---
name: "sd_event_set_exit_on_idle"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "systemd-libs"
version: "262.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sd_event_set_exit_on_idle"
---

# sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle(3)

Enable event loop exit-on-idle support

## NAME

sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle, sd\_event\_get\_exit\_on\_idle - Enable event loop exit-on-idle support

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <systemd/sd-event.h>
```

**int sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle(sd\_event \****event***, int b);**

**int sd\_event\_get\_exit\_on\_idle(sd\_event \****event***);**

## DESCRIPTION

**sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle()** may be used to enable or disable the exit-on-idle support in the event loop object specified in the *event* parameter. If enabled, the event loop will exit with a zero exit code there are no more enabled (**SD\_EVENT\_ON**, **SD\_EVENT\_ONESHOT**), non-exit, non-post event sources.

**sd\_event\_get\_exit\_on\_idle()** may be used to determine whether exit-on-idle support was previously requested by a call to **sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle()** with a true *b* parameter and successfully enabled.

## RETURN VALUE

On success, **sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle()** and **sd\_event\_get\_exit\_on\_idle()** return a non-zero positive integer if the exit-on-idle support was successfully enabled. They return zero if the exit-on-idle support was explicitly disabled with a false *b* parameter. On failure, they return a negative errno-style error code.

### Errors

Returned errors may indicate the following problems:

**-ECHILD**

The event loop has been created in a different process, library or module instance.

**-EINVAL**

The passed event loop object was invalid.

## NOTES

Functions described here are available as a shared library, which can be compiled against and linked to with the **libsystemd** [**pkg-config**(1)](/pkg-config/1.md) file.

All functions listed here are thread-agnostic and only a single thread may operate on a given object at any given time. Different threads may access the same object at different times. Multiple independent objects may be used from different threads in parallel.

The code described here uses [**getenv**(3)](/getenv/3.md), which is declared to be not multi-thread-safe. This means that the code calling the functions described here must not call [**setenv**(3)](/setenv/3.md) from a parallel thread. It is recommended to only do calls to **setenv()** from an early phase of the program when no other threads have been started.

## HISTORY

**sd\_event\_set\_exit\_on\_idle()** and **sd\_event\_get\_exit\_on\_idle()** were added in version 259.

## SEE ALSO

[**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md), [**sd-event**(3)](/sd-event/3.md), [**sd\_event\_new**(3)](/sd_event_new/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_io**(3)](/sd_event_add_io/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_time**(3)](/sd_event_add_time/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_signal**(3)](/sd_event_add_signal/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_child**(3)](/sd_event_add_child/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_inotify**(3)](/sd_event_add_inotify/3.md), [**sd\_event\_add\_defer**(3)](/sd_event_add_defer/3.md), [**systemd.service**(5)](/systemd.service/5.md)