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Linux errno 11 (EAGAIN) — Resource Temporarily Unavailable

Informationalerrno

Overview

Linux errno 11 (EAGAIN) means a resource is temporarily unavailable, typically with non-blocking I/O or process limits.

Key Details

  • EAGAIN — try again later, resource temporarily busy
  • Same as EWOULDBLOCK on most Linux systems
  • Common with non-blocking sockets and pipes
  • Can also indicate process or thread limit reached

Common Causes

  • Non-blocking I/O operation with no data available
  • System process limit (ulimit -u) reached
  • Insufficient memory for fork/clone
  • Socket buffer full on non-blocking socket

Steps

  1. 1For non-blocking I/O: implement retry with poll/epoll
  2. 2Check process limits: ulimit -a
  3. 3Increase limits in /etc/security/limits.conf
  4. 4Monitor system resources: top, free -h

Tags

linuxerrnoerrno 11 eagaintroubleshootingfix

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linux-errno-12-enomemLinux errno 12 (ENOMEM) — Out of Memory
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linux-errno-13-eaccesLinux errno 13 (EACCES) — Permission Denied
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linux-errno-22-einvalLinux errno 22 (EINVAL) — Invalid Argument
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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — EAGAIN means "try again later". Use poll() or select() to wait efficiently.