\input texinfo
@setfilename sem.info

@documentencoding utf-8

@settitle sem - semaphore for executing shell command lines in parallel

@node Top
@top sem

@chapter NAME
@anchor{NAME}

sem - semaphore for executing shell command lines in parallel

@chapter SYNOPSIS
@anchor{SYNOPSIS}

@strong{sem} [--fg] [--id <id>] [--timeout <secs>] [-j <num>] [--wait] command

@chapter DESCRIPTION
@anchor{DESCRIPTION}

GNU @strong{sem} is an alias for GNU @strong{parallel --semaphore}.

It works as a tool for executing shell commands in parallel. GNU
@strong{sem} acts as a counting semaphore. When GNU @strong{sem} is called with
command it will start the command in the background. When @emph{num}
number of commands are running in the background, GNU @strong{sem} will wait
for one of these to complete before starting another command.

Before looking at the options you may want to check out the examples
after the list of options. That will give you an idea of what GNU
@strong{sem} is capable of.

@chapter OPTIONS
@anchor{OPTIONS}

@table @asis
@item @emph{command}
@anchor{@emph{command}}

Command to execute. The command may be followed by arguments for the command.

@item @strong{--bg}
@anchor{@strong{--bg}}

Run command in background thus GNU @strong{parallel} will not wait for
completion of the command before exiting. This is the default.

See also: @strong{--fg}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{N}
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{N}}

Run up to N commands in parallel. Default is 1 thus acting like a
mutex.

@item @strong{--jobs} @emph{N}
@anchor{@strong{--jobs} @emph{N}}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{N}
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{N} 1}

@item @strong{--max-procs} @emph{N}
@anchor{@strong{--max-procs} @emph{N}}

@item @strong{-P} @emph{N}
@anchor{@strong{-P} @emph{N}}

Run up to N commands in parallel. Default is 1 thus acting like a
mutex.

@item @strong{--jobs} @emph{+N}
@anchor{@strong{--jobs} @emph{+N}}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{+N}
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{+N}}

@item @strong{--max-procs} @emph{+N}
@anchor{@strong{--max-procs} @emph{+N}}

@item @strong{-P} @emph{+N}
@anchor{@strong{-P} @emph{+N}}

Add N to the number of CPU cores.  Run up to this many jobs in
parallel. For compute intensive jobs @strong{-j} +0 is useful as it will run
number-of-cpu-cores jobs simultaneously.

@item @strong{--jobs} @emph{-N}
@anchor{@strong{--jobs} @emph{-N}}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{-N}
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{-N}}

@item @strong{--max-procs} @emph{-N}
@anchor{@strong{--max-procs} @emph{-N}}

@item @strong{-P} @emph{-N}
@anchor{@strong{-P} @emph{-N}}

Subtract N from the number of CPU cores.  Run up to this many jobs in
parallel.  If the evaluated number is less than 1 then 1 will be used.
See also @strong{--use-cpus-instead-of-cores}.

@item @strong{--jobs} @emph{N}%
@anchor{@strong{--jobs} @emph{N}%}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{N}%
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{N}%}

@item @strong{--max-procs} @emph{N}%
@anchor{@strong{--max-procs} @emph{N}%}

@item @strong{-P} @emph{N}%
@anchor{@strong{-P} @emph{N}%}

Multiply N% with the number of CPU cores.  Run up to this many jobs in
parallel.  If the evaluated number is less than 1 then 1 will be used.
See also @strong{--use-cpus-instead-of-cores}.

@item @strong{--jobs} @emph{procfile}
@anchor{@strong{--jobs} @emph{procfile}}

@item @strong{-j} @emph{procfile}
@anchor{@strong{-j} @emph{procfile}}

@item @strong{--max-procs} @emph{procfile}
@anchor{@strong{--max-procs} @emph{procfile}}

@item @strong{-P} @emph{procfile}
@anchor{@strong{-P} @emph{procfile}}

Read parameter from file. Use the content of @emph{procfile} as parameter
for @emph{-j}. E.g. @emph{procfile} could contain the string 100% or +2 or
10.

