>driver_free(void *ptr)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Free an allocated memory block</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_free"></marker> <p>This function frees the memory pointed to by <c>ptr</c>. The memory should have been allocated with <c>driver_alloc</c>. All allocated memory should be deallocated, just once. There is no garbage collection in drivers.</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvBinary*</ret><nametext>driver_alloc_binary(int size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Allocate a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_alloc_binary"></marker> <p>This function allocates a driver binary with a memory block of at least <c>size</c> bytes, and returns a pointer to it, or NULL on failure (out of memory). When a driver binary has been sent to the emulator, it must not be altered. Every allocated binary should be freed by a corresponding call to <c>driver_free_binary</c> (unless otherwise stated).</p> <p>Note that a driver binary has an internal reference counter, this means that calling <c>driver_free_binary</c> it may not actually dispose of it. If it's sent to the emulator, it may be referenced there.</p> <p>The driver binary has a field, <c>orig_bytes</c>, which marks the start of the data in the binary.</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvBinary*</ret><nametext>driver_realloc_binary(ErlDrvBinary *bin, int size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Resize a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_realloc_binary"></marker> <p>This function resizes a driver binary, while keeping the data. The resized driver binary is returned. On failure (out of memory), <c>NULL</c> is returned.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>driver_free_binary(ErlDrvBinary *bin)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Free a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_free_binary"></marker> <p>This function frees a driver binary <c>bin</c>, allocated previously with <c>driver_alloc_binary</c>. Since binaries in Erlang are reference counted, the binary may still be around.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_binary_get_refc(ErlDrvBinary *bin)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get the reference count of a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_binary_get_refc"></marker> <p>Returns current reference count on <c>bin</c>.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_binary_inc_refc(ErlDrvBinary *bin)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Increment the reference count of a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_binary_inc_refc"></marker> <p>Increments the reference count on <c>bin</c> and returns the reference count reached after the increment.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_binary_dec_refc(ErlDrvBinary *bin)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Decrement the reference count of a driver binary</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_binary_dec_refc"></marker> <p>Decrements the reference count on <c>bin</c> and returns the reference count reached after the decrement.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> <note> <p>You should normally decrement the reference count of a driver binary by calling <seealso marker="#driver_free_binary">driver_free_binary()</seealso>. <c>driver_binary_dec_refc()</c> does <em>not</em> free the binary if the reference count reaches zero. <em>Only</em> use <c>driver_binary_dec_refc()</c> when you are sure <em>not</em> to reach a reference count of zero.</p> </note> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_enq(ErlDrvPort port, char* buf, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Enqueue data in the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_enq"></marker> <p>This function enqueues data in the driver queue. The data in <c>buf</c> is copied (<c>len</c> bytes) and placed at the end of the driver queue. The driver queue is normally used in a FIFO way.</p> <p>The driver queue is available to queue output from the emulator to the driver (data from the driver to the emulator is queued by the emulator in normal erlang message queues). This can be useful if the driver has to wait for slow devices etc, and wants to yield back to the emulator. The driver queue is implemented as an ErlIOVec.</p> <p>When the queue contains data, the driver won't close, until the queue is empty.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_pushq(ErlDrvPort port, char* buf, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Push data at the head of the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pushq"></marker> <p>This function puts data at the head of the driver queue. The data in <c>buf</c> is copied (<c>len</c> bytes) and placed at the beginning of the queue.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_deq(ErlDrvPort port, int size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Dequeue data from the head of the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_deq"></marker> <p>This function dequeues data by moving the head pointer forward in the driver queue by <c>size</c> bytes. The data in the queue will be deallocated.</p> <p>The return value is the number of bytes remaining in the queue or -1 on failure.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_sizeq(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Return the size of the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_sizeq"></marker> <p>This function returns the number of bytes currently in the driver queue.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_enq_bin(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvBinary *bin, int offset, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Enqueue binary in the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_enq_bin"></marker> <p>This function enqueues a driver binary in the driver queue. The data in <c>bin</c> at <c>offset</c> with length <c>len</c> is placed at the end of the queue. This function is most often faster than <c>driver_enq</c>, because the data doesn't have to be copied.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_pushq_bin(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvBinary *bin, int offset, int len)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Push binary at the head of the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pushq_bin"></marker> <p>This function puts data in the binary <c>bin</c>, at <c>offset</c> with length <c>len</c> at the head of the driver queue. It is most often faster than <c>driver_pushq</c>, because the data doesn't have to be copied.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>SysIOVec*</ret><nametext>driver_peekq(ErlDrvPort port, int *vlen)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get the driver queue as a vector</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_peekq"></marker> <p>This function retrieves the driver queue as a pointer to an array of <c>SysIOVec</c>s. It also returns the number of elements in <c>vlen</c>. This is the only way to get data out of the queue.</p> <p>Nothing is remove from the queue by this function, that must be done with <c>driver_deq</c>.</p> <p>The returned array is suitable to use with the Unix system call <c>writev</c>.