//po4a: entry man manual
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Copyright 1993 Rickard E. Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu)
May be distributed under the GNU General Public License
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= ipcs(1)
:doctype: manpage
:man manual: User Commands
:man source: util-linux {release-version}
:page-layout: base
:command: ipcs

== NAME

ipcs - show information on IPC facilities

== SYNOPSIS

*ipcs* [options]

== DESCRIPTION

*ipcs* shows information on System V inter-process communication facilities. By default it shows information about all three resources: shared memory segments, message queues, and semaphore arrays.

== OPTIONS

*-i*, *--id* _id_::
Show full details on just the one resource element identified by _id_. This option needs to be combined with one of the three resource options: *-m*, *-q* or *-s*.

*-h*, *--help*::
Display help text and exit.

*-V*, *--version*::
Display version information and exit.

=== Resource options

*-m*, *--shmems*::
Write information about active shared memory segments.

*-q*, *--queues*::
Write information about active message queues.

*-s*, *--semaphores*::
Write information about active semaphore sets.

*-a*, *--all*::
Write information about all three resources (default).

=== Output formats

Of these options only one takes effect: the last one specified.

*-c*, *--creator*::
Show creator and owner.

*-l*, *--limits*::
Show resource limits.

*-p*, *--pid*::
Show PIDs of creator and last operator.

*-t*, *--time*::
Write time information. The time of the last control operation that changed the access permissions for all facilities, the time of the last *msgsnd*(2) and *msgrcv*(2) operations on message queues, the time of the last *shmat*(2) and *shmdt*(2) operations on shared memory, and the time of the last *semop*(2) operation on semaphores.

*-u*, *--summary*::
Show status summary.

=== Representation

These affect only the *-l* (*--limits*) option.

*-b*, *--bytes*::
Print sizes in bytes.

*--human*::
Print sizes in human-readable format.

== CONFORMING TO

The Linux *ipcs* utility is not fully compatible to the POSIX *ipcs* utility. The Linux version does not support the POSIX *-a*, *-b* and *-o* options, but does support the *-l* and *-u* options not defined by POSIX. A portable application shall not use the *-a*, *-b*, *-o*, *-l*, and *-u* options.

== NOTES

The current implementation of *ipcs* obtains information about available IPC resources by parsing the files in _/proc/sysvipc_. Before util-linux version v2.23, an alternate mechanism was used: the *IPC_STAT* command of *msgctl*(2), *semctl*(2), and *shmctl*(2). This mechanism is also used in later util-linux versions in the case where _/proc_ is unavailable. A limitation of the *IPC_STAT* mechanism is that it can only be used to retrieve information about IPC resources for which the user has read permission.

== AUTHORS

mailto:balasub@cis.ohio-state.edu[Krishna Balasubramanian]

== SEE ALSO

*ipcmk*(1),
*ipcrm*(1),
*msgrcv*(2),
*msgsnd*(2),
*semget*(2),
*semop*(2),
*shmat*(2),
*shmdt*(2),
*shmget*(2),
*sysvipc*(7)

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