The Linux Kernel/Syscalls
Linux kernel system calls as exported by glibc, all on one sheet
Obsolete: ipc, sgetmask, ssetmask, sysfs
Descriptions edit
accept, accept4 - accept a connection on a socket
access, faccessat - check user's permissions for a file
acct - switch process accounting on or off
add_key - add a key to the kernel's key management facility
adjtimex, ntp_adjtime - tune kernel clock
afs_syscall, break, fattach, fdetach, ftime, getmsg, getpmsg, gtty, isastream, lock, madvise1, mpx, prof, profil, putmsg, putpmsg, security, stty, tuxcall, ulimit, vserver - unimplemented system calls
alarm - set an alarm clock for delivery of a signal
alloc_hugepages, free_hugepages - allocate or free huge pages
arch_prctl - set architecture-specific thread state
bdflush - start, flush, or tune buffer-dirty-flush daemon
bind - bind a name to a socket
bpf - perform a command on an extended BPF map or program
brk, sbrk - change data segment size
cacheflush - flush contents of instruction and/or data cache
capget, capset - set/get capabilities of thread(s)
chdir, fchdir - change working directory
chmod, fchmod, fchmodat - change permissions of a file
chown, fchown, lchown, fchownat - change ownership of a file
chroot - change root directory
clock_getres, clock_gettime, clock_settime - clock and time functions
clock_nanosleep - high-resolution sleep with specifiable clock
clone, __clone2 - create a child process
close - close a file descriptor
connect - initiate a connection on a socket
copy_file_range - Copy a range of data from one file to another
create_module - create a loadable module entry
delete_module - unload a kernel module
dup, dup2, dup3 - duplicate a file descriptor
epoll_create, epoll_create1 - open an epoll file descriptor
epoll_ctl - control interface for an epoll file descriptor
epoll_wait, epoll_pwait - wait for an I/O event on an epoll file descriptor
eventfd - create a file descriptor for event notification
execveat - execute program relative to a directory file descriptor
execve - execute program
_exit, _Exit - terminate the calling process
exit_group - exit all threads in a process
fallocate - manipulate file space
fanotify_init - create and initialize fanotify group
fanotify_mark - add, remove, or modify an fanotify mark on a filesystem object
fcntl - manipulate file descriptor
flock - apply or remove an advisory lock on an open file
fork - create a child process
fsync, fdatasync - synchronize a file's in-core state with storage device
futex - fast user-space locking
futimesat - change timestamps of a file relative to a directory file descriptor
getcontext, setcontext - get or set the user context
getcpu - determine CPU and NUMA node on which the calling thread is running
getcwd, getwd, get_current_dir_name - get current working directory
getdents, getdents64 - get directory entries
getdomainname, setdomainname - get/set NIS domain name
getdtablesize - get file descriptor table size
getgid, getegid - get group identity
getgroups, setgroups - get/set list of supplementary group IDs
gethostid, sethostid - get or set the unique identifier of the current host
gethostname, sethostname - get/set hostname
getitimer, setitimer - get or set value of an interval timer
get_kernel_syms - retrieve exported kernel and module symbols
get_mempolicy - retrieve NUMA memory policy for a thread
getpagesize - get memory page size
getpeername - get name of connected peer socket
getpid, getppid - get process identification
getpriority, setpriority - get/set program scheduling priority
getrandom - obtain a series of random bytes
getresuid, getresgid - get real, effective and saved user/group IDs
getrlimit, setrlimit, prlimit - get/set resource limits
get_robust_list, set_robust_list - get/set list of robust futexes
getrusage - get resource usage
getsid - get session ID
getsockname - get socket name
getsockopt, setsockopt - get and set options on sockets
get_thread_area, set_thread_area - set a GDT entry for thread-local storage
gettid - get thread identification
gettimeofday, settimeofday - get / set time
getuid, geteuid - get user identity
getunwind - copy the unwind data to caller's buffer
idle - make process 0 idle
init_module, finit_module - load a kernel module
inotify_add_watch - add a watch to an initialized inotify instance
inotify_init, inotify_init1 - initialize an inotify instance
inotify_rm_watch - remove an existing watch from an inotify instance
intro - introduction to system calls
io_cancel - cancel an outstanding asynchronous I/O operation
ioctl_console - ioctls for console terminal and virtual consoles
ioctl - control device
ioctl_fat - manipulating the FAT filesystem
ioctl_ficlonerange, ioctl_ficlone - share some the data of one file with another file
ioctl_fideduperange - share some the data of one file with another file
