xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/getsockopt.2 (revision 4c1e55dc91edd6e69ccc60ce855900fbc12cf34f)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: getsockopt.2,v 1.36 2011/12/23 17:00:47 jmc Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: getsockopt.2,v 1.7 1995/02/27 12:33:29 cgd Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
5.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
16.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
17.\"    without specific prior written permission.
18.\"
19.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
20.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
21.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
22.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
23.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
24.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
25.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
26.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
27.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
28.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
29.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
30.\"
31.\"     @(#)getsockopt.2	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
32.\"
33.Dd $Mdocdate: December 23 2011 $
34.Dt GETSOCKOPT 2
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm getsockopt ,
38.Nm setsockopt
39.Nd get and set options on sockets
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
42.Fd #include <sys/socket.h>
43.Ft int
44.Fn getsockopt "int s" "int level" "int optname" "void *optval" "socklen_t *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 protocol levels;
55they 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 other level the protocol number of the
66appropriate protocol controlling the option is supplied.
67For example, to indicate that an option is to be interpreted by the
68.Tn TCP
69protocol,
70.Fa level
71should be set to the protocol number of
72.Tn TCP ;
73see
74.Xr getprotoent 3 .
75.Pp
76The parameters
77.Fa optval
78and
79.Fa optlen
80are used to access option values for
81.Fn setsockopt .
82For
83.Fn getsockopt
84they identify a buffer in which the value for the
85requested option(s) are to be returned.
86For
87.Fn getsockopt ,
88.Fa optlen
89is a value-result parameter, initially containing the
90size of the buffer pointed to by
91.Fa optval ,
92and modified on return to indicate the actual size of the value returned.
93If no option value is to be supplied or returned,
94.Fa optval
95may be
96.Dv NULL .
97.Pp
98.Fa optname
99and any specified options are passed uninterpreted to the appropriate
100protocol module for interpretation.
101The include file
102.Aq Pa sys/socket.h
103contains definitions for socket level options, described below.
104Options at other protocol levels vary in format and name;
105consult the appropriate entries in section 4 of the manual.
106.Pp
107Most socket-level options utilize an
108.Li int
109parameter for
110.Fa optval .
111For
112.Fn setsockopt ,
113the parameter should be non-zero to enable a boolean option,
114or zero if the option is to be disabled.
115.Dv SO_LINGER
116uses a
117.Li struct linger
118parameter, defined in
119.Aq Pa sys/socket.h ,
120which specifies the desired state of the option and the
121linger interval (see below).
122.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
123and
124.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
125use a
126.Li struct timeval
127parameter, defined in
128.Aq Pa sys/time.h .
129.Pp
130The following options are recognized at the socket level.
131Except as noted, each may be examined with
132.Fn getsockopt
133and set with
134.Fn setsockopt .
135.Pp
136.Bl -tag -width SO_OOBINLINE -offset indent -compact
137.It Dv SO_DEBUG
138enables recording of debugging information
139.It Dv SO_REUSEADDR
140enables local address reuse
141.It Dv SO_REUSEPORT
142enables duplicate address and port bindings
143.It Dv SO_KEEPALIVE
144enables keep connections alive
145.It Dv SO_DONTROUTE
146enables routing bypass for outgoing messages
147.It Dv SO_LINGER
148linger on close if data present
149.It Dv SO_BROADCAST
150enables permission to transmit broadcast messages
151.It Dv SO_OOBINLINE
152enables reception of out-of-band data in band
153.It Dv SO_BINDANY
154enables binding to any address
155.It Dv SO_SNDBUF
156set buffer size for output
157.It Dv SO_RCVBUF
158set buffer size for input
159.It Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
160set minimum count for output
161.It Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
162set minimum count for input
163.It Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
164set timeout value for output
165.It Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
166set timeout value for input
167.It Dv SO_TIMESTAMP
168enables reception of a timestamp with datagrams
169.It Dv SO_PEERCRED
170get the credentials from other side of connection
171.It Dv SO_RTABLE
172set the routing domain
173.It Dv SO_SPLICE
174splice two sockets together or get data length
175.It Dv SO_TYPE
176get the type of the socket (get only)
177.It Dv SO_ERROR
178get and clear error on the socket (get only)
179.El
180.Pp
181.Dv SO_DEBUG
182enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules.
183.Dv SO_REUSEADDR
184indicates that the rules used in validating addresses supplied in a
185.Xr bind 2
186call should allow reuse of local addresses.
187.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
188allows completely duplicate bindings by multiple processes if they all set
189.Dv SO_REUSEPORT
190before binding the port.
191This option permits multiple instances of a program to each
192receive UDP/IP multicast or broadcast datagrams destined for the bound port.
