diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e326d6d..3001647 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -30,9 +30,12 @@ AC_FUNC_MALLOC
 AC_FUNC_MMAP
 
 AC_CHECK_HEADER_STDBOOL
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([fcntl.h])
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stddef.h])
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stdlib.h])
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([string.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/mman.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/stat.h])
 
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([ftruncate])
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([munmap])
diff --git a/include/shmemq.h b/include/shmemq.h
index fa1c38b..0b1ae70 100644
--- a/include/shmemq.h
+++ b/include/shmemq.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ enum Shmemq_Error {
     SHMEMQ_ERROR_NONE = 0,
     SHMEMQ_ERROR_MALLOC = 1,
     SHMEMQ_ERROR_INVALID_NAME = 2,
+    SHMEMQ_ERROR_SHARED_MEMORY = 3,
 };
 
 struct Shmemq_FrameHeader {
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ struct Shmemq_Buffer {
 struct Shmemq {
     char name[SHMEMQ_NAME_SIZE_MAX];
     bool is_consumer;
+    int shm_id;
     struct Shmemq_Buffer *buffer;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 6dcb3b7..cec77f4 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@
 
 #include <shmemq.h>
 
+#include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 struct Shmemq *shmemq_new(
     const char *const name,
@@ -48,6 +51,14 @@ enum Shmemq_Error shmemq_init(
 
     shmemq->is_consumer = size == 0;
 
+    shmemq->shm_id = shm_open(
+        shmemq->name,
+        O_CREAT | O_RDWR,
+        S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR
+    );
+
+    if (shmemq->shm_id == -1) return SHMEMQ_ERROR_SHARED_MEMORY;
+
     shmemq->buffer = NULL;
 
     return SHMEMQ_ERROR_NONE;