ioctl_getfsmap - retrieve the physical layout of the filesystem
ioctl_iflags - ioctl() operations for inode flags
ioctl_list - list of ioctl calls in Linux/i386 kernel
ioctl_ns - ioctl() operations for Linux namespaces
ioctl_tty - ioctls for terminals and serial lines
ioctl_userfaultfd - create a file descriptor for handling page faults in user space
io_destroy - destroy an asynchronous I/O context
io_getevents - read asynchronous I/O events from the completion queue
ioperm - set port input/output permissions
iopl - change I/O privilege level
ioprio_get, ioprio_set - get/set I/O scheduling class and priority
io_setup - create an asynchronous I/O context
io_submit - submit asynchronous I/O blocks for processing
ipc - System V IPC system calls
kcmp - compare two processes to determine if they share a kernel resource
kexec_load, kexec_file_load - load a new kernel for later execution
keyctl - manipulate the kernel's key management facility
killpg - send signal to a process group
kill - send signal to a process
link, linkat - make a new name for a file
listen - listen for connections on a socket
_llseek - reposition read/write file offset
lookup_dcookie - return a directory entry's path
lseek - reposition read/write file offset
madvise - give advice about use of memory
mbind - set memory policy for a memory range
membarrier - issue memory barriers on a set of threads
memfd_create - create an anonymous file
migrate_pages - move all pages in a process to another set of nodes
mincore - determine whether pages are resident in memory
mkdir, mkdirat - create a directory
mknod, mknodat - create a special or ordinary file
mlock, mlock2, munlock, mlockall, munlockall - lock and unlock memory
mmap2 - map files or devices into memory
mmap, munmap - map or unmap files or devices into memory
modify_ldt - get or set a per-process LDT entry
mount - mount filesystem
move_pages - move individual pages of a process to another node
mprotect, pkey_mprotect - set protection on a region of memory
mq_getsetattr - get/set message queue attributes
mq_notify - register for notification when a message is available
mq_open - open a message queue
mq_receive, mq_timedreceive - receive a message from a message queue
mq_send, mq_timedsend - send a message to a message queue
mq_unlink - remove a message queue
mremap - remap a virtual memory address
msgctl - System V message control operations
msgget - get a System V message queue identifier
msgrcv, msgsnd - System V message queue operations
msync - synchronize a file with a memory map
name_to_handle_at, open_by_handle_at - obtain handle for a pathname and open file via a handle
nanosleep - high-resolution sleep
nfsservctl - syscall interface to kernel nfs daemon
nice - change process priority
open, openat, creat - open and possibly create a file
outb, outw, outl, outsb, outsw, outsl, inb, inw, inl, insb, insw, insl, outb_p, outw_p, outl_p, inb_p, inw_p, inl_p - port I/O
pause - wait for signal
pciconfig_read, pciconfig_write, pciconfig_iobase - pci device information handling
perf_event_open - set up performance monitoring
perfmonctl - interface to IA-64 performance monitoring unit
personality - set the process execution domain
pipe, pipe2 - create pipe
pivot_root - change the root filesystem
pkey_alloc, pkey_free - allocate or free a protection key
poll, ppoll - wait for some event on a file descriptor
posix_fadvise - predeclare an access pattern for file data
prctl - operations on a process
pread, pwrite - read from or write to a file descriptor at a given offset
process_vm_readv, process_vm_writev - transfer data between process address spaces
ptrace - process trace
query_module - query the kernel for various bits pertaining to modules
quotactl - manipulate disk quotas
readahead - initiate file readahead into page cache
readdir - read directory entry
readlink, readlinkat - read value of a symbolic link
read - read from a file descriptor
readv, writev, preadv, pwritev, preadv2, pwritev2 - read or write data into multiple buffers
reboot - reboot or enable/disable Ctrl-Alt-Del
recvmmsg - receive multiple messages on a socket
recv, recvfrom, recvmsg - receive a message from a socket
remap_file_pages - create a nonlinear file mapping
rename, renameat, renameat2 - change the name or location of a file
request_key - request a key from the kernel's key management facility
restart_syscall - restart a system call after interruption by a stop signal
rmdir - delete a directory
rt_sigqueueinfo, rt_tgsigqueueinfo - queue a signal and data
s390_pci_mmio_write, s390_pci_mmio_read - transfer data to/from PCI MMIO memory page
s390_runtime_instr - enable/disable s390 CPU run-time instrumentation
s390_sthyi - emulate STHYI instruction
sched_get_priority_max, sched_get_priority_min - get static priority range
