xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/getsockopt.2 (revision 404fbe5fb94ca1e054339640cabb2801ce52dd30)
1.\"	$NetBSD: getsockopt.2,v 1.30 2007/12/16 09:49:28 lukem Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8.\" are met:
9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
13.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
15.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
16.\"    without specific prior written permission.
17.\"
18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
28.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
29.\"
30.\"     @(#)getsockopt.2	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/2/95
31.\"
32.Dd December 16, 2007
33.Dt GETSOCKOPT 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm getsockopt ,
37.Nm setsockopt
38.Nd get and set options on sockets
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libc
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In sys/socket.h
43.Ft int
44.Fn getsockopt "int s" "int level" "int optname" "void * restrict optval" "socklen_t * restrict optlen"
45.Ft int
46.Fn setsockopt "int s" "int level" "int optname" "const void *optval" "socklen_t optlen"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48.Fn getsockopt
49and
50.Fn setsockopt
51manipulate the
52.Em options
53associated with a socket.
54Options may exist at multiple
55protocol levels; they are always present at the uppermost
56.Dq socket
57level.
58.Pp
59When manipulating socket options the level at which the
60option resides and the name of the option must be specified.
61To manipulate options at the socket level,
62.Fa level
63is specified as
64.Dv SOL_SOCKET .
65To manipulate options at any
66other level the protocol number of the appropriate protocol
67controlling the option is supplied.
68For example, to indicate that an option is to be interpreted by the
69.Tn TCP
70protocol,
71.Fa level
72should be set to the protocol number of
73.Tn TCP ;
74see
75.Xr getprotoent 3 .
76.Pp
77The parameters
78.Fa optval
79and
80.Fa optlen
81are used to access option values for
82.Fn setsockopt .
83For
84.Fn getsockopt
85they identify a buffer in which the value for the
86requested option(s) are to be returned.
87For
88.Fn getsockopt ,
89.Fa optlen
90is a value-result parameter, initially containing the
91size of the buffer pointed to by
92.Fa optval ,
93and modified on return to indicate the actual size of
94the value returned.
95If no option value is to be supplied or returned,
96.Fa optval
97may be NULL.
98.Pp
99.Fa optname
100and any specified options are passed uninterpreted to the appropriate
101protocol module for interpretation.
102The include file
103.Ao Pa sys/socket.h Ac
104contains definitions for
105socket level options, described below.
106Options at other protocol levels vary in format and
107name; consult the appropriate entries in
108section
1094 of the manual, including:
110.Xr clnp 4 ,
111.Xr faith 4 ,
112.Xr icmp6 4 ,
113.Xr ip 4 ,
114.Xr ip6 4 ,
115.Xr ipsec 4 ,
116.Xr multicast 4 ,
117.Xr pim 4 ,
118.Xr route 4 ,
119.Xr tcp 4 ,
120.Xr tp 4 ,
121and
122.Xr unix 4 .
123.Pp
124Most socket-level options use an
125.Fa int
126parameter for
127.Fa optval .
128For
129.Fn setsockopt ,
130the parameter should be non-zero to enable a boolean option,
131or zero if the option is to be disabled.
132.Dv SO_LINGER
133uses a
134.Fa struct linger
135parameter, defined in
136.Ao Pa sys/socket.h Ac ,
137which specifies the desired state of the option and the
138linger interval (see below).
139.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
140and
141.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
142use a
143.Fa struct timeval
144parameter, defined in
145.Ao Pa sys/time.h Ac .
146.Pp
147The following options are recognized at the socket level.
148Except as noted, each may be examined with
149.Fn getsockopt
150and set with
151.Fn setsockopt .
