xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/getsockopt.2 (revision aaf4ece63a859a04e37cf3a7229b5fab0157cc06)
1.\"	$NetBSD: getsockopt.2,v 1.29 2004/05/13 10:20:58 wiz 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 October 22, 2001
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.
110.Pp
111Most socket-level options use an
112.Fa int
113parameter for
114.Fa optval .
115For
116.Fn setsockopt ,
117the parameter should be non-zero to enable a boolean option,
118or zero if the option is to be disabled.
119.Dv SO_LINGER
120uses a
121.Fa struct linger
122parameter, defined in
123.Ao Pa sys/socket.h Ac ,
124which specifies the desired state of the option and the
125linger interval (see below).
126.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
127and
128.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
129use a
130.Fa struct timeval
131parameter, defined in
132.Ao Pa sys/time.h Ac .
133.Pp
134The following options are recognized at the socket level.
135Except as noted, each may be examined with
136.Fn getsockopt
137and set with
138.Fn setsockopt .
139.Bl -column SO_OOBINLINE -offset indent
140.It Dv SO_DEBUG Ta "enables recording of debugging information"
141.It Dv SO_REUSEADDR Ta "enables local address reuse"
142.It Dv SO_REUSEPORT Ta "enables duplicate address and port bindings"
143.It Dv SO_KEEPALIVE Ta "enables keep connections alive"
144.It Dv SO_DONTROUTE Ta "enables routing bypass for outgoing messages"
145.It Dv SO_LINGER  Ta "linger on close if data present"
146.It Dv SO_BROADCAST Ta "enables permission to transmit broadcast messages"
147.It Dv SO_OOBINLINE Ta "enables reception of out-of-band data in band"
148.It Dv SO_SNDBUF Ta "set buffer size for output"
149.It Dv SO_RCVBUF Ta "set buffer size for input"
150.It Dv SO_SNDLOWAT Ta "set minimum count for output"
151.It Dv SO_RCVLOWAT Ta "set minimum count for input"
152.It Dv SO_SNDTIMEO Ta "set timeout value for output"
153.It Dv SO_RCVTIMEO Ta "set timeout value for input"
154.It Dv SO_TIMESTAMP Ta "enables reception of a timestamp with datagrams"
155.It Dv SO_TYPE Ta "get the type of the socket (get only)"
156.It Dv SO_ERROR Ta "get and clear error on the socket (get only)"
157.El
158.Pp
159.Dv SO_DEBUG
160enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules.
161.Dv SO_REUSEADDR
162indicates that the rules used in validating addresses supplied
163in a
164.Xr bind 2
165call should allow reuse of local addresses.
166.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
167allows completely duplicate bindings by multiple processes
168if they all set
169.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
170before binding the port.
171This option permits multiple instances of a program to each
172receive UDP/IP multicast or broadcast datagrams destined for the bound port.
173.Dv SO_KEEPALIVE
174enables the
175periodic transmission of messages on a connected socket.
176Should the connected party fail to respond to these messages, the connection
177is considered broken and processes using the socket are notified via a
178.Dv SIGPIPE
179signal when attempting to send data.
180.Dv SO_DONTROUTE
181indicates that outgoing messages should
182bypass the standard routing facilities.
183Instead, messages are directed to the appropriate network interface
184according to the network portion of the destination address.
185.Pp
186.Dv SO_LINGER
187controls the action taken when unsent messages
188are queued on socket and a
189.Xr close 2
190is performed.
191If the socket promises reliable delivery of data and
192.Dv SO_LINGER
193is set, the system will block the process on the
194.Xr close 2
195attempt until it is able to transmit the data or until it decides it
196is unable to deliver the information (a timeout period, measured in
197seconds, termed the linger interval, is specified in the
198.Fn setsockopt
199call when
200.Dv SO_LINGER
201is requested).
202If
203.Dv SO_LINGER
204is disabled and a
205.Xr close 2
206is issued, the system will process the close in a manner that allows
207the process to continue as quickly as possible.
208.Pp
209The option
210.Dv SO_BROADCAST
211requests permission to send broadcast datagrams
212on the socket.
213Broadcast was a privileged operation in earlier versions of the system.
214With protocols that support out-of-band data, the
215.Dv SO_OOBINLINE
216option
217requests that out-of-band data be placed in the normal data input queue
218as received; it will then be accessible with
219.Xr recv 2
220or
221.Xr read 2
222calls without the
223.Dv MSG_OOB
224flag.
