semaphore-id OpenVMS usage identifier type longword (unsigned) access read only mechanism by reference Identifier of the semaphore. The semaphore-id argument is the address of an unsigned longword containing the identifier. Semaphore-id is returned by PPL$CREATE_SEMAPHORE. flags OpenVMS usage mask_longword type longword (unsigned) access read only mechanism by reference Bit mask specifying options for decrementing the semaphore. The flags argument is a longword bit mask containing the flag. The valid values for flags are as follows: PPL$M_NON_ Indicates that the caller is not to block if BLOCKING the resource is not available. The default is FALSE: the caller will block if resource is unavailable. PPL$M_SPIN_WAIT Indicates that the caller is never to block, but rather to always spin while waiting at this barrier. PPL$M_SPIN_ Indicates that the caller wishes to spin for COUNTED a given amount of instructions and then to block. The default is block immediately, do not spin at all. spin OpenVMS usage mask_longword type long (unsigned) access read only mechanism by reference This value must be specified when using the PPL$M_SPIN_COUNTED flag and represents a relative time that a process will spin before blocking.