152.Bl -column SO_OOBINLINE -offset indent
153.It Dv SO_DEBUG Ta "enables recording of debugging information"
154.It Dv SO_REUSEADDR Ta "enables local address reuse"
155.It Dv SO_REUSEPORT Ta "enables duplicate address and port bindings"
156.It Dv SO_KEEPALIVE Ta "enables keep connections alive"
157.It Dv SO_DONTROUTE Ta "enables routing bypass for outgoing messages"
158.It Dv SO_LINGER  Ta "linger on close if data present"
159.It Dv SO_BROADCAST Ta "enables permission to transmit broadcast messages"
160.It Dv SO_OOBINLINE Ta "enables reception of out-of-band data in band"
161.It Dv SO_SNDBUF Ta "set buffer size for output"
162.It Dv SO_RCVBUF Ta "set buffer size for input"
163.It Dv SO_SNDLOWAT Ta "set minimum count for output"
164.It Dv SO_RCVLOWAT Ta "set minimum count for input"
165.It Dv SO_SNDTIMEO Ta "set timeout value for output"
166.It Dv SO_RCVTIMEO Ta "set timeout value for input"
167.It Dv SO_TIMESTAMP Ta "enables reception of a timestamp with datagrams"
168.It Dv SO_TYPE Ta "get the type of the socket (get only)"
169.It Dv SO_ERROR Ta "get and clear error on the socket (get only)"
170.El
171.Pp
172.Dv SO_DEBUG
173enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules.
174.Dv SO_REUSEADDR
175indicates that the rules used in validating addresses supplied
176in a
177.Xr bind 2
178call should allow reuse of local addresses.
179.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
180allows completely duplicate bindings by multiple processes
181if they all set
182.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
183before binding the port.
184This option permits multiple instances of a program to each
185receive UDP/IP multicast or broadcast datagrams destined for the bound port.
186.Dv SO_KEEPALIVE
187enables the
188periodic transmission of messages on a connected socket.
189Should the connected party fail to respond to these messages, the connection
190is considered broken and processes using the socket are notified via a
191.Dv SIGPIPE
192signal when attempting to send data.
193.Dv SO_DONTROUTE
194indicates that outgoing messages should
195bypass the standard routing facilities.
196Instead, messages are directed to the appropriate network interface
197according to the network portion of the destination address.
198.Pp
199.Dv SO_LINGER
200controls the action taken when unsent messages
201are queued on socket and a
202.Xr close 2
203is performed.
204If the socket promises reliable delivery of data and
205.Dv SO_LINGER
206is set, the system will block the process on the
207.Xr close 2
208attempt until it is able to transmit the data or until it decides it
209is unable to deliver the information (a timeout period, measured in
210seconds, termed the linger interval, is specified in the
211.Fn setsockopt
212call when
213.Dv SO_LINGER
214is requested).
215If
216.Dv SO_LINGER
217is disabled and a
218.Xr close 2
219is issued, the system will process the close in a manner that allows
220the process to continue as quickly as possible.
221.Pp
222The option
223.Dv SO_BROADCAST
224requests permission to send broadcast datagrams
225on the socket.
226Broadcast was a privileged operation in earlier versions of the system.
227With protocols that support out-of-band data, the
228.Dv SO_OOBINLINE
229option
230requests that out-of-band data be placed in the normal data input queue
231as received; it will then be accessible with
232.Xr recv 2
233or
234.Xr read 2
235calls without the
236.Dv MSG_OOB
237flag.
238Some protocols always behave as if this option is set.
239.Dv SO_SNDBUF
240and
241.Dv SO_RCVBUF
242are options to adjust the normal
243buffer sizes allocated for output and input buffers, respectively.
244The buffer size may be increased for high-volume connections,
245or may be decreased to limit the possible backlog of incoming data.
246The system places an absolute limit on these values.
247.Pp
248.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
249is an option to set the minimum count for output operations.
250Most output operations process all of the data supplied
251by the call, delivering data to the protocol for transmission
252and blocking as necessary for flow control.
253Nonblocking output operations will process as much data as permitted
254subject to flow control without blocking, but will process no data
255if flow control does not allow the smaller of the low water mark value
256or the entire request to be processed.
257A
258.Xr select 2
259or
260.Xr poll 2
261operation testing the ability to write to a socket will return true
262only if the low water mark amount could be processed.
