<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <title>Chapter 14. Boost.Interprocess</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../doc/src/boostbook.css" type="text/css"> <meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.78.1"> <link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Boost C++ Libraries BoostBook Documentation Subset"> <link rel="up" href="libraries.html" title="Part I. The Boost C++ Libraries (BoostBook Subset)"> <link rel="prev" href="heap/acknowledgements.html" title="Acknowledgements"> <link rel="next" href="interprocess/quick_guide.html" title="Quick Guide for the Impatient"> </head> <body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"> <table cellpadding="2" width="100%"><tr> <td valign="top"><img alt="Boost C++ Libraries" width="277" height="86" src="../../boost.png"></td> <td align="center"><a href="../../index.html">Home</a></td> <td align="center"><a href="../../libs/libraries.htm">Libraries</a></td> <td align="center"><a href="http://www.boost.org/users/people.html">People</a></td> <td align="center"><a href="http://www.boost.org/users/faq.html">FAQ</a></td> <td align="center"><a href="../../more/index.htm">More</a></td> </tr></table> <hr> <div class="spirit-nav"> <a accesskey="p" href="heap/acknowledgements.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/prev.png" alt="Prev"></a><a accesskey="u" href="libraries.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/up.png" alt="Up"></a><a accesskey="h" href="index.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/home.png" alt="Home"></a><a accesskey="n" href="interprocess/quick_guide.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/next.png" alt="Next"></a> </div> <div class="chapter"> <div class="titlepage"><div> <div><h2 class="title"> <a name="interprocess"></a>Chapter 14. Boost.Interprocess</h2></div> <div><div class="author"><h3 class="author"> <span class="firstname">Ion</span> <span class="surname">Gaztanaga</span> </h3></div></div> <div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2005-2015 Ion Gaztanaga</p></div> <div><div class="legalnotice"> <a name="interprocess.legal"></a><p> Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>) </p> </div></div> </div></div> <div class="toc"> <p><b>Table of Contents</b></p> <dl class="toc"> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro">Introduction</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.introduction_building_interprocess">Building Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.tested_compilers">Tested compilers</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html">Quick Guide for the Impatient</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html#interprocess.quick_guide.qg_memory_pool">Using shared memory as a pool of unnamed memory blocks</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html#interprocess.quick_guide.qg_named_interprocess">Creating named shared memory objects</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html#interprocess.quick_guide.qg_offset_ptr">Using an offset smart pointer for shared memory</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html#interprocess.quick_guide.qg_interprocess_container">Creating vectors in shared memory</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/quick_guide.html#interprocess.quick_guide.qg_interprocess_map">Creating maps in shared memory</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html">Some basic explanations</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.processes_and_threads">Processes And Threads</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.sharing_information">Sharing information between processes</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.persistence">Persistence Of Interprocess Mechanisms</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.names">Names Of Interprocess Mechanisms</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.constructors_destructors_and_resource_lifetime">Constructors, destructors and lifetime of Interprocess named resources</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/some_basic_explanations.html#interprocess.some_basic_explanations.permissions">Permissions</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.html">Sharing memory between processes</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.html#interprocess.sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.sharedmemory">Shared memory</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.html#interprocess.sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.mapped_file">Memory Mapped Files</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.html#interprocess.sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.mapped_region">More About Mapped Regions</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.html#interprocess.sharedmemorybetweenprocesses.mapped_region_object_limitations">Limitations When Constructing Objects In Mapped Regions</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/offset_ptr.html">Mapping Address Independent Pointer: offset_ptr</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html">Synchronization mechanisms</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.synchronization_mechanisms_overview">Synchronization mechanisms overview</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.mutexes">Mutexes</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.conditions">Conditions</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.semaphores">Semaphores</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.sharable_upgradable_mutexes">Sharable and Upgradable Mutexes</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.lock_conversions">Lock Transfers Through Move Semantics</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.file_lock">File