193.Dv SO_KEEPALIVE
194enables the periodic transmission of messages on a connected socket.
195Should the connected party fail to respond to these messages, the connection
196is considered broken and processes using the socket are notified via a
197.Dv SIGPIPE
198signal when attempting to send data.
199.Dv SO_DONTROUTE
200indicates that outgoing messages should
201bypass the standard routing facilities.
202Instead, messages are directed to the appropriate network interface
203according to the network portion of the destination address.
204.Pp
205.Dv SO_LINGER
206controls the action taken when unsent messages
207are queued on socket and a
208.Xr close 2
209is performed.
210If the socket promises reliable delivery of data and
211.Dv SO_LINGER
212is set, the system will block the process on the
213.Xr close 2
214attempt until it is able to transmit the data or until it decides it
215is unable to deliver the information (a timeout period measured in seconds,
216termed the linger interval, is specified in the
217.Fn setsockopt
218call when
219.Dv SO_LINGER
220is requested).
221If
222.Dv SO_LINGER
223is disabled and a
224.Xr close 2
225is issued, the system will process the close in a manner that allows
226the process to continue as quickly as possible.
227.Pp
228The option
229.Dv SO_BROADCAST
230requests permission to send broadcast datagrams
231on the socket.
232Broadcast was a privileged operation in earlier versions of the system.
233With protocols that support out-of-band data, the
234.Dv SO_OOBINLINE
235option requests that out-of-band data be placed in the normal data input
236queue as received; it will then be accessible with
237.Xr recv 2
238or
239.Xr read 2
240calls without the
241.Dv MSG_OOB
242flag.
243Some protocols always behave as if this option is set.
244.Pp
245.Dv SO_BINDANY
246allows the socket to be bound to addresses
247which are not local to the machine, so it
248can be used to make a transparent proxy.
249Note that this option is limited to the super-user.
250In order to receive packets for these addresses,
251.Dv SO_BINDANY
252needs to be combined with matching outgoing
253.Xr pf 4
254divert rules.
255For example, with the following rule the socket receives packets
256for 192.168.0.10 even if it is not a local address:
257.Pp
258.Dl pass out inet from 192.168.0.10 divert-reply
259.Pp
260.Dv SO_SNDBUF
261and
262.Dv SO_RCVBUF
263are options to adjust the normal
264buffer sizes allocated for output and input buffers, respectively.
265The buffer size may be increased for high-volume connections,
266or may be decreased to limit the possible backlog of incoming data.
267The system places an absolute limit on these values.
268.Pp
269.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
270is an option to set the minimum count for output operations.
271Most output operations process all of the data supplied
272by the call, delivering data to the protocol for transmission
273and blocking as necessary for flow control.
274Nonblocking output operations will process as much data as permitted
275subject to flow control without blocking, but will process no data
276if flow control does not allow the smaller of the low water mark value
277or the entire request to be processed.
278A
279.Xr select 2
280or
281.Xr poll 2
282operation testing the ability to write to a socket will return true
283only if the low water mark amount could be processed.
284The default value for
285.Dv SO_SNDLOWAT
286is set to a convenient size for network efficiency, often 1024.
287.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
288is an option to set the minimum count for input operations.
289In general, receive calls will block until any (non-zero) amount of data
290is received, then return with the smaller of the amount available or the amount
291requested.
292The default value for
293.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
294is 1.
295If
296.Dv SO_RCVLOWAT
297is set to a larger value, blocking receive calls normally
298wait until they have received the smaller of the low water mark value
299or the requested amount.
300Receive calls may still return less than the low water mark if an error
301occurs, a signal is caught, or the type of data next in the receive queue
302is different than that returned.
303.Pp
304.Dv SO_SNDTIMEO
305is an option to set a timeout value for output operations.
306It accepts a
307.Li struct timeval
308parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
309used to limit waits for output operations to complete.
310If a send operation has blocked for this much time,
311it returns with a partial count or with the error
312.Er EWOULDBLOCK
313if no data was sent.
314In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
315data are delivered to the protocol,
316implying that the limit applies to output portions ranging in size
317from the low water mark to the high water mark for output.
318.Dv SO_RCVTIMEO
319is an option to set a timeout value for input operations.
320It accepts a
321.Li struct timeval
322parameter with the number of seconds and microseconds
323used to limit waits for input operations to complete.
324In the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
325data are received by the protocol,
326and thus the limit is in effect an inactivity timer.
327If a receive operation has been blocked for this much time without
328receiving additional data, it returns with a short count
329or with the error
330.Er EWOULDBLOCK
331if no data were received.
