errno 11 (EAGAIN): meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: a Solaris operation could not proceed immediately and should be retried after the resource becomes available.

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ERROR_BAD_FORMAT	Win32 error	Windows
KERN_ALREADY_IN_SET	Kern return	Mac
ippStsResFloor	Intel Ipp Status	Any
EAGAIN	errno	Linux
EDEADLK	errno	Mac
EAGAIN	errno	Windows
NO_EXCEPTION_HANDLING_SUPPORT	BugCheck Code	Windows

EAGAIN

Temporary resource pressure or nonblocking i/o

On Solaris, EAGAIN is errno value 11. The base message is Resource temporarily unavailable, but the useful diagnostic context is narrower than the short message: a Solaris operation could not proceed immediately and should be retried after the resource becomes available.

Use the Solaris-specific errno table first, then compare with POSIX only for portable behavior. Some Solaris values share names with other UNIX systems but have different numbers or more specific historical meanings.

What to check

Check whether the call is a nonblocking socket, STREAMS, file-locking, process-creation, or memory-allocation path.
For event loops, wait for the relevant readiness event instead of retrying in a tight loop.
For process or memory pressure, collect resource-control, swap, LWP, and process-table evidence before changing application logic.

References

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