---
name: "nbd_aio_in_flight"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libnbd"
version: "1.24.4-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nbd_aio_in_flight"
---

# nbd\_aio\_in\_flight(3)

check how many aio commands are still in flight

## NAME

nbd\_aio\_in\_flight - check how many aio commands are still in flight

## SYNOPSIS

```
 #include <libnbd.h>
 int nbd_aio_in_flight (
       struct nbd_handle *h
     );
```

## DESCRIPTION

Return the number of in-flight aio commands that are still awaiting a response from the server before they can be retired.  If this returns a non-zero value when requesting a disconnect from the server (see [**nbd\_aio\_disconnect**(3)](/nbd_aio_disconnect/3.md) and [**nbd\_shutdown**(3)](/nbd_shutdown/3.md)), libnbd does not try to wait for those commands to complete gracefully; if the server strands commands while shutting down, [**nbd\_aio\_command\_completed**(3)](/nbd_aio_command_completed/3.md) will report those commands as failed with a status of `"ENOTCONN"`.

## RETURN VALUE

This call returns an integer ≥ `0`.

## ERRORS

On error `-1` is returned.

Refer to "ERROR HANDLING" in [**libnbd**(3)](/libnbd/3.md) for how to get further details of the error.

The following parameters must not be NULL: `"h"`. For more information see "Non-NULL parameters" in [**libnbd**(3)](/libnbd/3.md).

## HANDLE STATE

nbd\_aio\_in\_flight can be called when the handle is in the following states:

```
 ┌─────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
 │ Handle created, before connecting   │ ❌ error                │
 │ Connecting                          │ ❌ error                │
 │ Connecting & handshaking (opt_mode) │ ❌ error                │
 │ Connected to the server             │ ✅ allowed              │
 │ Connection shut down                │ ✅ allowed              │
 │ Handle dead                         │ ✅ allowed              │
 └─────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
```

## VERSION

This function first appeared in libnbd 1.0.

If you need to test if this function is available at compile time check if the following macro is defined:

```
 #define LIBNBD_HAVE_NBD_AIO_IN_FLIGHT 1
```

## EXAMPLE

This example is also available as *examples/aio-connect-read.c* in the libnbd source code.

```
 /* This example shows how to use the AIO (asynchronous) low
  * level API to connect to a server and read the disk.
  *
  * Here are a few ways to try this example:
  *
  * nbdkit -U - linuxdisk . \
  *   --run './aio-connect-read $unixsocket'
  *
  * nbdkit -U - floppy . \
  *   --run './aio-connect-read $unixsocket'
  *
  * nbdkit -U - pattern size=1M \
  *   --run './aio-connect-read $unixsocket'
  */
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <libnbd.h>
 #define NR_SECTORS 32
 #define SECTOR_SIZE 512
 struct data {
   uint64_t offset;
   char sector[SECTOR_SIZE];
 };
 static int
 hexdump (void *user_data, int *error)
 {
   struct data *data = user_data;
   FILE *pp;
   if (*error) {
     errno = *error;
     perror ("failed to read");
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   printf ("sector at offset 0x%" PRIx64 ":\n",
           data->offset);
   pp = popen ("hexdump -C", "w");
   if (pp == NULL) {
     perror ("popen: hexdump");
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   fwrite (data->sector, SECTOR_SIZE, 1, pp);
   pclose (pp);
   printf ("\n");
   /* Returning 1 from the callback automatically retires
    * the command.
    */
   return 1;
 }
 static struct data data[NR_SECTORS];
 int
 main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {
   struct nbd_handle *nbd;
   size_t i;
   if (argc != 2) {
     fprintf (stderr, "%s socket\n", argv[0]);
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   /* Create the libnbd handle. */
   nbd = nbd_create ();
   if (nbd == NULL) {
     fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", nbd_get_error ());
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   /* Connect to the NBD server over a Unix domain socket.
    * This only starts the connection.
    */
   if (nbd_aio_connect_unix (nbd, argv[1]) == -1) {
     fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", nbd_get_error ());
     exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   /* Wait for the connection to complete.  The use of
    * nbd_poll here is only as an example.  You could also
    * integrate this with poll(2), glib or another main
    * loop.  Read libnbd(3) and the source file lib/poll.c.
    */
   while (!nbd_aio_is_ready (nbd)) {
     if (nbd_poll (nbd, -1) == -1) {
       fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", nbd_get_error ());
       exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
   }
   assert (nbd_get_size (nbd) >= NR_SECTORS * SECTOR_SIZE);
   /* Issue read commands for the first NR sectors. */
   for (i = 0; i < NR_SECTORS; ++i) {
     data[i].offset = i * SECTOR_SIZE;
     /* The callback (hexdump) is called when the command
      * completes.  The buffer must continue to exist while
      * the command is running.
      */
     if (nbd_aio_pread (nbd, data[i].sector, SECTOR_SIZE,
                        data[i].offset,
                        (nbd_completion_callback) {
                          .callback = hexdump,
                          .user_data = &data[i],
                        }, 0) == -1) {
       fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", nbd_get_error ());
       exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
   }
   /* Run the main loop until all the commands have
    * completed and retired.  Again the use of nbd_poll
    * here is only as an example.
    */
   while (nbd_aio_in_flight (nbd) > 0) {
     if (nbd_poll (nbd, -1) == -1) {
       fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", nbd_get_error ());
       exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
   }
   /* Close the libnbd handle. */
   nbd_close (nbd);
   exit (EXIT_SUCCESS);
 }
```

## SEE ALSO

[**nbd\_aio\_command\_completed**(3)](/nbd_aio_command_completed/3.md), [**nbd\_aio\_disconnect**(3)](/nbd_aio_disconnect/3.md), [**nbd\_create**(3)](/nbd_create/3.md), [**nbd\_shutdown**(3)](/nbd_shutdown/3.md), [**libnbd**(3)](/libnbd/3.md).

## AUTHORS

Eric Blake

Richard W.M. Jones

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright Red Hat

## LICENSE

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library 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 Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