332.Pp
333If the
334.Dv SO_TIMESTAMP
335option is enabled on a
336.Dv SOCK_DGRAM
337socket, the
338.Xr recvmsg 2
339call will return a timestamp corresponding to when the datagram was
340received.
341The msg_control field in the msghdr structure points to a buffer
342that contains a cmsghdr structure followed by a struct timeval.
343The cmsghdr fields have the following values:
344.Bd -literal -offset indent
345cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(sizeof(struct timeval))
346cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET
347cmsg_type = SCM_TIMESTAMP
348.Ed
349.Pp
350.Dv SO_PEERCRED
351fetches the
352.Va struct sockpeercred
353credentials from the other side of the connection
354(currently only possible on
355.Dv AF_UNIX
356sockets).
357These credentials are from the time that
358.Xr bind 2
359or
360.Xr connect 2
361were called.
362.Pp
363The
364.Dv SO_RTABLE
365option gets or sets a routing domain.
366If a protocol family of the socket doesn't support routing domains,
367the
368.Er ENOPROTOOPT
369error is returned.
370.Pp
371.Dv SO_SPLICE
372can splice together two connected TCP sockets for zero-copy data
373transfers.
374In the first form,
375.Fn setsockopt
376is called with the source socket
377.Fa s
378and the drain socket's
379.Vt int
380file descriptor as
381.Fa optval .
382In the second form,
383.Fa optval
384is a
385.Vt struct splice
386with the drain socket in
387.Va sp_fd ,
388a positive maximum number of bytes or 0 in
389.Va sp_max
390and an idle timeout
391.Va sp_idle
392in the form of a
393.Vt struct timeval .
394If \-1 is given as drain socket, the source socket
395.Fa s
396gets unspliced.
397Otherwise the spliced data transfer continues within the kernel
398until the optional maximum is reached, one of the connections
399terminates, idle timeout expires or an error occurs.
400A successful
401.Xr select 2 ,
402.Xr poll 2 ,
403or
404.Xr kqueue 2
405operation testing the ability to read from the source socket indicates
406that the splicing has terminated.
407After reaching the maximum, it becomes readable only when more data
408is available.
409The error status can be examined with
410.Dv SO_ERROR
411at the source socket.
412The
413.Er ETIMEDOUT
414error is set if there was no data transferred between two sockets
415during the
416.Va sp_idle
417period of time.
418Note that if a maximum is given, it is only guaranteed that no more
419bytes are transferred.
420A short splice can happen but then a second call to splice will
421transfer the remaining data immediately.
422Also the readability check will not indicate that the maximum has
423been reached but that data after the maximum is available.
424The
425.Dv SO_SPLICE
426option with
427.Fn getsockopt
428and an
429.Vt off_t
430value as
431.Fa optval
432can be used to retrieve the number of bytes transferred so far from the
433source socket
434.Fa s .
435A successful new splice resets this number.
436.Pp
437Finally,
438.Dv SO_TYPE
439and
440.Dv SO_ERROR
441are options used only with
442.Fn getsockopt .
443.Dv SO_TYPE
444returns the type of the socket, such as
445.Dv SOCK_STREAM ;
446it is useful for servers that inherit sockets on startup.
447.Dv SO_ERROR
448returns any pending error on the socket and clears the error status.
449It may be used to check for asynchronous errors on connected
450datagram sockets or for other asynchronous errors.
451.Sh RETURN VALUES
452A 0 is returned if the call succeeds, \-1 if it fails.
453.Sh ERRORS
454The call succeeds unless:
455.Bl -tag -width Er
456.It Bq Er EBADF
457The argument
458.Fa s
459is not a valid descriptor.
460.It Bq Er ENOTSOCK
461The argument
462.Fa s
463is a file, not a socket.
464.It Bq Er ENOPROTOOPT
465The option is unknown at the level indicated.
466.It Bq Er EFAULT
467The address pointed to by
468.Fa optval
469is not in a valid part of the process address space.
470For
471.Fn getsockopt ,
472this error may also be returned if
473.Fa optlen
474is not in a valid part of the process address space.
475.El
476.Sh SEE ALSO
477.Xr connect 2 ,
478.Xr ioctl 2 ,
479.Xr poll 2 ,
480.Xr select 2 ,
481.Xr socket 2 ,
482.Xr getprotoent 3 ,
483.Xr pf.conf 5 ,
484.Xr protocols 5 ,
485.Xr sosplice 9
486.Sh HISTORY
487The
488.Fn getsockopt
489system call appeared in
490.Bx 4.2 .
491.Sh BUGS
492Several of the socket options should be handled at lower levels of the system.
493