xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/net/getifaddrs.3 (revision b2ea75c1b17e1a9a339660e7ed45cd24946b230e)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: getifaddrs.3,v 1.6 2000/04/18 03:01:31 aaron Exp $
2.\"	BSDI	getifaddrs.3,v 2.5 2000/02/23 14:51:59 dab Exp
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24.Dd "October 12, 1995"
25.Dt GETIFADDRS 3
26.Sh NAME
27.Nm getifaddrs
28.Nd get interface addresses
29.Sh SYNOPSIS
30.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
31.Fd #include <sys/socket.h>
32.Fd #include <ifaddrs.h>
33.Ft int
34.Fn getifaddrs "struct ifaddrs **ifap"
35.Ft void
36.Fn freeifaddrs "struct ifaddrs *ifp"
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The
39.Fn getifaddrs
40function stores a reference to a linked list of the network interfaces
41on the local machine in the memory referenced by
42.Fa ifap .
43The list consists of
44.Nm ifaddrs
45structures, as defined in the include file
46.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h .
47The
48.Nm ifaddrs
49structure contains at least the following entries:
50.Bd -literal
51    struct ifaddrs   *ifa_next;         /* Pointer to next struct */
52    char             *ifa_name;         /* Interface name */
53    u_int             ifa_flags;        /* Interface flags */
54    struct sockaddr  *ifa_addr;         /* Interface address */
55    struct sockaddr  *ifa_netmask;      /* Interface netmask */
56    struct sockaddr  *ifa_broadaddr;    /* Interface broadcast address */
57    struct sockaddr  *ifa_dstaddr;      /* P2P interface destination */
58    void             *ifa_data;		/* Address specific data */
59.Ed
60.Pp
61.Bl -tag -width Ds
62.It Fa ifa_next
63Contains a pointer to the next structure on the list.
64This field is set to
65.Dv NULL
66in last structure on the list.
67.It Fa ifa_name
68Contains the interface name.
69.It Fa ifa_flags
70Contains the interface flags, as set by
71.Xr ifconfig 8 .
72.It Fa ifa_addr
73References either the address of the interface or the link level
74address of the interface, if one exists, otherwise it is
75.Dv NULL .
76(The
77.Fa sa_family
78field of the
79.Fa ifa_addr
80field should be consulted to determine the format of the
81.Fa ifa_addr
82address.)
83.It Fa ifa_netmask
84References the netmask associated with
85.Fa ifa_addr ,
86if one is set, otherwise it is
87.Dv NULL .
88.It Fa ifa_broadaddr
89This field, which should only be referenced for non-P2P interfaces,
90references the broadcast address associated with
91.Fa ifa_addr ,
92if one exists, otherwise it is
93.Dv NULL .
94.It Fa ifa_dstaddr
95References the destination address on a P2P interface,
96if one exists, otherwise it is
97.Dv NULL .
98.It Fa ifa_data
99References address family specific data.
100For
101.Dv AF_LINK
102addresses it contains a pointer to the
103.Li struct if_data
104(as defined in include file
105.Aq Pa net/if.h )
106which contains various interface attributes and statistics.
107For all other address families, it contains a pointer to the
108.Li struct ifa_data
109(as defined in include file
110.Aq Pa net/if.h )
111which contains per-address interface statistics.
112.El
113.Pp
114The data returned by
115.Fn getifaddrs
116is dynamically allocated and should be freed using
117.Fn freeifaddrs
118when no longer needed.
119.Sh RETURN VALUES
120Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.
121Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
122.Va errno
123is set to indicate the error.
124.Sh ERRORS
125The
126.Fn getifaddrs
127may fail and set
128.Va errno
129for any of the errors specified for the library routines
130.Xr ioctl 2 ,
131.Xr socket 2 ,
132.Xr malloc 3 ,
133or
134.Xr sysctl 3 .
135.Sh BUGS
136If both
137.Aq Pa net/if.h
138and
139.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h
140are being included,
141.Aq Pa net/if.h
142.Em must
143be included before
144.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h .
145.Sh SEE ALSO
146.Xr ioctl 2 ,
147.Xr socket 2 ,
148.Xr sysctl 3 ,
149.Xr networking 4 ,
150.Xr ifconfig 8
151.Sh HISTORY
152The
153.Fn getifaddrs
154function first appeared in BSDI BSD/OS.
155The function is supplied on
156.Ox
157since
158.Ox 2.7 .
159