.TH SRV 3 
.SH NAME
srv \- server registry
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B bind #s /srv

.BI #s/ service1
.BI #s/ service2
 ...
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I srv
device provides a one-level directory holding
already-open channels to services.
In effect,
.I srv
is a bulletin board on which processes may post open file descriptors
to make them available to other processes.
.PP
To install a channel, create
a new file such as
.B /srv/myserv
and then write a text string (suitable for
.IR strtoul ;
see
.IR atof (2))
giving the file descriptor number of an open file.
Any process may then open
.B /srv/myserv
to acquire another reference to the open file that was registered.
.PP
An entry in
.I srv
holds a reference to the associated file even if no process has the
file open.  Removing the file from
.B /srv
releases that reference.
.PP
It is an error to write more than one number into a server file,
or to create a file with a name that is already being used.
.SH EXAMPLE
To drop one end of a pipe into
.BR /srv ,
that is, to create a named pipe:
.IP
.EX
int fd, p[2];
char buf[32];

pipe(p);
fd = create("/srv/namedpipe", OWRITE, 0666);
fprint(fd, "%d", p[0]);
close(fd);
close(p[0]);
fprint(p[1], "hello");
.EE
.PP
At this point, any process may open and read
.B /srv/namedpipe
to receive the
.B hello
string.  Data written to
.B /srv/namedpipe
can be received by executing
.IP
.EX
read(p[1], buf, sizeof buf);
.EE
.PP
in the above process.
.SH SOURCE
.B /sys/src/9/port/devsrv.c