Interprocess Communications in Linux®: The Nooks & Crannies

Introduction

The topic of interprocess communication techniques is broad, challenging and dynamic. All but the most basic operating systems provide methods for processes communication. Early on, UNIX supported a number of rudimentary process communication constructs (such as lock files, signals and pipes). In the early 1980s, facilities such as message queues, semaphores, and shared memory were added to the mix by AT&T with its release of UNIX System V. Somewhat concurrently, the Berkeley Software Distribution added support for Internet protocols (4.3BSD) and the socket interface as a communication construct. By the mid-1990s, threads and multithreaded ...