3 files changed, 42 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/man2/fcntl.2 b/man2/fcntl.2
index 6764238415..6e6e26f66a 100644
--- a/man2/fcntl.2
+++ b/man2/fcntl.2
@@ -669,6 +669,30 @@ and
 Mandatory locking is not specified by POSIX.
 Some other systems also support mandatory locking,
 although the details of how to enable it vary across systems.
+.SS Lost locks
+When an advisory lock is obtained on a networked filesystem such as
+NFS it is possible that the lock might get lost.
+This may happen due to administrative action on the server, or due to a
+network partition which lasts long enough for the server to assume
+that the client is no longer functioning.
+.PP
+When the filesystem determines that a lock has been lost, future
+.BR read (2)
+or
+.BR write (2)
+requests may fail with the error
+.BR EIO .
+This error will persist until the lock is removed or the file
+descriptor is closed.
+Since Linux 3.12,
+.\" commit ef1820f9be27b6ad158f433ab38002ab8131db4d
+this happens at least for NFSv4 including all minor versions.
+.PP
+Some versions of Unix send a signal
+.RB ( SIGLOST )
+in this circumstance.
+Linux does not define this signal, and does not provide any
+asynchronous notification of lost locks.
 .SS Managing signals
 .BR F_GETOWN ,
 .BR F_SETOWN ,
diff --git a/man2/read.2 b/man2/read.2
index f2e1379865..0fea86e523 100644
--- a/man2/read.2
+++ b/man2/read.2
@@ -163,6 +163,15 @@ or its process group
 is orphaned.
 It may also occur when there is a low-level I/O error
 while reading from a disk or tape.
+A further possible cause of
+.B EIO
+on networked filesystems is when an advisory lock had been taken
+out on the file descriptor and this lock has been lost.
+See the
+.I "Lost locks"
+section of
+.BR fcntl (2)
+for further details.
 .TP
 .B EISDIR
 .I fd
diff --git a/man2/write.2 b/man2/write.2
index 796cae8ba2..621a484dc3 100644
--- a/man2/write.2
+++ b/man2/write.2
@@ -197,6 +197,15 @@ be reported by a subsequent
 (whether or not they were also reported by
 .BR write (2)).
 .\" commit 088737f44bbf6378745f5b57b035e57ee3dc4750
+An alternate cause of
+.B EIO
+on networked filesystems is when an advisory lock had been taken out
+on the file descriptor and this lock has been lost.
+See the
+.I "Lost locks"
+section of
+.BR fcntl (2)
+for further details.
 .TP
 .B ENOSPC
 The device containing the file referred to by