Locks</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/synchronization_mechanisms.html#interprocess.synchronization_mechanisms.message_queue">Message Queue</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html">Managed Memory Segments</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.making_ipc_easy">Making Interprocess Data Communication Easy</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.managed_shared_memory">Managed Shared Memory</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.managed_mapped_files">Managed Mapped File</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.managed_memory_segment_features">Managed Memory Segment Features</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.managed_memory_segment_advanced_features">Managed Memory Segment Advanced Features</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/managed_memory_segments.html#interprocess.managed_memory_segments.managed_heap_memory_external_buffer">Managed Heap Memory And Managed External Buffer</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html">Allocators, containers and memory allocation algorithms</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html#interprocess.allocators_containers.allocator_introduction">Introduction to Interprocess allocators</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html#interprocess.allocators_containers.stl_allocators_segregated_storage">Segregated storage node allocators</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html#interprocess.allocators_containers.stl_allocators_adaptive">Adaptive pool node allocators</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html#interprocess.allocators_containers.containers_explained">Interprocess and containers in managed memory segments</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/allocators_containers.html#interprocess.allocators_containers.additional_containers">Boost containers compatible with Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/memory_algorithms.html">Memory allocation algorithms</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/memory_algorithms.html#interprocess.memory_algorithms.simple_seq_fit">simple_seq_fit: A simple shared memory management algorithm</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/memory_algorithms.html#interprocess.memory_algorithms.rbtree_best_fit">rbtree_best_fit: Best-fit logarithmic-time complexity allocation</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/streams.html">Direct iostream formatting: vectorstream and bufferstream</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/streams.html#interprocess.streams.vectorstream">Formatting directly in your character vector: vectorstream</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/streams.html#interprocess.streams.bufferstream">Formatting directly in your character buffer: bufferstream</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/interprocess_smart_ptr.html">Ownership smart pointers</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/interprocess_smart_ptr.html#interprocess.interprocess_smart_ptr.intrusive_ptr">Intrusive pointer</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/interprocess_smart_ptr.html#interprocess.interprocess_smart_ptr.scoped_ptr">Scoped pointer</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/interprocess_smart_ptr.html#interprocess.interprocess_smart_ptr.shared_ptr">Shared pointer and weak pointer</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/interprocess_smart_ptr.html#interprocess.interprocess_smart_ptr.unique_ptr">Unique pointer</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/architecture.html">Architecture and internals</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/architecture.html#interprocess.architecture.basic_guidelines">Basic guidelines</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/architecture.html#interprocess.architecture.architecture_algorithm_to_managed">From the memory algorithm to the managed segment</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/architecture.html#interprocess.architecture.allocators_containers">Allocators and containers</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/architecture.html#interprocess.architecture.performance">Performance of Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/customizing_interprocess.html">Customizing Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/customizing_interprocess.html#interprocess.customizing_interprocess.custom_interprocess_alloc">Writing a new shared memory allocation algorithm</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/customizing_interprocess.html#interprocess.customizing_interprocess.custom_allocators">Building custom STL compatible allocators for Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/customizing_interprocess.html#interprocess.customizing_interprocess.custom_indexes">Building custom indexes</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html">Acknowledgements, notes and links</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.notes_windows">Notes for Windows users</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.notes_linux">Notes for Linux users</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.thanks_to">Thanks to...</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.release_notes">Release Notes</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.books_and_links">Books and interesting links</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/acknowledgements_notes.html#interprocess.acknowledgements_notes.future_improvements">Future improvements...