shallow thoughts on SHM

[Hal Murray]

> I do not have access to a copy of POSIX and the SuSv2 seems to have SHM
> support.

You can probably get what you need from man pages.  Try man shm_overview

       System  V  shared memory (shmget(2), shmop(2), etc.) is an older shared
       memory API.   POSIX  shared  memory  provides  a  simpler,  and  better
       designed  interface;  on the other hand POSIX shared memory is somewhat
       less widely available (especially  on  older  systems)  than  System  V
       shared memory.

I'd be happy to switch to POSIX SHM, but the current code works so I don't see 
any point in doing that until we decide what else to do in this area.

Linux, NetBSD, and FreeBSD all support POSIX SHM.  How many other OSes to we 
currently support?  Can somebody see if they have shm_open?

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> Up to six bits for the version another

You are worrying about the weeds when we haven't even found the forest yet.

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> Changing it to use say a UNIX socket would allow for simpler packet
> design.

That approach is worth investigating, but it adds a layer of complexity if you 
want to support more than a single reader.

Why do you think it is simpler to design a packet than a memory layout.  When 
I want to send something like this over a network connection, I build it in 
memory, then call send() or one of its friends.

 


-- 
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.