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classification
Title: SharedMemory documentation: System V vs Posix
Type: enhancement Stage:
Components: Documentation Versions: Python 3.11, Python 3.10, Python 3.9
process
Status: open Resolution:
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: docs@python Nosy List: davin, docs@python, jkrupp, pitrou, terry.reedy
Priority: normal Keywords:

Created on 2021-11-05 13:46 by jkrupp, last changed 2022-04-11 14:59 by admin.

Messages (2)
msg405797 - (view) Author: (jkrupp) Date: 2021-11-05 13:46
Hi,

the documentation for the shared_memory module states that "shared memory refers to “System V style” shared memory". However, I believe it might be clearer to talk about "POSIX style shared memory" here instead.

Primed by the "System V style"-comment, I had expected that shared memory blocks could be identified through a numeric ID (as used by the system V shared memory APIs `shmget`, `shmat`, ...). After looking at the implementation it became clear though, that the newer POSIX-API (`shm_open`, `shm_unlink`, ...) is used, which explains why shared memory blocks have a *name* instead.

Technically, the documentation only uses "System V style" to distinguish it from "distributed shared memory", and further states that "[it] is not necessarily implemented explicitly as such". Yet, this distinction is particularly relevant if memory is to be shared with other (non-python!) processes (although placement of shared_memory in the multiprocessing package might indicate that that is not one of its expected use-cases...)
msg405843 - (view) Author: Terry J. Reedy (terry.reedy) * (Python committer) Date: 2021-11-06 02:30
'System V' is in the first line of the second paragraph of
https://docs.python.org/3/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.html

Davin, git blame says you wrote this in Feb 2019.
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:59:52adminsetgithub: 89891
2021-11-06 02:30:17terry.reedysetnosy: + terry.reedy, pitrou, davin

messages: + msg405843
versions: - Python 3.8
2021-11-05 13:46:16jkruppcreate