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_enqv(ErlDrvPort port, ErlIOVec *ev, int skip)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Enqueue vector in the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_enqv"></marker> <p>This function enqueues the data in <c>ev</c>, skipping the first <c>skip</c> bytes of it, at the end of the driver queue. It is faster than <c>driver_enq</c>, because the data doesn't have to be copied.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_pushqv(ErlDrvPort port, ErlIOVec *ev, int skip)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Push vector at the head of the driver queue</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pushqv"></marker> <p>This function puts the data in <c>ev</c>, skipping the first <c>skip</c> bytes of it, at the head of the driver queue. It is faster than <c>driver_pushq</c>, because the data doesn't have to be copied.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> <p>This function can be called from an arbitrary thread if a <seealso marker="#ErlDrvPDL">port data lock</seealso> associated with the <c>port</c> is locked by the calling thread during the call.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvPDL</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_create(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a port data lock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_create"></marker> <p>This function creates a port data lock associated with the <c>port</c>. <em>NOTE</em>: Once a port data lock has been created, it has to be locked during all operations on the driver queue of the <c>port</c>.</p> <p>On success a newly created port data lock is returned. On failure <c>NULL</c> is returned. <c>driver_pdl_create()</c> will fail if <c>port</c> is invalid or if a port data lock already has been associated with the <c>port</c>.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_lock(ErlDrvPDL pdl)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Lock port data lock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_lock"></marker> <p>This function locks the port data lock passed as argument (<c>pdl</c>).</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_unlock(ErlDrvPDL pdl)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Unlock port data lock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_unlock"></marker> <p>This function unlocks the port data lock passed as argument (<c>pdl</c>).</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_get_refc(ErlDrvPDL pdl)</nametext></name> <fsummary></fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_get_refc"></marker> <p>This function returns the current reference count of the port data lock passed as argument (<c>pdl</c>).</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_inc_refc(ErlDrvPDL pdl)</nametext></name> <fsummary></fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_inc_refc"></marker> <p>This function increments the reference count of the port data lock passed as argument (<c>pdl</c>).</p> <p>The current reference count after the increment has been performed is returned.</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_pdl_dec_refc(ErlDrvPDL pdl)</nametext></name> <fsummary></fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_pdl_dec_refc"></marker> <p>This function decrements the reference count of the port data lock passed as argument (<c>pdl</c>).</p> <p>The current reference count after the decrement has been performed is returned.</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_monitor_process(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvTermData process, ErlDrvMonitor *monitor)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Monitor a process from a driver</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_monitor_process"></marker> <p>Start monitoring a process from a driver. When a process is monitored, a process exit will result in a call to the provided <seealso marker="driver_entry#process_exit">process_exit</seealso> call-back in the <seealso marker="driver_entry">ErlDrvEntry</seealso> structure. The <c>ErlDrvMonitor</c> structure is filled in, for later removal or compare.</p> <p>The <c>process</c> parameter should be the return value of an earlier call to <seealso marker="#driver_caller">driver_caller</seealso> or <seealso marker="#driver_connected">driver_connected</seealso> call.</p> <p>The function returns 0 on success, < 0 if no call-back is provided and > 0 if the process is no longer alive.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_demonitor_process(ErlDrvPort port, const ErlDrvMonitor *monitor)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Stop monitoring a process from a driver</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_demonitor_process"></marker> <p>This function cancels an monitor created earlier. </p> <p>The function returns 0 if a monitor was removed and > 0 if the monitor did no longer exist.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTermData</ret><nametext>driver_get_monitored_process(ErlDrvPort port, const ErlDrvMonitor *monitor)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Retrieve the process id from a monitor</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_get_monitored_process"></marker> <p>The function returns the process id associated with a living monitor. It can be used in the <c>process_exit</c> call-back to get the process identification for the exiting process.</p> <p>The function returns <c>driver_term_nil</c> if the monitor no longer exists.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_compare_monitors(const ErlDrvMonitor *monitor1, const ErlDrvMonitor *monitor2)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Compare two monitors</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_compare_monitors"></marker> <p>This function is used to compare two <c>ErlDrvMonitor</c>s. It can also be used to imply some artificial order on monitors, for whatever reason.</p> <p>The function returns 0 if <c>monitor1</c> and <c>monitor2</c> are equal, < 0 if <c>monitor1</c> is less than <c>monitor2</c> and > 0 if <c>monitor1</c> is greater than <c>monitor2</c>.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>add_driver_entry(ErlDrvEntry *de)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Add a driver entry</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="add_driver_entry"></marker> <p>This function adds a driver entry to the list of drivers known by Erlang. The <seealso marker="driver_entry#init">init</seealso> function of the <c>de</c> parameter is called.</p> <note> <p>To use this function for adding drivers residing in dynamically loaded code is dangerous. If the driver code for the added driver resides in the same dynamically loaded module (i.e. <c>.so</c> file) as a normal dynamically loaded driver (loaded with the <c>erl_ddll</c> interface), the caller should call <seealso marker="#driver_lock_driver">driver_lock_driver</seealso> before adding driver entries.</p> <p>Use of this function is generally deprecated.</p> </note> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>remove_driver_entry(ErlDrvEntry *de)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Remove a driver entry</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="remove_driver_entry"></marker> <p>This function removes a driver entry <c>de</c> previously added with <c>add_driver_entry</c>.</p> <p>Driver entries added by the <c>erl_ddll</c> erlang interface can not be removed by using this interface.