getpriority(3) C LIBRARY FUNCTIONS getpriority(3)
NAME
getpriority, setpriority - get/set program scheduling prior-
ity
SYNOPSIS
cc [ flag... ] file ... -lucb
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/resource.h>
int getpriority(which, who)
int which, who;
int setpriority(which, who, prio)
int which, who, prio;
DESCRIPTION
The scheduling priority of the process, process group, or
user, as indicated by which and who is obtained with get-
priority and set with setpriority The default priority is 0;
lower priorities cause more favorable scheduling. which is
one of PRIO_PROCESS, PRIO_PGRP, or PRIO_USER, and who is
interpreted relative to which (a process identifier for
PRIO_PROCESS, process group identifier for PRIO_PGRP, and a
user ID for PRIO_USER). A zero value of who denotes the
current process, process group, or user. getpriority
returns the highest priority (lowest numerical value)
enjoyed by any of the specified processes. setpriority sets
the priorities of all of the specified processes to the
value specified by prio. If prio is less than -20, a value
of -20 is used; if it is greater than 20, a value of 20 is
used. Only the privileged user may lower priorities.
RETURN VALUE
Since getpriority can legitimately return the value -1, it
is necessary to clear the external variable errno prior to
the call, then check it afterward to determine if a -1 is an
error or a legitimate value. The setpriority call returns 0
if there is no error, or -1 if there is.
ERRORS
getpriority and setpriority may return one of the following
errors:
ESRCH No process was located using the which and who
values specified.
EINVAL which was not one of PRIO_PROCESS, PRIO_PGRP, or
PRIO_USER. In addition to the errors indicated
above, setpriority may fail with one of the fol-
lowing errors returned:
EPERM A process was located, but one of the following is
true:
Last change: BSD Compatibility Package 1
getpriority(3) C LIBRARY FUNCTIONS getpriority(3)
⊕ Neither its effective nor real user ID matched
the effective user ID of the caller, and nei-
ther the effective nor the real user ID of the
process executing the setpriority was the
privileged user.
⊕ The call to getpriority would have changed a
process' priority to a value lower than its
current value, and the effective user ID of the
process executing the call was not that of the
privileged user.
SEE ALSO
renice(1M). nice(1) in the User's Reference Manual.
fork(2) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
NOTES
It is not possible for the process executing setpriority to
lower any other process down to its current priority,
without requiring privileged user privileges.
Last change: BSD Compatibility Package 2