FTOK

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 1993-11-01
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NAME

ftok - convert a pathname and a project identifier to a System V IPC key

SYNOPSIS

# include <sys/types.h>
# include <sys/ipc.h>

key_t ftok ( char *pathname, char proj )

DESCRIPTION

The function converts the pathname of an existing accessible file and a project identifier into a key_t type System V IPC key.

RETURN VALUE

On success the return value will be the converted key_t value, otherwise -1 with errno indicating the error as for the stat(2) system call.

BUGS

The generated key_t value is obtained stat-ing the disk file corresponding to pathname in order to get its i-node number and the minor device number of the filesystem on which the disk file resides, then by combining the 8 bit proj value along with the lower 16 bits of the i-node number, along with the 8 bits of the minor device number. The algorithm does not guarantee a unique key value. In fact

*: Two different names linking to the same file produce same key values.
*: Using the lower 16 bits of the i-node number, gives some chance (also usually small) to have same key values for file names referring to different i-nodes.
*: Not discriminating among major device numbers, gives some chance of collision (also usually small) for systems with multiple disk controllers.

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