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>char*</ret><nametext>erl_errno_id(int error)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get erlang error atom name from error number</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_errno_id"></marker> <p>This function returns the atom name of the erlang error, given the error number in <c>error</c>. Error atoms are: <c>einval</c>, <c>enoent</c>, etc. It can be used to make error terms from the driver.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>set_busy_port(ErlDrvPort port, int on)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Signal or unsignal port as busy</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="set_busy_port"></marker> <p>This function set and resets the busy status of the port. If <c>on</c> is 1, the port is set to busy, if it's 0 the port is set to not busy.</p> <p>When the port is busy, sending to it with <c>Port ! Data</c> or <c>port_command/2</c>, will block the port owner process, until the port is signaled as not busy.</p> <p>If the <seealso marker="driver_entry#driver_flags"><![CDATA[ERL_DRV_FLAG_SOFT_BUSY]]></seealso> has been set in the <seealso marker="driver_entry">driver_entry</seealso>, data can be forced into the driver via <seealso marker="erlang#port_command/3">port_command(Port, Data, [force])</seealso> even though the driver has signaled that it is busy. </p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>set_port_control_flags(ErlDrvPort port, int flags)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Set flags on how to handle control entry function</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="set_port_control_flags"></marker> <p>This function sets flags for how the <seealso marker="driver_entry#control">control</seealso> driver entry function will return data to the port owner process. (The <c>control</c> function is called from <c>port_control/3</c> in erlang.)</p> <p>Currently there are only two meaningful values for <c>flags</c>: 0 means that data is returned in a list, and <c>PORT_CONTROL_FLAG_BINARY</c> means data is returned as a binary from <c>control</c>.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_failure_eof(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Fail with EOF</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_failure_eof"></marker> <p>This function signals to erlang that the driver has encountered an EOF and should be closed, unless the port was opened with the <c>eof</c> option, in that case eof is sent to the port. Otherwise, the port is close and an <c>'EXIT'</c> message is sent to the port owner process.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_failure_atom(ErlDrvPort port, char *string)</nametext></name> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_failure_posix(ErlDrvPort port, int error)</nametext></name> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_failure(ErlDrvPort port, int error)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Fail with error</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_failure_atom"></marker> <marker id="driver_failure_posix"></marker> <marker id="driver_failure"></marker> <p>These functions signal to Erlang that the driver has encountered an error and should be closed. The port is closed and the tuple <c>{'EXIT', error, Err}</c>, is sent to the port owner process, where error is an error atom (<c>driver_failure_atom</c> and <c>driver_failure_posix</c>), or an integer (<c>driver_failure</c>).</p> <p>The driver should fail only when in severe error situations, when the driver cannot possibly keep open, for instance buffer allocation gets out of memory. Normal errors is more appropriate to handle with sending error codes with <c>driver_output</c>.</p> <p>The return value is 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTermData</ret><nametext>driver_connected(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Return the port owner process</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_connected"></marker> <p>This function returns the port owner process.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTermData</ret><nametext>driver_caller(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Return the process making the driver call</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_caller"></marker> <p>This function returns the process id of the process that made the current call to the driver. The process id can be used with <c>driver_send_term</c> to send back data to the caller. <c>driver_caller()</c> only return valid data when currently executing in one of the following driver callbacks:</p> <taglist> <tag><seealso marker="driver_entry#start">start</seealso></tag> <item>Called from <c>open_port/2</c>.</item> <tag><seealso marker="driver_entry#output">output</seealso></tag> <item>Called from <c>erlang:send/2</c>, and <c>erlang:port_command/2</c></item> <tag><seealso marker="driver_entry#outputv">outputv</seealso></tag> <item>Called from <c>erlang:send/2</c>, and <c>erlang:port_command/2</c></item> <tag><seealso marker="driver_entry#control">control</seealso></tag> <item>Called from <c>erlang:port_control/3</c></item> <tag><seealso marker="driver_entry#call">call</seealso></tag> <item>Called from <c>erlang:port_call/3</c></item> </taglist> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_output_term(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvTermData* term, int n)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send term data from driver to port owner</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_output_term"></marker> <p>This functions sends data in the special driver term format. This is a fast way to deliver term data from a driver. It also needs no binary conversion, so the port owner process receives data as normal Erlang terms.</p> <p>The <c>term</c> parameter points to an array of <c>ErlDrvTermData</c>, with <c>n</c> elements. This array contains terms described in the driver term format. Every term consists of one to four elements in the array. The term first has a term type, and then arguments.</p> <p>Tuple and lists (with the exception of strings, see below), are built in reverse polish notation, so that to build a tuple, the elements are given first, and then the tuple term, with a count. Likewise for lists.</p> <p>A tuple must be specified with the number of elements. (The elements precedes the <c>ERL_DRV_TUPLE</c> term.)</p> <p>A list must be specified with the number of elements, including the tail, which is the last term preceding <c>ERL_DRV_LIST</c>.</p> <p>The special term <c>ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS</c> is used to "splice" in a string in a list, a string given this way is not a list per se, but the elements are elements of the surrounding list.