Chapter 4 Mailbox Driver

Table of Contents

4.1.1 Creating Mailboxes
4.1.2 Deleting Mailboxes
4.1.3 Mailbox Protection
4.1.4 Mailbox Message Format

4.2 Mailbox Driver Device Information

4.3.1 Read
4.3.2 Write
4.3.3 Write End-of-File Message
4.3.4 Set Attention AST
4.3.5 Wait for Writer/Reader
4.3.6 Set Protection
4.3.7 Get Mailbox Information

4.5 Mailbox Driver Programming Examples

The operating system supports a virtual device, called a mailbox, that is used for communication between processes. Mailboxes provide a controlled, synchronized method for processes to exchange data. Although mailboxes transfer information much like other I/O devices, they are not hardware devices. Rather, mailboxes are a software-implemented way to perform read and write operations between processes.

For additional information about using mailboxes, see HP OpenVMS Programming Concepts and the HP OpenVMS System Services Reference Manual.