mmap, munmap - map or unmap files or devices into memory
void * mmap(void *start, size_t length, int prot , int flags, int fd,
int munmap(void *start, size_t length);
The mmap function asks to map length bytes starting at offset offset
from the file (or other object) specified by the file descriptor fd
into memory, preferably at address start. This latter address is a
hint only, and is usually specified as 0. The actual place where the
object is mapped is returned by mmap, and is never 0.
The prot argument describes the desired memory protection (and must not
conflict with the open mode of the file). It is either PROT_NONE or is
the bitwise OR of one or more of the other PROT_* flags.
PROT_EXEC Pages may be executed.
PROT_READ Pages may be read.
PROT_WRITE Pages may be written.
PROT_NONE Pages may not be accessed.
The flags parameter specifies the type of the mapped object, mapping
options and whether modifications made to the mapped copy of the page
are private to the process or are to be shared with other references.
It has bits
MAP_FIXED Do not select a different address than the one specified.
If the specified address cannot be used, mmap will fail. If
MAP_FIXED is specified, start must be a multiple of the
pagesize. Use of this option is discouraged.
MAP_SHARED Share this mapping with all other processes that map this
object. Storing to the region is equivalent to writing to
the file. The file may not actually be updated until
msync(2) or munmap(2) are called.
Create a private copy-on-write mapping. Stores to the
region do not affect the original file. It is unspecified
whether changes made to the file after the mmap call are
visible in the mapped region.
This flag is ignored.
(Used together with MAP_PRIVATE.) Do not reserve swap space
pages for this mapping. When swap space is reserved, one has the
guarantee that it is possible to modify this private copy-on-
write region. When it is not reserved one might get SIGSEGV
upon a write when no memory is available.
This flag is ignored.
Used for stacks. Indicates to the kernel VM system that the map-
ping should extend downwards in memory.
The mapping is not backed by any file; the fd and offset argu-
ments are ignored. This flag in conjunction with MAP_SHARED is
implemented since Linux 2.4.
Alias for MAP_ANONYMOUS. Deprecated.
Compatibility flag. Ignored.
Some systems document the additional flags MAP_AUTOGROW, MAP_AUTORESRV,
MAP_COPY, and MAP_LOCAL.
fd should be a valid file descriptor, unless MAP_ANONYMOUS is set, in
which case the argument is ignored.
offset should be a multiple of the page size as returned by getpage-
Memory mapped by mmap is preserved across fork(2), with the same
A file is mapped in multiples of the page size. For a file that is not
a multiple of the page size, the remaining memory is zeroed when
mapped, and writes to that region are not written out to the file. The
effect of changing the size of the underlying file of a mapping on the
pages that correspond to added or removed regions of the file is
The munmap system call deletes the mappings for the specified address
range, and causes further references to addresses within the range to
generate invalid memory references. The region is also automatically
unmapped when the process is terminated. On the other hand, closing
the file descriptor does not unmap the region.
The address start must be a multiple of the page size. All pages con-
taining a part of the indicated range are unmapped, and subsequent ref-
erences to these pages will generate SIGSEGV. It is not an error if the
before a subsequent msync() with the MS_SYNC or MS_ASYNC flag, if one
On success, mmap returns a pointer to the mapped area. On error,
MAP_FAILED (-1) is returned, and errno is set appropriately. On suc-
cess, munmap returns 0, on failure -1, and errno is set (probably to
EBADF fd is not a valid file descriptor (and MAP_ANONYMOUS was not
EACCES A file descriptor refers to a non-regular file. Or MAP_PRIVATE
was requested, but fd is not open for reading. Or MAP_SHARED
was requested and PROT_WRITE is set, but fd is not open in
read/write (O_RDWR) mode. Or PROT_WRITE is set, but the file is
EINVAL We don't like start or length or offset. (E.g., they are too
large, or not aligned on a PAGESIZE boundary.)
MAP_DENYWRITE was set but the object specified by fd is open for
EAGAIN The file has been locked, or too much memory has been locked.
ENOMEM No memory is available, or the process's maximum number of map-
pings would have been exceeded.
ENODEV The underlying filesystem of the specified file does not support
Use of a mapped region can result in these signals:
Attempted write into a region specified to mmap as read-only.
SIGBUS Attempted access to a portion of the buffer that does not corre-
spond to the file (for example, beyond the end of the file,
including the case where another process has truncated the
SVr4, POSIX.1b (formerly POSIX.4), 4.4BSD, SUSv2. SVr4 documents addi-
tional error codes ENXIO and ENODEV. SUSv2 documents additional error
codes EMFILE and EOVERFLOW.
getpagesize(2), mmap2(2), mremap(2), msync(2), shm_open(2), B.O.
Gallmeister, POSIX.4, O'Reilly, pp. 128-129 and 389-391.
Linux 2.3.51 2000-03-25 mmap(2)