“When dealing with real-time systems, the overhead of interprocess communications (IPC) becomes important. The formalized structures that are used in Linux for IPC can carry with them a significant amount of overhead. This can create timing problems for your applications. In this article, Frederick examines two of the best IPC mechanisms available under Linux — FIFOs and shared memory.”

The… article, which appears in the November 1999 issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal (DDJ), discusses the communication mechanisms between Linux and Real-Time Linux (RT-Linux) processes. Topics covered include:

• Setting up the Shared-Memory Pool
  
• Addressing the Shared-Memory Pool in C Programs
  
• Accessing the Shared-Memory Pool from Processes other than RT-Linux
  
• Accessing the Shared-Memory Pool from RT-Linux
  
• Detecting New Writes
  
• Realizing Mutual Exclusion
  
• Queuing Data in Shared Memory Using Ring Buffers

Sample C code is also provided.

Read the Article

 
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