Asynchronous I/O Operations

#include <aio.h>

int aio_read(struct aiocb *aiocbp);

int aio_write(struct aiocb *aiocbp);

int aio_error(const struct aiocb *aiocbp);

ssize_t aio_return(struct aiocb *aiocbp);

int aio_suspend(struct aiocb *list[], int nent,
    const struct timespec *timeout);

int aio_waitn(struct aiocb *list[], uint_t nent, uint_t *nwait,
    const struct timespec *timeout);

int aio_cancel(int fildes, struct aiocb *aiocbp);

aio_read(3RT) and aio_write(3RT) are similar in concept to pread(2) and pwrite(2), except that the parameters of the I/O operation are stored in an asynchronous I/O control block (aiocbp) that is passed to aio_read() or aio_write():

    aiocbp->aio_fildes;    /* file descriptor */
    aiocbp->aio_buf;       /* buffer */
    aiocbp->aio_nbytes;    /* I/O request size */
    aiocbp->aio_offset;    /* file offset */

In addition, if desired, an asynchronous notification type (most commonly a queued signal) can be specified in the 'struct sigevent' member:

    aiocbp->aio_sigevent;  /* notification type */

A call to aio_read() or aio_write() results in the initiation or queueing of an I/O operation. The call returns without blocking.

The aiocbp value may be used as an argument to aio_error(3RT) and aio_return(3RT) in order to determine the error status and return status of the asynchronous operation while it is proceeding.