sys_socket.h(0P) POSIX Programmer's Manual sys_socket.h(0P)PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
sys/socket.h — main sockets header
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/socket.h>
DESCRIPTION
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the socklen_t type, which is an
integer type of width of at least 32 bits; see APPLICATION USAGE.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the sa_family_t unsigned integer
type.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the sockaddr structure, which
shall include at least the following members:
sa_family_t sa_family Address family.
char sa_data[] Socket address (variable-length data).
The sockaddr structure is used to define a socket address which is used
in the bind(), connect(), getpeername(), getsockname(), recvfrom(), and
sendto() functions.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the sockaddr_storage structure,
which shall be:
* Large enough to accommodate all supported protocol-specific address
structures
* Aligned at an appropriate boundary so that pointers to it can be
cast as pointers to protocol-specific address structures and used
to access the fields of those structures without alignment problems
The sockaddr_storage structure shall include at least the following
members:
sa_family_t ss_family
When a pointer to a sockaddr_storage structure is cast as a pointer to
a sockaddr structure, the ss_family field of the sockaddr_storage
structure shall map onto the sa_family field of the sockaddr structure.
When a pointer to a sockaddr_storage structure is cast as a pointer to
a protocol-specific address structure, the ss_family field shall map
onto a field of that structure that is of type sa_family_t and that
identifies the protocol's address family.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the msghdr structure, which
shall include at least the following members:
void *msg_name Optional address.
socklen_t msg_namelen Size of address.
struct iovec *msg_iov Scatter/gather array.
int msg_iovlen Members in msg_iov.
void *msg_control Ancillary data; see below.
socklen_t msg_controllen Ancillary data buffer len.
int msg_flags Flags on received message.
The msghdr structure is used to minimize the number of directly sup‐
plied parameters to the recvmsg() and sendmsg() functions. This struc‐
ture is used as a value‐result parameter in the recvmsg() function and
value only for the sendmsg() function.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the iovec structure as described
in <sys/uio.h>.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the cmsghdr structure, which
shall include at least the following members:
socklen_t cmsg_len Data byte count, including the cmsghdr.
int cmsg_level Originating protocol.
int cmsg_type Protocol-specific type.
The cmsghdr structure is used for storage of ancillary data object
information.
Ancillary data consists of a sequence of pairs, each consisting of a
cmsghdr structure followed by a data array. The data array contains the
ancillary data message, and the cmsghdr structure contains descriptive
information that allows an application to correctly parse the data.
The values for cmsg_level shall be legal values for the level argument
to the getsockopt() and setsockopt() functions. The system documenta‐
tion shall specify the cmsg_type definitions for the supported proto‐
cols.
Ancillary data is also possible at the socket level. The <sys/socket.h>
header shall define the following symbolic constant for use as the
cmsg_type value when cmsg_level is SOL_SOCKET:
SCM_RIGHTS Indicates that the data array contains the access rights
to be sent or received.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following macros to gain
access to the data arrays in the ancillary data associated with a mes‐
sage header:
CMSG_DATA(cmsg)
If the argument is a pointer to a cmsghdr structure, this macro
shall return an unsigned character pointer to the data array
associated with the cmsghdr structure.
CMSG_NXTHDR(mhdr,cmsg)
If the first argument is a pointer to a msghdr structure and the
second argument is a pointer to a cmsghdr structure in the ancil‐
lary data pointed to by the msg_control field of that msghdr
structure, this macro shall return a pointer to the next cmsghdr
structure, or a null pointer if this structure is the last cms‐
ghdr in the ancillary data.
CMSG_FIRSTHDR(mhdr)
If the argument is a pointer to a msghdr structure, this macro
shall return a pointer to the first cmsghdr structure in the
ancillary data associated with this msghdr structure, or a null
pointer if there is no ancillary data associated with the msghdr
structure.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the linger structure, which
shall include at least the following members:
int l_onoff Indicates whether linger option is enabled.
int l_linger Linger time, in seconds.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constants
with distinct values:
SOCK_DGRAM Datagram socket.
SOCK_RAW Raw Protocol Interface.
SOCK_SEQPACKET
Sequenced-packet socket.
SOCK_STREAM Byte-stream socket.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constant
for use as the level argument of setsockopt() and getsockopt().
SOL_SOCKET Options to be accessed at socket level, not protocol
level.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constants
with distinct values for use as the option_name argument in getsock‐
opt() or setsockopt() calls (see the System Interfaces volume of
POSIX.1‐2008, Section 2.10.16, Use of Options):
SO_ACCEPTCONN Socket is accepting connections.
SO_BROADCAST Transmission of broadcast messages is supported.
SO_DEBUG Debugging information is being recorded.
SO_DONTROUTE Bypass normal routing.
SO_ERROR Socket error status.
SO_KEEPALIVE Connections are kept alive with periodic messages.
SO_LINGER Socket lingers on close.
SO_OOBINLINE Out-of-band data is transmitted in line.
SO_RCVBUF Receive buffer size.
SO_RCVLOWAT Receive ``low water mark''.
SO_RCVTIMEO Receive timeout.
SO_REUSEADDR Reuse of local addresses is supported.
SO_SNDBUF Send buffer size.
SO_SNDLOWAT Send ``low water mark''.
SO_SNDTIMEO Send timeout.
