IPCMK(1) User Commands IPCMK(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

ipcmk - make various IPC resources

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**ipcmk** \[options]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**ipcmk** allows you to create POSIX and System V inter-process communication (IPC) objects: shared memory segments, message queues, and semaphore (arrays for System V).

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

Resources can be specified with these options:

**-M**, **--shmem** *size*

Create a shared memory segment of *size* bytes. The *size* argument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024\*1024), and so on for GiB, etc. (the "iB" is optional, e.g., "K" has the same meaning as "KiB") or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000\*1000), and so on for GB, etc.

**-m**, **--posix-shmem** *size*

Create a POSIX shared memory segment of *size* bytes. The *size* argument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024\*1024), and so on for GiB, etc. (the "iB" is optional, e.g., "K" has the same meaning as "KiB") or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000\*1000), and so on for GB, etc.

**-Q**, **--queue**

Create a message queue.

**-q**, **--posix-mqueue**

Create a POSIX message queue.

**-S**, **--semaphore** *number*

Create a semaphore array with *number* of elements.

**-s**, **--posix-semaphore**

Create a POSIX named semaphore.

**-n**, **--name** *name*

Name of the POSIX IPC object. This option is mandatory for POSIX IPC objects.

Other options are:

**-p**, **--mode** *mode*

Access permissions for the resource. Default is 0644.

**-h**, **--help**

Display help text and exit.

**-V**, **--version**

Display version and exit.

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

*Hayden A. James* <hayden.james@gmail.com>, *Prasanna Paithankar* <paithankarprasanna@gmail.com>

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**ipcrm**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/ipcrm.1), [**ipcs**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/ipcs.1), [**lsipc**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/lsipc.1), [**sysvipc**(7)](/man/os/util-linux/sysvipc.7)

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

For bug reports, use the *issue tracker* <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

The **ipcmk** command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from *Linux Kernel Archive* <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.

2026-10-30 util-linux 2.42.4

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Document: ipcmk(1) from util-linux 2.42.4-r2 (Chainguard OS)