1 .TH 9PSERVE 4
2 .SH NAME
3 9pserve \- announce and multiplex 9P service
4 .SH SYNOPSIS
5 .B 9pserve
6 [
7 .B -v
8 ]
9 .I addr
10 .SH DESCRIPTION
11 On Plan 9, when a user-level file server mounts itself into a name space
12 or posts itself in 
13 .BR /srv ,
14 the Plan 9 kernel multiplexes the potentially many processes 
15 accessing the server into a single 9P conversation.
16 The user-level server need not concern itself with how many
17 processes are accessing it or with cleaning up after a process when it
18 exits unexpectedly.
19 On Unix,
20 .I 9pserve
21 takes the place of the Plan 9 kernel, multiplexing clients onto
22 a single server conversation and cleaning up after clients when
23 they hang up unexpectedly.
24 .PP
25 .I 9pserve
26 announces a 9P service on
27 .I addr
28 and multiplexes any 9P clients connecting to
29 .I addr
30 into a single conversation with a 9P server on
31 .IR 9pserve 's
32 standard input and output.
33 When a client hangs up, 
34 .I 9pserve
35 flushes any outstanding 9P transactions 
36 and clunks any outstanding fids belonging to the client.
37 .PP
38 .I 9pserve
39 is typically not invoked directly; use
40 .IR post9pservice (3)
41 instead.
42 .SH "SEE ALSO
43 .IR intro (4),
44 .IR intro (9p)
45 .SH SOURCE
46 .B \*9/src/cmd/9pserve.c