</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/indexes_reference.html">Indexes and Reference</a></span></dt> <dd><dl> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/indexes_reference.html#interprocess.indexes_reference.index">Indexes</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess/indexes_reference.html#boost_interprocess_header_reference">Boost.Interprocess Header Reference</a></span></dt> </dl></dd> </dl> </div> <div class="section"> <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> <a name="interprocess.intro"></a><a class="link" href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro" title="Introduction">Introduction</a> </h2></div></div></div> <div class="toc"><dl class="toc"> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.introduction_building_interprocess">Building Boost.Interprocess</a></span></dt> <dt><span class="section"><a href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.tested_compilers">Tested compilers</a></span></dt> </dl></div> <p> <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> simplifies the use of common interprocess communication and synchronization mechanisms and offers a wide range of them: </p> <div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "> <li class="listitem"> Shared memory. </li> <li class="listitem"> Memory-mapped files. </li> <li class="listitem"> Semaphores, mutexes, condition variables and upgradable mutex types to place them in shared memory and memory mapped files. </li> <li class="listitem"> Named versions of those synchronization objects, similar to UNIX/Windows sem_open/CreateSemaphore API. </li> <li class="listitem"> File locking. </li> <li class="listitem"> Relative pointers. </li> <li class="listitem"> Message queues. </li> </ul></div> <p> <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> also offers higher-level interprocess mechanisms to allocate dynamically portions of a shared memory or a memory mapped file (in general, to allocate portions of a fixed size memory segment). Using these mechanisms, <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> offers useful tools to construct C++ objects, including STL-like containers, in shared memory and memory mapped files: </p> <div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "> <li class="listitem"> Dynamic creation of anonymous and named objects in a shared memory or memory mapped file. </li> <li class="listitem"> STL-like containers compatible with shared memory/memory-mapped files. </li> <li class="listitem"> STL-like allocators ready for shared memory/memory-mapped files implementing several memory allocation patterns (like pooling). </li> </ul></div> <div class="section"> <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> <a name="interprocess.intro.introduction_building_interprocess"></a><a class="link" href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.introduction_building_interprocess" title="Building Boost.Interprocess">Building Boost.Interprocess</a> </h3></div></div></div> <p> There is no need to compile <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span>, since it's a header only library. Just include your Boost header directory in your compiler include path. </p> <p> <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> depends on <a href="http://www.boost.org/libs/date_time/" target="_top"><span class="bold"><strong>Boost.DateTime</strong></span></a>, which needs separate compilation. However, the subset used by <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> does not need any separate compilation so the user can define <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">BOOST_DATE_TIME_NO_LIB</span></code> to avoid Boost from trying to automatically link the <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.DateTime</strong></span>. </p> <p> In POSIX systems, <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> uses pthread system calls to implement classes like mutexes, condition variables, etc... In some operating systems, these POSIX calls are implemented in separate libraries that are not automatically linked by the compiler. For example, in some Linux systems POSIX pthread functions are implemented in <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">librt</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">a</span></code> library, so you might need to add that library when linking an executable or shared library that uses <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span>. If you obtain linking errors related to those pthread functions, please revise your system's documentation to know which library implements them. </p> </div> <div class="section"> <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> <a name="interprocess.intro.tested_compilers"></a><a class="link" href="interprocess.html#interprocess.intro.tested_compilers" title="Tested compilers">Tested compilers</a> </h3></div></div></div> <p> <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Interprocess</strong></span> has been tested in the following compilers/platforms: </p> <div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "> <li class="listitem"> Visual >= 7.1 </li> <li class="listitem"> GCC >= 4.1 </li> <li class="listitem"> Intel 11 </li> </ul></div> </div> </div> </div> <table xmlns:rev="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~gregod/boost/tools/doc/revision" width="100%"><tr> <td align="left"><p><small>Last revised: December 14, 2015 at 09:17:47 GMT</small></p></td> <td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer"></div></td> </tr></table> <hr> <div class="spirit-nav"> <a accesskey="p" href="heap/acknowledgements.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/prev.png" alt="Prev"></a><a accesskey="u" href="libraries.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/up.png" alt="Up"></a><a accesskey="h" href="index.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/home.png" alt="Home"></a><a accesskey="n" href="interprocess/quick_guide.html"><img src="../../doc/src/images/next.png" alt="Next"></a> </div> </body> </html>