libc/net/resolver.3

.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
.\"
.\"     @(#)resolver.3	6.8 (Berkeley) 07/23/91
.\"
.Dd
.Dt RESOLVER 3
.Os BSD 4.3
.Sh NAME
.Nm res_query ,
.Nm res_search ,
.Nm res_mkquery ,
.Nm res_send ,
.Nm res_init ,
.Nm dn_comp ,
.Nm dn_expand
.Nd resolver routines
.Sh SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <arpa/nameser.h>
#include <resolv.h>
"u_".Fn res_query char\ *dname int\ class int\ type char\ *answer int\ anslen
u_".Fn res_search char\ *dname int\ class int\ type char\ *answer int\ anslen
.Fn res_mkquery int\ op char\ *dname int\ class int\ type char\ *data int\ datalen struct\ rrec\ *newrr char\ *buf int\ buflen
.Ft buflen
.Fn res_send char\ *msg int\ msglen char\ *answer int\ anslen
.Fn res_init
.Fn dn_comp char\ *exp_dn char\ *comp_dn int\ length dnptrs lastdnptr
u_.Fn dn_expand char\ *msg char\ *eomorig char\ *comp_dn char\ *exp_dn int\ length
.Sh DESCRIPTION
These routines are used for making, sending and interpreting
query and reply messages with Internet domain name servers.
.Pp
Global configuration and state information that is used by the
resolver routines is kept in the structure
.Em _res .
Most of the values have reasonable defaults and can be ignored.
Options
stored in
.Em _res.options
are defined in
.Pa resolv.h
and are as follows.
Options are stored as a simple bit mask containing the bitwise ``or''
of the options enabled.
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Dv RES_INIT
True if the initial name server address and default domain name are
initialized (i.e.,
.Fn res_init
has been called).
.It Dv RES_DEBUG
Print debugging messages.
.It Dv RES_AAONLY
Accept authoritative answers only.
With this option,
.Fn res_send
should continue until it finds an authoritative answer or finds an error.
Currently this is not implemented.
.It Dv RES_USEVC
Use
.Tn TCP
connections for queries instead of
.Tn UDP
datagrams.
.It Dv RES_STAYOPEN
Used with RES_USEVC to keep the
.Tn TCP
connection open between
queries.
This is useful only in programs that regularly do many queries.
.Tn UDP
should be the normal mode used.
.It Dv RES_IGNTC
Unused currently (ignore truncation errors, i.e., don't retry with
.Tn TCP ) .
.It Dv RES_RECURSE
Set the recursion-desired bit in queries.
This is the default.
(\c
.Fn res_send
does not do iterative queries and expects the name server
to handle recursion.)
.It Dv RES_DEFNAMES
If set,
.Fn res_search
will append the default domain name to single-component names
(those that do not contain a dot).
This option is enabled by default.
.It Dv RES_DNSRCH
If this option is set,
.Fn res_search
will search for host names in the current domain and in parent domains; see
.Xr hostname 7 .
This is used by the standard host lookup routine
.Xr gethostbyname 3 .
This option is enabled by default.
.Pp
The
.Fn res_init
routine
reads the configuration file (if any; see
.Xr resolver 5 )
to get the default domain name,
search list and
the Internet address of the local name server(s).
If no server is configured, the host running
the resolver is tried.
The current domain name is defined by the hostname
if not specified in the configuration file;
it can be overridden by the environment variable
.Ev LOCALDOMAIN .
Initialization normally occurs on the first call
to one of the following routines.
.Pp
The
.Fn res_query
function provides an interface to the server query mechanism.
It constructs a query, sends it to the local server,
awaits a response, and makes preliminary checks on the reply.
The query requests information of the specified
.Fa type
and
.Fa class
for the specified fully-qualified domain name
.Fa dname .
The reply message is left in the
.Fa answer
buffer with length
.Fa anslen
supplied by the caller.
.Pp
The
.Fn res_search
routine makes a query and awaits a response like
.Fn res_query ,
but in addition, it implements the default and search rules
controlled by the
.Dv RES_DEFNAMES
and
.Dv RES_DNSRCH
options.
It returns the first successful reply.
.Pp
The remaining routines are lower-level routines used by
.Fn res_query .
The
.Fn res_mkquery
function
constructs a standard query message and places it in
.Fa buf .
It returns the size of the query, or \-1 if the query is
larger than
.Fa buflen .
The query type
.Fa op
is usually
.Dv QUERY ,
but can be any of the query types defined in
.Ao Pa arpa/nameser.h Ac .
The domain name for the query is given by
.Fa dname .
.Fa Newrr
is currently unused but is intended for making update messages.
.Pp
The
.Fn res_send
routine
sends a pre-formatted query and returns an answer.
It will call
.Fn res_init
if
.Dv RES_INIT
is not set, send the query to the local name server, and
handle timeouts and retries.
The length of the reply message is returned, or
\-1 if there were errors.
.Pp
The
.Fn dn_comp
function
compresses the domain name
.Fa exp_dn
and stores it in
.Fa comp_dn .
The size of the compressed name is returned or \-1 if there were errors.
The size of the array pointed to by
.Fa comp_dn
is given by
.Fa length .
The compression uses
an array of pointers
.Fa dnptrs
to previously-compressed names in the current message.
The first pointer points to
to the beginning of the message and the list ends with
.Dv NULL .
The limit to the array is specified by
.Fa lastdnptr .
A side effect of
.Fn dn_comp
is to update the list of pointers for
labels inserted into the message
as the name is compressed.
If
.Em dnptr
is
.Dv NULL, names are not compressed.
If
.Fa lastdnptr
is
.Dv NULL ,
the list of labels is not updated.
.Pp
The
.Fn dn_expand
entry
expands the compressed domain name
.Fa comp_dn
to a full domain name
The compressed name is contained in a query or reply message;
.Fa msg
is a pointer to the beginning of the message.
The uncompressed name is placed in the buffer indicated by
.Fa exp_dn
which is of size
.Fa length .
The size of compressed name is returned or \-1 if there was an error.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width Pa
/etc/resolv.conf
The configuration file
see
.Xr resolver 5 .
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr gethostbyname 3 ,
.Xr named 8 ,
.Xr resolver 5 ,
.Xr hostname 7 ,
.br
RFC1032, RFC1033, RFC1034, RFC1035, RFC974,
.br
SMM:11 Name Server Operations Guide for BIND
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
function appeared in
.Bx 4.3 .