</p> <pre> Term type Argument(s) =========================================== ERL_DRV_NIL ERL_DRV_ATOM ErlDrvTermData atom (from driver_mk_atom(char *string)) ERL_DRV_INT ErlDrvSInt integer ERL_DRV_UINT ErlDrvUInt integer ERL_DRV_INT64 ErlDrvSInt64 *integer_ptr ERL_DRV_UINT64 ErlDrvUInt64 *integer_ptr ERL_DRV_PORT ErlDrvTermData port (from driver_mk_port(ErlDrvPort port)) ERL_DRV_BINARY ErlDrvBinary *bin, ErlDrvUInt len, ErlDrvUInt offset ERL_DRV_BUF2BINARY char *buf, ErlDrvUInt len ERL_DRV_STRING char *str, int len ERL_DRV_TUPLE int sz ERL_DRV_LIST int sz ERL_DRV_PID ErlDrvTermData pid (from driver_connected(ErlDrvPort port) or driver_caller(ErlDrvPort port)) ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS char *str, int len ERL_DRV_FLOAT double *dbl ERL_DRV_EXT2TERM char *buf, ErlDrvUInt len </pre> <p>The unsigned integer data type <c>ErlDrvUInt</c> and the signed integer data type <c>ErlDrvSInt</c> are 64 bits wide on a 64 bit runtime system and 32 bits wide on a 32 bit runtime system. They were introduced in erts version 5.6, and replaced some of the <c>int</c> arguments in the list above. </p> <p>The unsigned integer data type <c>ErlDrvUInt64</c> and the signed integer data type <c>ErlDrvSInt64</c> are always 64 bits wide. They were introduced in erts version 5.7.4. </p> <p>To build the tuple <c>{tcp, Port, [100 | Binary]}</c>, the following call could be made.</p> <code type="none"><![CDATA[ ErlDrvBinary* bin = ... ErlDrvPort port = ... ErlDrvTermData spec[] = { ERL_DRV_ATOM, driver_mk_atom("tcp"), ERL_DRV_PORT, driver_mk_port(port), ERL_DRV_INT, 100, ERL_DRV_BINARY, bin, 50, 0, ERL_DRV_LIST, 2, ERL_DRV_TUPLE, 3, }; driver_output_term(port, spec, sizeof(spec) / sizeof(spec[0])); ]]> </code> <p>Where <c>bin</c> is a driver binary of length at least 50 and <c>port</c> is a port handle. Note that the <c>ERL_DRV_LIST</c> comes after the elements of the list, likewise the <c>ERL_DRV_TUPLE</c>.</p> <p>The term <c>ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS</c> is a way to construct strings. It works differently from how <c>ERL_DRV_STRING</c> works. <c>ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS</c> builds a string list in reverse order, (as opposed to how <c>ERL_DRV_LIST</c> works), concatenating the strings added to a list. The tail must be given before <c>ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS</c>.</p> <p>The <c>ERL_DRV_STRING</c> constructs a string, and ends it. (So it's the same as <c>ERL_DRV_NIL</c> followed by <c>ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS</c>.)</p> <code type="none"><![CDATA[ /* to send [x, "abc", y] to the port: */ ErlDrvTermData spec[] = { ERL_DRV_ATOM, driver_mk_atom("x"), ERL_DRV_STRING, (ErlDrvTermData)"abc", 3, ERL_DRV_ATOM, driver_mk_atom("y"), ERL_DRV_NIL, ERL_DRV_LIST, 4 }; driver_output_term(port, spec, sizeof(spec) / sizeof(spec[0])); ]]></code> <p></p> <code type="none"><![CDATA[ /* to send "abc123" to the port: */ ErlDrvTermData spec[] = { ERL_DRV_NIL, /* with STRING_CONS, the tail comes first */ ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS, (ErlDrvTermData)"123", 3, ERL_DRV_STRING_CONS, (ErlDrvTermData)"abc", 3, }; driver_output_term(port, spec, sizeof(spec) / sizeof(spec[0])); ]]></code> <p>The <c>ERL_DRV_EXT2TERM</c> term type is used for passing a term encoded with the <seealso marker="erl_ext_dist">external format</seealso>, i.e., a term that has been encoded by <seealso marker="erts:erlang#term_to_binary/2">erlang:term_to_binary</seealso>, <seealso marker="erl_interface:ei">erl_interface</seealso>, etc. For example, if <c>binp</c> is a pointer to an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> that contains the term <c>{17, 4711}</c> encoded with the <seealso marker="erl_ext_dist">external format</seealso> and you want to wrap it in a two tuple with the tag <c>my_tag</c>, i.e., <c>{my_tag, {17, 4711}}</c>, you can do as follows: </p> <code type="none"><![CDATA[ ErlDrvTermData spec[] = { ERL_DRV_ATOM, driver_mk_atom("my_tag"), ERL_DRV_EXT2TERM, (ErlDrvTermData) binp->orig_bytes, binp->orig_size ERL_DRV_TUPLE, 2, }; driver_output_term(port, spec, sizeof(spec) / sizeof(spec[0])); ]]></code> <p>If you want to pass a binary and doesn't already have the content of the binary in an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c>, you can benefit from using <c>ERL_DRV_BUF2BINARY</c> instead of creating an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> via <c>driver_alloc_binary()</c> and then pass the binary via <c>ERL_DRV_BINARY</c>. The runtime system will often allocate binaries smarter if <c>ERL_DRV_BUF2BINARY</c> is used. However, if the content of the binary to pass already resides in an <c>ErlDrvBinary</c>, it is normally better to pass the binary using <c>ERL_DRV_BINARY</c> and the <c>ErlDrvBinary</c> in question. </p> <p>The <c>ERL_DRV_UINT</c>, <c>ERL_DRV_BUF2BINARY</c>, and <c>ERL_DRV_EXT2TERM</c> term types were introduced in the 5.6 version of erts. </p> <p>Note that this function is <em>not</em> thread-safe, not even when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTermData</ret><nametext>driver_mk_atom(char* string)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Make an atom from a name</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_mk_atom"></marker> <p>This function returns an atom given a name <c>string</c>. The atom is created and won't change, so the return value may be saved and reused, which is faster than looking up the atom several times.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTermData</ret><nametext>driver_mk_port(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Make a erlang term port from a port</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_mk_port"></marker> <p>This function converts a port handle to the erlang term format, usable in the <c>driver_output_send</c> function.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_send_term(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvTermData receiver, ErlDrvTermData* term, int n)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Send term data to other process than port owner process</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_send_term"></marker> <p>This function is the only way for a driver to send data to <em>other</em> processes than the port owner process. The <c>receiver</c> parameter specifies the process to receive the data.</p> <p>The parameters <c>term</c> and <c>n</c> does the same thing as in <seealso marker="#driver_output_term">driver_output_term</seealso>.</p> <p>This function is only thread-safe when the emulator with SMP support is used.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>long</ret><nametext>driver_async (ErlDrvPort port, unsigned int* key, void (*async_invoke)(void*), void* async_data, void (*async_free)(void*))</nametext></name> <fsummary>Perform an asynchronous call within a driver</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_async"></marker> <p>This function performs an asynchronous call. The function <c>async_invoke</c> is invoked in a thread separate from the emulator thread. This enables the driver to perform time-consuming, blocking operations without blocking the emulator.</p> <p>Erlang is by default started without an async thread pool. The number of async threads that the runtime system should use is specified by the <seealso marker="erl#async_thread_pool_size">+A</seealso> command line argument of <seealso marker="erl">erl(1)</seealso>. If no async thread pool is available, the call is made synchronously in the thread calling <c>driver_async()</c>. The current number of async threads in the async thread pool can be retrieved via <seealso marker="#driver_system_info">driver_system_info()</seealso>.</p> <p>If there is a thread pool available, a thread will be used. If the <c>key</c> argument is null, the threads from the pool are used in a round-robin way, each call to <c>driver_async</c> uses the next thread in the pool. With the <c>key</c> argument set, this behaviour is changed. The two same values of <c>*key</c> always get the same thread.