getpriority(3) (BSD Compatibility Package) getpriority(3)
NAME
getpriority, setpriority - get/set program scheduling priority
SYNOPSIS
cc [ flag... ] file ... -lucb
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/resource.h>
int getpriority(which, who)
int which, who;
int setpriority(which, who, prio)
int which, who, prio;
DESCRIPTION
The scheduling priority of the process, process group, or user, as
indicated by which and who is obtained with getpriority and set with
setpriority The default priority is 0; lower priorities cause more
favorable scheduling.
which is one of PRIOPROCESS, PRIOPGRP, or PRIOUSER, and who is
interpreted relative to which (a process identifier for PRIOPROCESS,
process group identifier for PRIOPGRP, and a user ID for PRIOUSER).
A zero value of who denotes the current process, process group, or
user.
getpriority returns the highest priority (lowest numerical value)
enjoyed by any of the specified processes. setpriority sets the
priorities of all of the specified processes to the value specified
by prio. If prio is less than -20, a value of -20 is used; if it is
greater than 20, a value of 20 is used. Only the privileged user may
lower priorities.
RETURN VALUE
Since getpriority can legitimately return the value -1, it is
necessary to clear the external variable errno prior to the call,
then check it afterward to determine if a -1 is an error or a
legitimate value. The setpriority call returns 0 if there is no
error, or -1 if there is.
ERRORS
getpriority and setpriority may return one of the following errors:
ESRCH No process was located using the which and who values
specified.
EINVAL which was not one of PRIOPROCESS, PRIOPGRP, or PRIOUSER.
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getpriority(3) (BSD Compatibility Package) getpriority(3)
In addition to the errors indicated above, setpriority may fail with
one of the following errors returned:
EPERM A process was located, but one of the following is true:
⊕ Neither its effective nor real user ID matched the
effective user ID of the caller, and neither the
effective nor the real user ID of the process executing
the setpriority was the privileged user.
⊕ The call to getpriority would have changed a process'
priority to a value lower than its current value, and
the effective user ID of the process executing the call
was not that of the privileged user.
SEE ALSO
renice(1M).
nice(1) in the User's Reference Manual.
fork(2) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
NOTES
It is not possible for the process executing setpriority to lower any
other process down to its current priority, without requiring
privileged user privileges.
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