225Some protocols always behave as if this option is set.
226.Dv SO_SNDBUF
227and
228.Dv SO_RCVBUF
229are options to adjust the normal
230buffer sizes allocated for output and input buffers, respectively.
231The buffer size may be increased for high-volume connections,
232or may be decreased to limit the possible backlog of incoming data.
233The system places an absolute limit on these values.
234.Pp
235.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
236is an option to set the minimum count for output operations.
237Most output operations process all of the data supplied
238by the call, delivering data to the protocol for transmission
239and blocking as necessary for flow control.
240Nonblocking output operations will process as much data as permitted
241subject to flow control without blocking, but will process no data
242if flow control does not allow the smaller of the low water mark value
243or the entire request to be processed.
244A
245.Xr select 2
246or
247.Xr poll 2
248operation testing the ability to write to a socket will return true
249only if the low water mark amount could be processed.
250The default value for
251.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
252is set to a convenient size for network efficiency, often 1024.
253.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
254is an option to set the minimum count for input operations.
255In general, receive calls will block until any (non-zero) amount of data
256is received, then return with the smaller of the amount available or the amount
257requested.
258The default value for
259.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
260is 1.
261If
262.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
263is set to a larger value, blocking receive calls normally
264wait until they have received the smaller of the low water mark value
265or the requested amount.
266Receive calls may still return less than the low water mark if an error
267occurs, a signal is caught, or the type of data next in the receive queue
268is different than that returned.
269.Pp
270.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
271is an option to set a timeout value for output operations.
272It accepts a
273.Fa struct timeval
274parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
275used to limit waits for output operations to complete.
276If a send operation has blocked for this much time,
277it returns with a partial count
278or with the error
279.Er EAGAIN
280if no data were sent.
281In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
282data are delivered to the protocol,
283implying that the limit applies to output portions ranging in size
284from the low water mark to the high water mark for output.
285.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
286is an option to set a timeout value for input operations.
287It accepts a
288.Fa struct timeval
289parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
290used to limit waits for input operations to complete.
291In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
292data are received by the protocol,
293and thus the limit is in effect an inactivity timer.
294If a receive operation has been blocked for this much time without
295receiving additional data, it returns with a short count
296or with the error
297.Er EAGAIN
298if no data were received.
299.Pp
300If the
301.Dv SO_TIMESTAMP
302option is enabled on a
303.Dv SOCK_DGRAM
304socket, the
305.Xr recvmsg 2
306call will return a timestamp corresponding to when the datagram was
307received.
308The msg_control field in the msghdr structure points to a buffer
309that contains a cmsghdr structure followed by a struct timeval.
310The cmsghdr fields have the following values:
311.Bd -literal
312cmsg_len = sizeof(struct timeval)
313cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET
314cmsg_type = SCM_TIMESTAMP
315.Ed
316.Pp
317Finally,
318.Dv SO_TYPE
319and
320.Dv SO_ERROR
321are options used only with
322.Fn getsockopt .
323.Dv SO_TYPE
324returns the type of the socket, such as
325.Dv SOCK_STREAM ;
326it is useful for servers that inherit sockets on startup.
327.Dv SO_ERROR
328returns any pending error on the socket and clears
329the error status.
330It may be used to check for asynchronous errors on connected
331datagram sockets or for other asynchronous errors.
332.Sh RETURN VALUES
333A 0 is returned if the call succeeds, \-1 if it fails.
334.Sh ERRORS
335The call succeeds unless:
336.Bl -tag -width Er
337.It Bq Er EBADF
338The argument
339.Fa s
340is not a valid descriptor.
341.It Bq Er ENOTSOCK
342The argument
343.Fa s
344is a file, not a socket.
345.It Bq Er ENOPROTOOPT
346The option is unknown at the level indicated.
347.It Bq Er EFAULT
348The address pointed to by
349.Fa optval
350is not in a valid part of the process address space.
351For
352.Fn getsockopt ,
353this error may also be returned if
354.Fa optlen
355is not in a valid part of the process address space.
356.El
357.Sh SEE ALSO
358.Xr ioctl 2 ,
359.Xr poll 2 ,
360.Xr select 2 ,
361.Xr socket 2 ,
362.Xr getprotoent 3 ,
363.Xr protocols 5
364.Sh HISTORY
365The
366.Fn getsockopt
367system call appeared in
368.Bx 4.2 .
369.Sh BUGS
370Several of the socket options should be handled at lower levels of the system.
371