@item @strong{--semaphorename} @emph{name}
@anchor{@strong{--semaphorename} @emph{name}}

@item @strong{--id} @emph{name}
@anchor{@strong{--id} @emph{name}}

Use @strong{name} as the name of the semaphore. Default is the name of the
controlling tty (output from @strong{tty}).

The default normally works as expected when used interactively, but
when used in a script @emph{name} should be set. @emph{$$} or @emph{my_task_name}
are often a good value.

The semaphore is stored in ~/.parallel/semaphores/

@item @strong{--fg}
@anchor{@strong{--fg}}

Do not put command in background.

@item @strong{--timeout} @emph{secs} (not implemented)
@anchor{@strong{--timeout} @emph{secs} (not implemented)}

@item @strong{-t} @emph{secs} (not implemented)
@anchor{@strong{-t} @emph{secs} (not implemented)}

If the semaphore is not released within @emph{secs} seconds, take it anyway.

@item @strong{--wait}
@anchor{@strong{--wait}}

@item @strong{-w}
@anchor{@strong{-w}}

Wait for all commands to complete.

@end table

@chapter EXAMPLE: Gzipping *.log
@anchor{EXAMPLE: Gzipping *.log}

Run one gzip process per CPU core. Block until a CPU core becomes
available.

@verbatim
  for i in *.log ; do
    echo $i
    sem -j+0 gzip $i ";" echo done
  done
  sem --wait
@end verbatim

@chapter EXAMPLE: Protecting pod2html from itself
@anchor{EXAMPLE: Protecting pod2html from itself}

pod2html creates two files: pod2htmd.tmp and pod2htmi.tmp which it
does not clean up. It uses these two files for a short time. But if
you run multiple pod2html in parallel (e.g. in a Makefile with make
-j) you need to protect pod2html from running twice at the same
time. @strong{sem} running as a mutex will do just that:

@verbatim
  sem --fg --id pod2html pod2html foo.pod > foo.html
  sem --fg --id pod2html rm -f pod2htmd.tmp pod2htmi.tmp
@end verbatim

@chapter BUGS
@anchor{BUGS}

None known.

@chapter REPORTING BUGS
@anchor{REPORTING BUGS}

Report bugs to <bug-parallel@@gnu.org>.

@chapter AUTHOR
@anchor{AUTHOR}

Copyright (C) 2010,2011,2012 Ole Tange, http://ole.tange.dk and Free
Software Foundation, Inc.

@chapter LICENSE
@anchor{LICENSE}

Copyright (C) 2010,2011,2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
at your option any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

@section Documentation license I
@anchor{Documentation license I}

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this documentation
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the file fdl.txt.

@section Documentation license II
@anchor{Documentation license II}

You are free:

@table @asis
@item @strong{to Share}
@anchor{@strong{to Share}}

to copy, distribute and transmit the work

@item @strong{to Remix}
@anchor{@strong{to Remix}}

to adapt the work

@end table

Under the following conditions:

@table @asis
@item @strong{Attribution}
@anchor{@strong{Attribution}}

You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or
licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or
your use of the work).

@item @strong{Share Alike}
@anchor{@strong{Share Alike}}

If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute
the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible
license.

@end table

With the understanding that:

@table @asis
@item @strong{Waiver}
@anchor{@strong{Waiver}}

Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from
the copyright holder.

@item @strong{Public Domain}
@anchor{@strong{Public Domain}}

Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under
applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.

@item @strong{Other Rights}
@anchor{@strong{Other Rights}}

In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:

@itemize
@item Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable
copyright exceptions and limitations;

@item The author's moral rights;

@item Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in
how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.

@end itemize

@end table

@table @asis
@item @strong{Notice}
@anchor{@strong{Notice}}

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the
license terms of this work.

@end table

A copy of the full license is included in the file as cc-by-sa.txt.

@chapter DEPENDENCIES
@anchor{DEPENDENCIES}

GNU @strong{sem} uses Perl, and the Perl modules Getopt::Long,
Symbol, Fcntl.

@chapter SEE ALSO
@anchor{SEE ALSO}

@strong{parallel}(1)

@bye