</p> <p>To make sure that a driver instance always uses the same thread, the following call can be used:</p> <p></p> <code type="none"><![CDATA[ unsigned int myKey = (unsigned int) myPort; r = driver_async(myPort, &myKey, myData, myFunc); ]]></code> <p>It is enough to initialize <c>myKey</c> once for each driver instance.</p> <p>If a thread is already working, the calls will be queued up and executed in order. Using the same thread for each driver instance ensures that the calls will be made in sequence.</p> <p>The <c>async_data</c> is the argument to the functions <c>async_invoke</c> and <c>async_free</c>. It's typically a pointer to a structure that contains a pipe or event that can be used to signal that the async operation completed. The data should be freed in <c>async_free</c>, because it's called if <c>driver_async_cancel</c> is called.</p> <p>When the async operation is done, <seealso marker="driver_entry#ready_async">ready_async</seealso> driver entry function is called. If <c>async_ready</c> is null in the driver entry, the <c>async_free</c> function is called instead.</p> <p>The return value is a handle to the asynchronous task, which can be used as argument to <c>driver_async_cancel</c>.</p> <note> <p>As of erts version 5.5.4.3 the default stack size for threads in the async-thread pool is 16 kilowords, i.e., 64 kilobyte on 32-bit architectures. This small default size has been chosen since the amount of async-threads might be quite large. The default stack size is enough for drivers delivered with Erlang/OTP, but might not be sufficiently large for other dynamically linked in drivers that use the driver_async() functionality. A suggested stack size for threads in the async-thread pool can be configured via the <seealso marker="erl#async_thread_stack_size">+a</seealso> command line argument of <seealso marker="erl">erl(1)</seealso>.</p> </note> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_async_cancel(long id)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Cancel an asynchronous call</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_async_cancel"></marker> <p>This function cancels an asynchronous operation, by removing it from the queue. Only functions in the queue can be cancelled; if a function is executing, it's too late to cancel it. The <c>async_free</c> function is also called.</p> <p>The return value is 1 if the operation was removed from the queue, otherwise 0.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>driver_lock_driver(ErlDrvPort port)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Make sure the driver is never unloaded</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="driver_lock_driver"></marker> <p>This function locks the driver used by the port <c>port</c> in memory for the rest of the emulator process lifetime. After this call, the driver behaves as one of Erlang's statically linked in drivers.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvPort</ret><nametext>driver_create_port(ErlDrvPort port, ErlDrvTermData owner_pid, char* name, ErlDrvData drv_data)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a new port (driver instance)</fsummary> <desc> <p>This function creates a new port executing the same driver code as the port creating the new port. A short description of the arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>port</c></tag> <item>The port handle of the port (driver instance) creating the new port.</item> <tag><c>owner_pid</c></tag> <item>The process id of the Erlang process which will be owner of the new port. This process will be linked to the new port. You usually want to use <c>driver_caller(port)</c> as <c>owner_pid</c>.</item> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>The port name of the new port. You usually want to use the same port name as the driver name (<seealso marker="driver_entry#driver_name">driver_name</seealso> field of the <seealso marker="driver_entry">driver_entry</seealso>).</item> <tag><c>drv_data</c></tag> <item>The driver defined handle that will be passed in subsequent calls to driver call-backs. Note, that the <seealso marker="driver_entry#start">driver start call-back</seealso> will not be called for this new driver instance. The driver defined handle is normally created in the <seealso marker="driver_entry#start">driver start call-back</seealso> when a port is created via <seealso marker="erts:erlang#open_port/2">erlang:open_port/2</seealso>. </item> </taglist> <p>The caller of <c>driver_create_port()</c> is allowed to manipulate the newly created port when <c>driver_create_port()</c> has returned. When <seealso marker="#smp_support">port level locking</seealso> is used, the creating port is, however, only allowed to manipulate the newly created port until the current driver call-back that was called by the emulator returns.</p> <note> <p>When <seealso marker="#smp_support">port level locking</seealso> is used, the creating port is only allowed to manipulate the newly created port until the current driver call-back returns.</p> </note> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_create(char *name, ErlDrvTid *tid, void * (*func)(void *), void *arg, ErlDrvThreadOpts *opts)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a thread</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created thread. It will be used to identify the thread in planned future debug functionality. </item> <tag><c>tid</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a thread identifier variable.</item> <tag><c>func</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a function to execute in the created thread.</item> <tag><c>arg</c></tag> <item>A pointer to argument to the <c>func</c> function.</item> <tag><c>opts</c></tag> <item>A pointer to thread options to use or <c>NULL</c>.</item> </taglist> <p>This function creates a new thread. On success <c>0</c> is returned; otherwise, an <c>errno</c> value is returned to indicate the error. The newly created thread will begin executing in the function pointed to by <c>func</c>, and <c>func</c> will be passed <c>arg</c> as argument. When <c>erl_drv_thread_create()</c> returns the thread identifier of the newly created thread will be available in <c>*tid</c>. <c>opts</c> can be either a <c>NULL</c> pointer, or a pointer to an <seealso marker="#ErlDrvThreadOpts">ErlDrvThreadOpts</seealso> structure. If <c>opts</c> is a <c>NULL</c> pointer, default options will be used; otherwise, the passed options will be used. </p> <warning><p>You are not allowed to allocate the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvThreadOpts">ErlDrvThreadOpts</seealso> structure by yourself. It has to be allocated and initialized by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_opts_create">erl_drv_thread_opts_create()</seealso>. </p></warning> <p>The created thread will terminate either when <c>func</c> returns or if <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_exit">erl_drv_thread_exit()</seealso> is called by the thread. The exit value of the thread is either returned from <c>func</c> or passed as argument to <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_exit">erl_drv_thread_exit()</seealso>. The driver creating the thread has the responsibility of joining the thread, via <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_join">erl_drv_thread_join()</seealso>, before the driver is unloaded. It is not possible to create "detached" threads, i.e., threads that don't need to be joined. </p> <warning><p>All created threads need to be joined by the driver before it is unloaded. If the driver fails to join all threads created before it is unloaded, the runtime system will most likely crash when the code of the driver is unloaded. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvThreadOpts *</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_opts_create(char *name)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create thread options</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_opts_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created thread options. It will be used to identify the thread options in planned future debug functionality. </item> </taglist> <p>This function allocates and initialize a thread option structure. On failure <c>NULL</c> is returned. A thread option structure is used for passing options to <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>. If the structure isn't modified before it is passed to <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>, the default values will be used. </p> <warning><p>You are not allowed to allocate the <seealso marker="#ErlDrvThreadOpts">ErlDrvThreadOpts</seealso> structure by yourself. It has to be allocated and initialized by <c>erl_drv_thread_opts_create()</c>. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_opts_destroy(ErlDrvThreadOpts *opts)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Destroy thread options</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_opts_destroy"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>opts</c></tag> <item>A pointer to thread options to destroy.</item> </taglist> <p>This function destroys thread options previously created by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_opts_create">erl_drv_thread_opts_create()</seealso>. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_exit(void *exit_value)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Terminate calling thread</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_exit"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>exit_value</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an exit value or <c>NULL</c>.</item> </taglist> <p>This function terminates the calling thread with the exit value passed as argument. You are only allowed to terminate threads created with <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_create">erl_drv_thread_create()</seealso>. The exit value can later be retrieved by another thread via <seealso marker="#erl_drv_thread_join">erl_drv_thread_join()</seealso>. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_join(ErlDrvTid tid, void **exit_value)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Join with another thread</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_join"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>tid</c></tag> <item>The thread identifier of the thread to join.</item> <tag><c>exit_value</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a pointer to an exit value, or <c>NULL</c>.</item> </taglist> <p>This function joins the calling thread with another thread, i.e., the calling thread is blocked until the thread identified by <c>tid</c> has terminated. On success <c>0</c> is returned; otherwise, an <c>errno</c> value is returned to indicate the error. A thread can only be joined once. The behavior of joining more than once is undefined, an emulator crash is likely. If <c>exit_value == NULL</c>, the exit value of the terminated thread will be ignored; otherwise, the exit value of the terminated thread will be stored at <c>*exit_value</c>. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvTid</ret><nametext>erl_drv_thread_self(void)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get the thread identifier of the current thread</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_thread_self"></marker> <p>This function returns the thread identifier of the calling thread. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_equal_tids(ErlDrvTid tid1, ErlDrvTid tid2)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Compare thread identifiers for equality</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_equal_tids"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>tid1</c></tag> <item>A thread identifier.</item> <tag><c>tid2</c></tag> <item>A thread identifier.</item> </taglist> <p>This function compares two thread identifiers for equality, and returns <c>0</c> it they aren't equal, and a value not equal to <c>0</c> if they are equal.</p> <note><p>A Thread identifier may be reused very quickly after a thread has terminated. Therefore, if a thread corresponding to one of the involved thread identifiers has terminated since the thread identifier was saved, the result of <c>erl_drv_equal_tids()</c> might not give expected result. </p></note> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvMutex *</ret><nametext>erl_drv_mutex_create(char *name)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a mutex</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_mutex_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created mutex. It will be used to identify the mutex in planned future debug functionality. </item> </taglist> <p>This function creates a mutex and returns a pointer to it. On failure <c>NULL</c> is returned. The driver creating the mutex has the responsibility of destroying it before the driver is unloaded. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_mutex_destroy(ErlDrvMutex *mtx)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Destroy a mutex</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_mutex_destroy"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>mtx</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a mutex to destroy.</item> </taglist> <p>This function destroys a mutex previously created by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_mutex_create">erl_drv_mutex_create()</seealso>. The mutex has to be in an unlocked state before being destroyed. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_mutex_lock(ErlDrvMutex *mtx)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Lock a mutex</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_mutex_lock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>mtx</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a mutex to lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function locks a mutex. The calling thread will be blocked until the mutex has been locked. A thread which currently has locked the mutex may <em>not</em> lock the same mutex again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave a mutex locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_mutex_trylock(ErlDrvMutex *mtx)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Try lock a mutex</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_mutex_trylock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>mtx</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a mutex to try to lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function tries to lock a mutex. If successful <c>0</c>, is returned; otherwise, <c>EBUSY</c> is returned. A thread which currently has locked the mutex may <em>not</em> try to lock the same mutex again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave a mutex locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_mutex_unlock(ErlDrvMutex *mtx)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Unlock a mutex</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_mutex_unlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>mtx</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a mutex to unlock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function unlocks a mutex. The mutex currently has to be locked by the calling thread. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvCond *</ret><nametext>erl_drv_cond_create(char *name)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a condition variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_cond_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created condition variable. It will be used to identify the condition variable in planned future debug functionality. </item> </taglist> <p>This function creates a condition variable and returns a pointer to it. On failure <c>NULL</c> is returned. The driver creating the condition variable has the responsibility of destroying it before the driver is unloaded.</p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_cond_destroy(ErlDrvCond *cnd)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Destroy a condition variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_cond_destroy"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>cnd</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a condition variable to destroy.</item> </taglist> <p>This function destroys a condition variable previously created by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_cond_create">erl_drv_cond_create()</seealso>. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_cond_signal(ErlDrvCond *cnd)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Signal on a condition variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_cond_signal"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>cnd</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a condition variable to signal on.</item> </taglist> <p>This function signals on a condition variable. That is, if other threads are waiting on the condition variable being signaled, <em>one</em> of them will be woken. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_cond_broadcast(ErlDrvCond *cnd)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Broadcast on a condition variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_cond_broadcast"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>cnd</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a condition variable to broadcast on.</item> </taglist> <p>This function broadcasts on a condition variable. That is, if other threads are waiting on the condition variable being broadcasted on, <em>all</em> of them will be woken. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_cond_wait(ErlDrvCond *cnd, ErlDrvMutex *mtx)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Wait on a condition variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_cond_wait"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>cnd</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a condition variable to wait on.</item> <tag><c>mtx</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a mutex to unlock while waiting.</item> <tag><c></c></tag> <item></item> </taglist> <p>This function waits on a condition variable. The calling thread is blocked until another thread wakes it by signaling or broadcasting on the condition variable. Before the calling thread is blocked it unlocks the mutex passed as argument, and when the calling thread is woken it locks the same mutex before returning. That is, the mutex currently has to be locked by the calling thread when calling this function. </p> <note><p><c>erl_drv_cond_wait()</c> might return even though no-one has signaled or broadcasted on the condition variable. Code calling <c>erl_drv_cond_wait()</c> should always be prepared for <c>erl_drv_cond_wait()</c> returning even though the condition that the thread was waiting for hasn't occurred. That is, when returning from <c>erl_drv_cond_wait()</c> always check if the condition has occurred, and if not call <c>erl_drv_cond_wait()</c> again. </p></note> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>ErlDrvRWLock *</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_create(char *name)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created rwlock. It will be used to identify the rwlock in planned future debug functionality. </item> </taglist> <p>This function creates an rwlock and returns a pointer to it. On failure <c>NULL</c> is returned. The driver creating the rwlock has the responsibility of destroying it before the driver is unloaded. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_destroy(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Destroy an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_destroy"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to destroy.</item> </taglist> <p>This function destroys an rwlock previously created by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_rwlock_create">erl_drv_rwlock_create()</seealso>. The rwlock has to be in an unlocked state before being destroyed. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_rlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read lock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_rlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to read lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function read locks an rwlock. The calling thread will be blocked until the rwlock has been read locked. A thread which currently has read or read/write locked the rwlock may <em>not</em> lock the same rwlock again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave an rwlock locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_tryrlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Try to read lock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_tryrlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to try to read lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function tries to read lock an rwlock. If successful <c>0</c>, is returned; otherwise, <c>EBUSY</c> is returned. A thread which currently has read or read/write locked the rwlock may <em>not</em> try to lock the same rwlock again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave an rwlock locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_runlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read unlock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_runlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to read unlock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function read unlocks an rwlock. The rwlock currently has to be read locked by the calling thread. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_rwlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read/Write lock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_rwlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to read/write lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function read/write locks an rwlock. The calling thread will be blocked until the rwlock has been read/write locked. A thread which currently has read or read/write locked the rwlock may <em>not</em> lock the same rwlock again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave an rwlock locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_tryrwlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Try to read/write lock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_tryrwlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to try to read/write lock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function tries to read/write lock an rwlock. If successful <c>0</c>, is returned; otherwise, <c>EBUSY</c> is returned. A thread which currently has read or read/write locked the rwlock may <em>not</em> try to lock the same rwlock again. </p> <warning><p>If you leave an rwlock locked in an emulator thread when you let the thread out of your control, you will <em>very likely</em> deadlock the whole emulator. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_rwlock_rwunlock(ErlDrvRWLock *rwlck)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Read/Write unlock an rwlock</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_rwlock_rwunlock"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>rwlck</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an rwlock to read/write unlock.</item> </taglist> <p>This function read/write unlocks an rwlock. The rwlock currently has to be read/write locked by the calling thread. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_tsd_key_create(char *name, ErlDrvTSDKey *key)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Create a thread specific data key</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_tsd_key_create"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>name</c></tag> <item>A string identifying the created key. It will be used to identify the key in planned future debug functionality. </item> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A pointer to a thread specific data key variable.</item> </taglist> <p>This function creates a thread specific data key. On success <c>0</c> is returned; otherwise, an <c>errno</c> value is returned to indicate the error. The driver creating the key has the responsibility of destroying it before the driver is unloaded. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_tsd_key_destroy(ErlDrvTSDKey key)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Destroy a thread specific data key</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_tsd_key_destroy"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A thread specific data key to destroy.</item> </taglist> <p>This function destroys a thread specific data key previously created by <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_key_create">erl_drv_tsd_key_create()</seealso>. All thread specific data using this key in all threads have to be cleared (see <seealso marker="#erl_drv_tsd_set">erl_drv_tsd_set()</seealso>) prior to the call to <c>erl_drv_tsd_key_destroy()</c>. </p> <warning><p>A destroyed key is very likely to be reused soon. Therefore, if you fail to clear the thread specific data using this key in a thread prior to destroying the key, you will <em>very likely</em> get unexpected errors in other parts of the system. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_drv_tsd_set(ErlDrvTSDKey key, void *data)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Set thread specific data</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_tsd_set"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A thread specific data key.</item> <tag><c>data</c></tag> <item>A pointer to data to associate with <c>key</c> in calling thread. </item> </taglist> <p>This function sets thread specific data associated with <c>key</c> for the calling thread. You are only allowed to set thread specific data for threads while they are fully under your control. For example, if you set thread specific data in a thread calling a driver call-back function, it has to be cleared, i.e. set to <c>NULL</c>, before returning from the driver call-back function. </p> <warning><p>If you fail to clear thread specific data in an emulator thread before letting it out of your control, you might not ever be able to clear this data with later unexpected errors in other parts of the system as a result. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>void *</ret><nametext>erl_drv_tsd_get(ErlDrvTSDKey key)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get thread specific data</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_tsd_get"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A thread specific data key.</item> </taglist> <p>This function returns the thread specific data associated with <c>key</c> for the calling thread. If no data has been associated with <c>key</c> for the calling thread, <c>NULL</c> is returned. </p> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_putenv(char *key, char *value)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Set the value of an environment variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_putenv"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A null terminated string containing the name of the environment variable.</item> <tag><c>value</c></tag> <item>A null terminated string containing the new value of the environment variable.</item> </taglist> <p>This function sets the value of an environment variable. It returns <c>0</c> on success, and a value <c>!= 0</c> on failure. </p> <note><p>The result of passing the empty string ("") as a value is platform dependent. On some platforms the value of the variable is set to the empty string, on others, the environment variable is removed.</p> </note> <warning><p>Do <em>not</em> use libc's <c>putenv</c> or similar C library interfaces from a driver. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> <func> <name><ret>int</ret><nametext>erl_drv_getenv(char *key, char *value, size_t *value_size)</nametext></name> <fsummary>Get the value of an environment variable</fsummary> <desc> <marker id="erl_drv_getenv"></marker> <p>Arguments:</p> <taglist> <tag><c>key</c></tag> <item>A null terminated string containing the name of the environment variable.</item> <tag><c>value</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an output buffer.</item> <tag><c>value_size</c></tag> <item>A pointer to an integer. The integer is both used for passing input and output sizes (see below). </item> </taglist> <p>This function retrieves the value of an environment variable. When called, <c>*value_size</c> should contain the size of the <c>value</c> buffer. On success <c>0</c> is returned, the value of the environment variable has been written to the <c>value</c> buffer, and <c>*value_size</c> contains the string length (excluding the terminating null character) of the value written to the <c>value</c> buffer. On failure, i.e., no such environment variable was found, a value less than <c>0</c> is returned. When the size of the <c>value</c> buffer is too small, a value greater than <c>0</c> is returned and <c>*value_size</c> has been set to the buffer size needed. </p> <warning><p>Do <em>not</em> use libc's <c>getenv</c> or similar C library interfaces from a driver. </p></warning> <p>This function is thread-safe.</p> </desc> </func> </funcs> <section> <title>SEE ALSO</title> <p><seealso marker="driver_entry">driver_entry(3)</seealso>, <seealso marker="kernel:erl_ddll">erl_ddll(3)</seealso>, <seealso marker="erts:erlang">erlang(3)</seealso></p> <p>An Alternative Distribution Driver (ERTS User's Guide Ch. 3)</p> </section> </cref>