The pvm_shmd will attempt to create upto MAXSEG shared memory
segments of upto MAXPAGES memory pages in size. The size of each memory
page is architecture dependent(see getpagesize(3C)).
The segments are then numbered 0..N-1 where N is the number of segments created.
The first segement (0) has the shared memory control structure placed in its
head. This structure allows alien processes to located the other shared memory
segments and any required controlling information.
The message passing layer, allocates memory from these segments asynchronously
without any interaction with the pvm_shmd using semaphores to protect
data during updates to any associated structures.
For each segment there is an associated page map of which processes have
currently locked a page. Each page map for a segment has a separate semaphore
protecting it. The semaphores are accessed with the SEM_UNDO flag set so that
if a process holding a semaphore should die, the OS (should) reset the
semaphore automatically, thus allowing any waiting/blocked processes to
continue.
The pvm_shmd only
maintains the segments and their allocation page map(s).
Thus if a process allocated pages in a segment and then exits, it is the
pvm_shmd that detects this and then frees the allocated pages.
The pvm_shmd can have its status checked at any time by using the
pvm_shmd_stat process to kick it into reporting onto either stdio or the
pvm log file (pvml.uid) its internal state.
The shared memory and all associated processes can be cleared by sending the
pvm_shmd a HUP signal.
Sending the pvm_shmd a TERM signal will just cause it to clear any shared
resources and then exit.
The pvm_shmd cannot catch the KILL signal.
If the pvm_shmd is killed without clearing all of its shared resources
these can be cleared by calling ipcfree which resides in the pvm3/lib
directory.