SO_TYPE Socket type.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constant
for use as the maximum backlog queue length which may be specified by
the backlog field of the listen() function:
SOMAXCONN The maximum backlog queue length.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constants
with distinct values for use as the valid values for the msg_flags
field in the msghdr structure, or the flags parameter in recv(),
recvfrom(), recvmsg(), send(), sendmsg(), or sendto() calls:
MSG_CTRUNC Control data truncated.
MSG_DONTROUTE Send without using routing tables.
MSG_EOR Terminates a record (if supported by the protocol).
MSG_OOB Out-of-band data.
MSG_NOSIGNAL No SIGPIPE generated when an attempt to send is made on a
stream-oriented socket that is no longer connected.
MSG_PEEK Leave received data in queue.
MSG_TRUNC Normal data truncated.
MSG_WAITALL Attempt to fill the read buffer.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constants
with distinct values:
AF_INET Internet domain sockets for use with IPv4 addresses.
AF_INET6 Internet domain sockets for use with IPv6 addresses.
AF_UNIX UNIX domain sockets.
AF_UNSPEC Unspecified.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the following symbolic constants
with distinct values:
SHUT_RD Disables further receive operations.
SHUT_RDWR Disables further send and receive operations.
SHUT_WR Disables further send operations.
The <sys/socket.h> header shall define the size_t and ssize_t types as
described in <sys/types.h>.
The following shall be declared as functions and may also be defined as
macros. Function prototypes shall be provided.
int accept(int, struct sockaddr *restrict, socklen_t *restrict);
int bind(int, const struct sockaddr *, socklen_t);
int connect(int, const struct sockaddr *, socklen_t);
int getpeername(int, struct sockaddr *restrict, socklen_t *restrict);
int getsockname(int, struct sockaddr *restrict, socklen_t *restrict);
int getsockopt(int, int, int, void *restrict, socklen_t *restrict);
int listen(int, int);
ssize_t recv(int, void *, size_t, int);
ssize_t recvfrom(int, void *restrict, size_t, int,
struct sockaddr *restrict, socklen_t *restrict);
ssize_t recvmsg(int, struct msghdr *, int);
ssize_t send(int, const void *, size_t, int);
ssize_t sendmsg(int, const struct msghdr *, int);
ssize_t sendto(int, const void *, size_t, int, const struct sockaddr *,
socklen_t);
int setsockopt(int, int, int, const void *, socklen_t);
int shutdown(int, int);
int sockatmark(int);
int socket(int, int, int);
int socketpair(int, int, int, int [2]);
Inclusion of <sys/socket.h> may also make visible all symbols from
<sys/uio.h>.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
To forestall portability problems, it is recommended that applications
not use values larger than 231 −1 for the socklen_t type.
The sockaddr_storage structure solves the problem of declaring storage
for automatic variables which is both large enough and aligned enough
for storing the socket address data structure of any family. For exam‐
ple, code with a file descriptor and without the context of the address
family can pass a pointer to a variable of this type, where a pointer
to a socket address structure is expected in calls such as getpeer‐
name(), and determine the address family by accessing the received con‐
tent after the call.
The example below illustrates a data structure which aligns on a 64-bit
boundary. An implementation-defined field _ss_align following _ss_pad1
is used to force a 64-bit alignment which covers proper alignment good
enough for needs of at least sockaddr_in6 (IPv6) and sockaddr_in (IPv4)
address data structures. The size of padding field _ss_pad1 depends on
the chosen alignment boundary. The size of padding field _ss_pad2
depends on the value of overall size chosen for the total size of the
structure. This size and alignment are represented in the above example
by implementation-defined (not required) constants _SS_MAXSIZE (chosen
value 128) and _SS_ALIGNMENT (with chosen value 8). Constants
_SS_PAD1SIZE (derived value 6) and _SS_PAD2SIZE (derived value 112) are
also for illustration and not required. The implementation-defined def‐
initions and structure field names above start with an <underscore> to
denote implementation private name space. Portable code is not expected
to access or reference those fields or constants.
/*
* Desired design of maximum size and alignment.
*/
#define _SS_MAXSIZE 128
/* Implementation-defined maximum size. */
#define _SS_ALIGNSIZE (sizeof(int64_t))
/* Implementation-defined desired alignment. */
/*
* Definitions used for sockaddr_storage structure paddings design.
*/
#define _SS_PAD1SIZE (_SS_ALIGNSIZE − sizeof(sa_family_t))
#define _SS_PAD2SIZE (_SS_MAXSIZE − (sizeof(sa_family_t)+ \
_SS_PAD1SIZE + _SS_ALIGNSIZE))
struct sockaddr_storage {
sa_family_t ss_family; /* Address family. */
/*
* Following fields are implementation-defined.
*/
char _ss_pad1[_SS_PAD1SIZE];
/* 6-byte pad; this is to make implementation-defined
pad up to alignment field that follows explicit in
the data structure. */
int64_t _ss_align; /* Field to force desired structure
storage alignment. */
char _ss_pad2[_SS_PAD2SIZE];
/* 112-byte pad to achieve desired size,
_SS_MAXSIZE value minus size of ss_family
__ss_pad1, __ss_align fields is 112. */
};
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
<sys_types.h>, <sys_uio.h>
The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2008, accept(), bind(), con‐
nect(), getpeername(), getsockname(), getsockopt(), listen(), recv(),
recvfrom(), recvmsg(), send(), sendmsg(), sendto(), setsockopt(), shut‐
down(), sockatmark(), socket(), socketpair()COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri‐
cal and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. (This is
POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.ker‐
nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2013 sys_socket.h(0P)
