fsync, fdatasync - synchronize a file's in-core state with storage device
#include <unistd.h>
int fsync(int fd);
int fdatasync(int fd);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
feature_test_macros(7)):
fsync():
Glibc 2.16 and later:
No feature test macros need be defined
Glibc up to and including 2.15:
_BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE
|| /* since glibc 2.8: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
fdatasync():
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 199309L ||
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
fsync() transfers ("flushes") all modified in-core data of
(i.e., modified buffer cache pages for) the file referred to by the file
descriptor
fd to the disk device (or other permanent storage device) so
that all changed information can be retrieved even if the system crashes or is
rebooted. This includes writing through or flushing a disk cache if present.
The call blocks until the device reports that the transfer has completed.
As well as flushing the file data,
fsync() also flushes the metadata
information associated with the file (see
inode(7)).
Calling
fsync() does not necessarily ensure that the entry in the
directory containing the file has also reached disk. For that an explicit
fsync() on a file descriptor for the directory is also needed.
fdatasync() is similar to
fsync(), but does not flush modified
metadata unless that metadata is needed in order to allow a subsequent data
retrieval to be correctly handled. For example, changes to
st_atime or
st_mtime (respectively, time of last access and time of last
modification; see
inode(7)) do not require flushing because they are
not necessary for a subsequent data read to be handled correctly. On the other
hand, a change to the file size (
st_size, as made by say
ftruncate(2)), would require a metadata flush.
The aim of
fdatasync() is to reduce disk activity for applications that
do not require all metadata to be synchronized with the disk.
On success, these system calls return zero. On error, -1 is returned, and
errno is set appropriately.
- EBADF
- fd is not a valid open file descriptor.
- EIO
- An error occurred during synchronization. This error may relate to data
written to some other file descriptor on the same file. Since Linux 4.13,
errors from write-back will be reported to all file descriptors that might
have written the data which triggered the error. Some filesystems (e.g.,
NFS) keep close track of which data came through which file descriptor,
and give more precise reporting. Other filesystems (e.g., most local
filesystems) will report errors to all file descriptors that were open on
the file when the error was recorded.
- ENOSPC
- Disk space was exhausted while synchronizing.
- EROFS, EINVAL
- fd is bound to a special file (e.g., a pipe, FIFO, or socket) which
does not support synchronization.
- ENOSPC, EDQUOT
- fd is bound to a file on NFS or another filesystem which does not
allocate space at the time of a write(2) system call, and some
previous write failed due to insufficient storage space.
POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, 4.3BSD.
On POSIX systems on which
fdatasync() is available,
_POSIX_SYNCHRONIZED_IO is defined in
<unistd.h> to a value
greater than 0. (See also
sysconf(3).)
On some UNIX systems (but not Linux),
fd must be a
writable file
descriptor.
In Linux 2.2 and earlier,
fdatasync() is equivalent to
fsync(),
and so has no performance advantage.
The
fsync() implementations in older kernels and lesser used filesystems
do not know how to flush disk caches. In these cases disk caches need to be
disabled using
hdparm(8) or
sdparm(8) to guarantee safe
operation.
sync(1),
bdflush(2),
open(2),
posix_fadvise(2),
pwritev(2),
sync(2),
sync_file_range(2),
fflush(3),
fileno(3),
hdparm(8),
mount(8)