263The default value for
264.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
265is set to a convenient size for network efficiency, often 1024.
266.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
267is an option to set the minimum count for input operations.
268In general, receive calls will block until any (non-zero) amount of data
269is received, then return with the smaller of the amount available or the amount
270requested.
271The default value for
272.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
273is 1.
274If
275.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
276is set to a larger value, blocking receive calls normally
277wait until they have received the smaller of the low water mark value
278or the requested amount.
279Receive calls may still return less than the low water mark if an error
280occurs, a signal is caught, or the type of data next in the receive queue
281is different than that returned.
282.Pp
283.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
284is an option to set a timeout value for output operations.
285It accepts a
286.Fa struct timeval
287parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
288used to limit waits for output operations to complete.
289If a send operation has blocked for this much time,
290it returns with a partial count
291or with the error
292.Er EAGAIN
293if no data were sent.
294In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
295data are delivered to the protocol,
296implying that the limit applies to output portions ranging in size
297from the low water mark to the high water mark for output.
298.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
299is an option to set a timeout value for input operations.
300It accepts a
301.Fa struct timeval
302parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
303used to limit waits for input operations to complete.
304In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
305data are received by the protocol,
306and thus the limit is in effect an inactivity timer.
307If a receive operation has been blocked for this much time without
308receiving additional data, it returns with a short count
309or with the error
310.Er EAGAIN
311if no data were received.
312.Pp
313If the
314.Dv SO_TIMESTAMP
315option is enabled on a
316.Dv SOCK_DGRAM
317socket, the
318.Xr recvmsg 2
319call will return a timestamp corresponding to when the datagram was
320received.
321The msg_control field in the msghdr structure points to a buffer
322that contains a cmsghdr structure followed by a struct timeval.
323The cmsghdr fields have the following values:
324.Bd -literal
325cmsg_len = sizeof(struct timeval)
326cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET
327cmsg_type = SCM_TIMESTAMP
328.Ed
329.Pp
330Finally,
331.Dv SO_TYPE
332and
333.Dv SO_ERROR
334are options used only with
335.Fn getsockopt .
336.Dv SO_TYPE
337returns the type of the socket, such as
338.Dv SOCK_STREAM ;
339it is useful for servers that inherit sockets on startup.
340.Dv SO_ERROR
341returns any pending error on the socket and clears
342the error status.
343It may be used to check for asynchronous errors on connected
344datagram sockets or for other asynchronous errors.
345.Sh RETURN VALUES
346A 0 is returned if the call succeeds, \-1 if it fails.
347.Sh ERRORS
348The call succeeds unless:
349.Bl -tag -width Er
350.It Bq Er EBADF
351The argument
352.Fa s
353is not a valid descriptor.
354.It Bq Er ENOTSOCK
355The argument
356.Fa s
357is a file, not a socket.
358.It Bq Er ENOPROTOOPT
359The option is unknown at the level indicated.
360.It Bq Er EFAULT
361The address pointed to by
362.Fa optval
363is not in a valid part of the process address space.
364For
365.Fn getsockopt ,
366this error may also be returned if
367.Fa optlen
368is not in a valid part of the process address space.
369.El
370.Sh SEE ALSO
371.Xr ioctl 2 ,
372.Xr poll 2 ,
373.Xr select 2 ,
374.Xr socket 2 ,
375.Xr getprotoent 3 ,
376.Xr clnp 4 ,
377.Xr faith 4 ,
378.Xr icmp6 4 ,
379.Xr ip 4 ,
380.Xr ip6 4 ,
381.Xr ipsec 4 ,
382.Xr multicast 4 ,
383.Xr pim 4 ,
384.Xr route 4 ,
385.Xr tcp 4 ,
386.Xr tp 4 ,
387.Xr unix 4 ,
388.Xr protocols 5
389.Sh HISTORY
390The
391.Fn getsockopt
392system call appeared in
393.Bx 4.2 .
394.Sh BUGS
395Several of the socket options should be handled at lower levels of the system.
396