sysinfo(2) System Calls sysinfo(2)NAMEsysinfo - get and set system information strings
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/systeminfo.h>
long sysinfo(int command, char *buf, long count);
DESCRIPTION
The sysinfo() function copies information relating to the operating
system on which the process is executing into the buffer pointed to by
buf. It can also set certain information where appropriate commands are
available. The count parameter indicates the size of the buffer.
The POSIX P1003.1 interface (see standards(5)) sysconf(3C) provides a
similar class of configuration information, but returns an integer
rather than a string.
The values for command are as follows:
SI_SYSNAME
Copy into the array pointed to by buf the string that would be
returned by uname(2) in the sysnamefield. This is the name of the
implementation of the operating system, for example, SunOS or UTS.
SI_HOSTNAME
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string that names the
present host machine. This is the string that would be returned by
uname() in the nodenamefield. This hostname or nodename is often
the name the machine is known by locally. The hostname is the name
of this machine as a node in some network. Different networks might
have different names for the node, but presenting the nodename to
the appropriate network directory or name-to-address mapping ser‐
vice should produce a transport end point address. The name might
not be fully qualified. Internet host names can be up to 256 bytes
in length (plus the terminating null).
SI_SET_HOSTNAME
Copy the null-terminated contents of the array pointed to by buf
into the string maintained by the kernel whose value will be
returned by succeeding calls to sysinfo() with the command SI_HOST‐
NAME. This command requires that {PRIV_SYS_ADMIN} is asserted in
the effective set of the calling process.
SI_RELEASE
Copy into the array pointed to by buf the string that would be
returned by uname(2) in the release field. Typical values might be
5.2 or 4.1.
SI_VERSION
Copy into the array pointed to by buf the string that would be
returned by uname(2) in the versionfield. The syntax and semantics
of this string are defined by the system provider.
SI_MACHINE
Copy into the array pointed to by buf the string that would be
returned by uname(2) in the machine field, for example, sun4u.
SI_ARCHITECTURE
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the basic
instruction set architecture of the current system, for example,
sparc, mc68030, m32100, or i386. These names might not match prede‐
fined names in the C language compilation system.
SI_ARCHITECTURE_64
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the
64-bit instruction set architecture of the current system, for
example, sparcv9 or amd64. These names might not match predefined
names in the C language compilation system. This subcode is not
recognized on systems that do not allow a 64-bit application to
run.
SI_ARCHITECTURE_32
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the
32-bit instruction set architecture of the current system, for
example, sparc or i386. These names might not match predefined
names in the C language compilation system.
SI_ARCHITECTURE_K
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the ker‐
nel instruction set architecture of the current system for example
sparcv9 or i386. These names might not match predefined names in
the C language compilation system.
SI_ARCHITECTURE_NATIVE
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the
native instruction set architecture of the current system, for
example sparcv9 or i386. These names might not match predefined
names in the C language compilation system.
SI_ISALIST
Copy into the array pointed to by buf the names of the variant
instruction set architectures executable on the current system.
The names are space-separated and are ordered in the sense of best
performance. That is, earlier-named instruction sets might contain
more instructions than later-named instruction sets; a program that
is compiled for an earlier-named instruction set will most likely
run faster on this machine than the same program compiled for a
later-named instruction set.
Programs compiled for an instruction set that does not appear in
the list will most likely experience performance degradation or not
run at all on this machine.
The instruction set names known to the system are listed in isal‐
ist(5); these names might not match predefined names or compiler
options in the C language compilation system.
See getisax(2) and the Linker and Libraries Guide for a better way
to handle instruction set extensions.
SI_PLATFORM
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string describing the spe‐
cific model of the hardware platform, for example, SUNW,Sun-
Blade-1500, SUNW,Sun-Fire-T200, or i86pc.
SI_HW_PROVIDER
Copies the name of the hardware manufacturer into the array pointed
to by buf.
SI_HW_SERIAL
Copy into the array pointed to by buf a string which is the ASCII
representation of the hardware-specific serial number of the physi‐
cal machine on which the function is executed. This might be imple‐
mented in Read-Only Memory, using software constants set when
building the operating system, or by other means, and might contain
non-numeric characters. If the function is executed within a non-
global zone that emulates a host identifier, then the ASCII repre‐
sentation of the zone's host identifier is copied into the array
pointed to by buf. It is anticipated that manufacturers will not
issue the same "serial number" to more than one physical machine.
The pair of strings returned by SI_HW_PROVIDER and SI_HW_SERIAL is
not guaranteed to be unique across all vendor's SVR4 implementa‐
tions and could change over the lifetime of a given system.
SI_SRPC_DOMAIN
Copies the Secure Remote Procedure Call domain name into the array
pointed to by buf.
SI_SET_SRPC_DOMAIN
Set the string to be returned by sysinfo() with the SI_SRPC_DOMAIN
command to the value contained in the array pointed to by buf. This
command requires that {PRIV_SYS_ADMIN} is asserted in the effective
set of the calling process.
SI_DHCP_CACHE
Copy into the array pointed to by buf an ASCII string consisting of
the ASCII hexidecimal encoding of the name of the interface config‐
ured by boot(1M) followed by the DHCPACK reply from the server.
This command is intended for use only by the dhcpagent(1M) DHCP
client daemon for the purpose of adopting the DHCP maintenance of
the interface configured by boot.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the value returned indicates the buffer
size in bytes required to hold the complete value and the terminating
null character. If this value is no greater than the value passed in
count, the entire string was copied. If this value is greater than
count, the string copied into buf has been truncated to count−1 bytes
plus a terminating null character.
Otherwise, −1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The sysinfo() function will fail if:
EFAULT The buf argument does not point to a valid address.
EINVAL The count argument for a non-SET command is less than 0 or
the data for a SET command exceeds the limits established by
the implementation.
EPERM The {PRIV_SYS_ADMIN} was not asserted in the effective set of
the calling process.
USAGE
In many cases there is no corresponding programming interface to set
these values; such strings are typically settable only by the system
administrator modifying entries in the /etc/system directory or the
code provided by the particular OEM reading a serial number or code out
of read-only memory, or hard-coded in the version of the operating sys‐
tem.
A good estimation for count is 257, which is likely to cover all
strings returned by this interface in typical installations.
SEE ALSOboot(1M), dhcpagent(1M), getisax(2), uname(2), gethostid(3C), gethost‐
name(3C), sysconf(3C), isalist(5), privileges(5), standards(5),
zones(5)
Linker and Libraries Guide
SunOS 5.10 20 Apr 2010 sysinfo(2)
