pthread_mutexattr_setpshared(3THR) sets the scope of the mutex variable.
The scope of a mutex variable can be either process private (intraprocess) or system wide (interprocess). If the mutex is created with the pshared attribute set to the PTHREAD_PROCESS_SHARED state, and it exists in shared memory, it can be shared among threads from more than one process. This is equivalent to the USYNC_PROCESS flag in mutex_init() in the original Solaris threads.
Prototype: int pthread_mutexattr_setpshared(pthread_mutexattr_t *mattr, int pshared);
#include <pthread.h> pthread_mutexattr_t mattr; int ret; ret = pthread_mutexattr_init(&mattr); /* * resetting to its default value: private */ ret = pthread_mutexattr_setpshared(&mattr, PTHREAD_PROCESS_PRIVATE);
If the mutex pshared attribute is set to PTHREAD_PROCESS_PRIVATE, only those threads created by the same process can operate on the mutex.
pthread_mutexattr_setpshared() returns zero after completing successfully. Any other return value indicates that an error occurred. If the following condition occurs, the function fails and returns the corresponding value.