sched_rr_get_interval - get the SCHED_RR interval for the named process
sched_setaffinity, sched_getaffinity - set and get a thread's CPU affinity mask
sched_setattr, sched_getattr - set and get scheduling policy and attributes
sched_setparam, sched_getparam - set and get scheduling parameters
sched_setscheduler, sched_getscheduler - set and get scheduling policy/parameters
sched_yield - yield the processor
seccomp - operate on Secure Computing state of the process
select, pselect, FD_CLR, FD_ISSET, FD_SET, FD_ZERO - synchronous I/O multiplexing
semctl - System V semaphore control operations
semget - get a System V semaphore set identifier
semop, semtimedop - System V semaphore operations
sendfile - transfer data between file descriptors
sendmmsg - send multiple messages on a socket
send, sendto, sendmsg - send a message on a socket
seteuid, setegid - set effective user or group ID
setfsgid - set group identity used for filesystem checks
setfsuid - set user identity used for filesystem checks
setgid - set group identity
set_mempolicy - set default NUMA memory policy for a thread and its children
setns - reassociate thread with a namespace
setpgid, getpgid, setpgrp, getpgrp - set/get process group
setresuid, setresgid - set real, effective and saved user or group ID
setreuid, setregid - set real and/or effective user or group ID
setsid - creates a session and sets the process group ID
set_tid_address - set pointer to thread ID
setuid - set user identity
setup - setup devices and filesystems, mount root filesystem
sgetmask, ssetmask - manipulation of signal mask (obsolete)
shmat, shmdt - System V shared memory operations
shmctl - System V shared memory control
shmget - allocates a System V shared memory segment
shutdown - shut down part of a full-duplex connection
sigaction, rt_sigaction - examine and change a signal action
sigaltstack - set and/or get signal stack context
signal - ANSI C signal handling
signalfd - create a file descriptor for accepting signals
sigpending, rt_sigpending - examine pending signals
sigprocmask, rt_sigprocmask - examine and change blocked signals
sigqueue - queue a signal and data to a process
sigreturn, rt_sigreturn - return from signal handler and cleanup stack frame
sigsuspend, rt_sigsuspend - wait for a signal
sigwaitinfo, sigtimedwait, rt_sigtimedwait - synchronously wait for queued signals
socketcall - socket system calls
socket - create an endpoint for communication
socketpair - create a pair of connected sockets
splice - splice data to/from a pipe
spu_create - create a new spu context
spu_run - execute an SPU context
statfs, fstatfs - get filesystem statistics
stat, fstat, lstat, fstatat - get file status
statvfs, fstatvfs - get filesystem statistics
statx - get file status (extended)
stime - set time
subpage_prot - define a subpage protection for an address range
swapon, swapoff - start/stop swapping to file/device
symlink, symlinkat - make a new name for a file
sync_file_range - sync a file segment with disk
sync, syncfs - commit filesystem caches to disk
syscall - indirect system call
_syscall - invoking a system call without library support (OBSOLETE)
syscalls - Linux system calls
sysctl - read/write system parameters
sysfs - get filesystem type information
sysinfo - return system information
syslog, klogctl - read and/or clear kernel message ring buffer; set console_loglevel
tee - duplicating pipe content
time - get time in seconds
timer_create - create a POSIX per-process timer
timer_delete - delete a POSIX per-process timer
timerfd_create, timerfd_settime, timerfd_gettime - timers that notify via file descriptors
timer_getoverrun - get overrun count for a POSIX per-process timer
timer_settime, timer_gettime - arm/disarm and fetch state of POSIX per-process timer
times - get process times
tkill, tgkill - send a signal to a thread
truncate, ftruncate - truncate a file to a specified length
umask - set file mode creation mask
umount, umount2 - unmount filesystem
uname - get name and information about current kernel
unlink, unlinkat - delete a name and possibly the file it refers to
unshare - disassociate parts of the process execution context
uselib - load shared library
userfaultfd - create a file descriptor for handling page faults in user space
ustat - get filesystem statistics
utimensat, futimens - change file timestamps with nanosecond precision
utime, utimes - change file last access and modification times
vfork - create a child process and block parent
vhangup - virtually hangup the current terminal
vm86old, vm86 - enter virtual 8086 mode
vmsplice - splice user pages into a pipe
wait3, wait4 - wait for process to change state, BSD style
wait, waitpid, waitid - wait for process to change state
write - write to a file descriptor