1 files changed, 116 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/man/flow_alloc.3 b/doc/man/flow_alloc.3
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..84dd5f57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/man/flow_alloc.3
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+.\" Ouroboros man pages (C) 2017
+.\" Dimitri Staessens <[email protected]>
+.\" Sander Vrijders <[email protected]>
+
+.TH FLOW_ALLOC 3 2017-04-10 GNU "Ouroboros Programmer's Manual"
+
+.SH NAME
+
+flow_accept, flow_alloc, flow_dealloc \- allocate and free resources
+to support Inter-Process Communication between application process
+instances
+
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+
+.B #include <ouroboros/dev.h>
+
+\fBint flow_accept(qosspec_t * \fIqs\fB,
+const struct timespec * \fItimeo\fB);
+
+int flow_alloc(const char * \fIdst_name\fB, qosspec_t * \fIqs\fB,
+const struct timespec * \fItimeo\fB);
+
+\fBint flow_dealloc(int \fIfd\fB);\fR
+
+Compile and link with \fI-louroboros\fR.
+
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+
+These calls are used to allocate and free system and network resources
+to support Inter-Process Communication (IPC). Such a collection of
+allocated system and network resources is referred to as a flow. A
+flow has a certain Quality of Service (QoS) associated with it.
+
+The \fB flow_accept\fR() function blocks the calling thread waiting
+for an incoming request to allocate a flow. If \fBqosspec_t * \fIqs\fR
+is not NULL, the value of \fIqs\fR will be updated to reflect the
+actual QoS provided by the IPC facility for the accepted flow. Which
+flows this application will accept is configured outside of the
+program. For an explanation on configuring which flows an application
+should accept, see \fBirm\fR(8).
+
+The \fBflow_alloc\fR() function requests to allocate system and/or
+network resources to support Inter-Process Communication between the
+calling application and one or more application process instances
+accepting flows for \fBchar * \fIdst_name\fR, which cannot be NULL.
+The \fBflow_alloc\fR() call can specify a certain minimum \fBqosspec_t
+* \fIqs\fR that has to be guaranteed by the IPC facility allocating
+the resources. This can be NULL if there is no QoS to be guaranteed
+(best effort service). If \fIqs\fR is not NULL, the value of \fIqs\fR
+will be updated to reflect the actual QoS provided by the IPC
+facility.
+
+The \fBflow_accept\fR() and \fBflow_alloc\fR() take a \fBconst struct
+timespec * \fItimeo\fR to specify a timeout. If \fItimeo\fR is NULL,
+the call will block indefinitely or until some error condition occurs.
+
+The \fBflow_dealloc\fR() function will release any resources
+associated with the flow.
+
+A \fBqosspec_t\fR specifies the following QoS characteristics of a
+flow:
+
+TODO: specify a qosspec_t
+
+.SH RETURN VALUE
+
+On success, \fBflow_accept\fR() and \fBflow_alloc\fR() calls return a
+non-negative integer, referred to as a flow descriptor. On failure, a
+negative value indicating the error will be returned.
+
+.SH ERRORS
+
+\fBflow_accept\fR(), \fBflow_alloc\fR() and \fBflow_dealloc\fR() can
+return the following errors:
+
+.B -EINVAL
+An invalid argument was passed.
+
+.B -EIRMD
+Failed to contact an IRMd instance.
+
+\fBflow_accept\fR() and \fBflow_alloc\fR() can also return
+
+.B -EBADF
+No more flow desciptors or port_ids available.
+
+.B -ENOMEM
+Not enough system memory resources available to allocate the flow.
+
+.B -ETIMEDOUT
+Flow allocation timed out.
+
+.SH ATTRIBUTES
+
+For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see \fBattributes\fR(7).
+
+.TS
+box, tab(&);
+LB|LB|LB
+L|L|L.
+Interface & Attribute & Value
+_
+\fBflow_accept\fR() & Thread safety & MT-Safe
+_
+\fBflow_alloc\fR() & Thread safety & MT-Safe
+_
+\fBflow_dealloc\fR() & Thread safety & MT-Safe
+.TE
+
+.SH SEE ALSO
+
+.BR ap_init "(3), " ap_fini "(3), " flow_read "(3), " flow_write (3)
+
+.SH COLOPHON
+This page is part of the Ouroboros project, found at
+https://bitbucket.org/ouroboros-rina/ouroboros