io_destroy(2)

💖 io_destroy(2) — bestie's guide to yeeting your async I/O context 💖

okay so this is the io_destroy page, straight out of the Linux System Calls Manual, and we're gonna make it make sense. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

io_destroy — destroy an asynchronous I/O context. yes literally, that's the whole job. it's giving cleanup era. 🧹

📚 LIBRARY 📚

Standard C library (libc, -lc). so like, link it and go, bestie. 🫶

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

#include <linux/aio_abi.h>    /* Definition of aio_context_t */
#include <sys/syscall.h>      /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>

int syscall(SYS_io_destroy, aio_context_t ctx_id);

look at that include list. three headers, zero chill. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Note: you probably want to use the io_destroy(3) wrapper function provided by libaio — check VERSIONS down below, i'm not being dramatic, it's literally in the source. 😭

okay so here's the tea on the io_destroy() system call. what it does, in order, no skipping:

• it attempts to cancel all outstanding asynchronous I/O operations against ctx_id,
• it blocks on the completion of all operations that could not be canceled (yes bestie, it waits, it's not ghosting anyone),
• and then it destroys ctx_id.

that's it. that's the main character arc. 🔥

💀 RETURN VALUE 💀

• On success, io_destroy() returns 0. slay.
• On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. the vibe check failed, so check your errno.

🚨 ERRORS 🚨

• EFAULT — ctx_id was not a valid address. bestie that's not an address, that's ✨nothing✨.
• EINVAL — the AIO context specified by ctx_id is invalid. that context does not pass the vibe check, i'm so sorry. 😭
• ENOSYS — io_destroy() is not implemented on this architecture. it's not that it ghosted you, it literally doesn't exist here. 💀

🎀 VERSIONS 🎀

libaio provides a wrapper function with the same name, but a different prototype and return value. so heads up: same name, different fit. 👑

You probably want to use that wrapper. fr fr, that's what the manual says, i'm just the messenger. 💌

⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

Linux. that's the whole list. iconic of it. 👑

🌸 HISTORY 🌸

Linux 2.5. a certified classic. it's been serving since way back. 🧚

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• io_cancel(2)
• io_getevents(2)
• io_setup(2)
• io_submit(2)
• io_destroy(3)
• aio(7)

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this one came from the Linux man-pages 6.20 collection, dated 2026-04-11, and it's for io_destroy(2) — so next time you're tearing down an AIO context, you'll know exactly what's up. go cancel those operations and slay. 💖✨🦋🎀