setsockopt(3SOCKET)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUES | ERRORS | ATTRIBUTES | SEE ALSO

NAME

getsockopt, setsockopt– get and set options on sockets

SYNOPSIS

cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lsocket -lnsl [ library ... ]
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>

int getsockopt(int s, int level, int optname, void *optval, int *optlen);
int setsockopt(int s, int level, int optname, const void *optval, int optlen);

DESCRIPTION

getsockopt() and setsockopt() manipulate options associated with a socket. Options may exist at multiple protocol levels; they are always present at the uppermost “socket” level.

When manipulating socket options, the level at which the option resides and the name of the option must be specified. To manipulate options at the “socket” level, level is specified as SOL_SOCKET. To manipulate options at any other level, level is the protocol number of the protocol that controls the option. For example, to indicate that an option is to be interpreted by the TCP protocol, level is set to the TCP protocol number . See getprotobyname(3SOCKET).

The parameters optval and optlen are used to access option values for setsockopt(). For getsockopt(), they identify a buffer in which the value(s) for the requested option(s) are to be returned. For getsockopt(), optlen is a value-result parameter, initially containing the size of the buffer pointed to by optval, and modified on return to indicate the actual size of the value returned. Use a 0 optval if no option value is to be supplied or returned.

optname and any specified options are passed uninterpreted to the appropriate protocol module for interpretation. The include file <sys/socket.h> contains definitions for the socket-level options described below. Options at other protocol levels vary in format and name.

Most socket-level options take an int for optval. For setsockopt(), the optval parameter should be non-zero to enable a boolean option, or zero if the option is to be disabled. SO_LINGER uses a struct linger parameter that specifies the desired state of the option and the linger interval. struct linger is defined in <sys/socket.h>. struct linger contains the following members:

l_onoff

on = 1/off = 0

l_linger

linger time, in seconds

The following options are recognized at the socket level. Except as noted, each may be examined with getsockopt() and set with setsockopt().

SO_DEBUG

enable/disable recording of debugging information

SO_REUSEADDR

enable/disable local address reuse

SO_KEEPALIVE

enable/disable keep connections alive

SO_DONTROUTE

enable/disable routing bypass for outgoing messages

SO_LINGER

linger on close if data is present

SO_BROADCAST

enable/disable permission to transmit broadcast messages

SO_OOBINLINE

enable/disable reception of out-of-band data in band

SO_SNDBUF

set buffer size for output

SO_RCVBUF

set buffer size for input

SO_DGRAM_ERRIND

application wants delayed error

SO_TYPE

get the type of the socket (get only)

SO_ERROR

get and clear error on the socket (get only)

SO_DEBUG enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules. SO_REUSEADDR indicates that the rules used in validating addresses supplied in a bind(3SOCKET) call should allow reuse of local addresses. SO_KEEPALIVE enables the periodic transmission of messages on a connected socket. If the connected party fails to respond to these messages, the connection is considered broken and processes using the socket are notified using a SIGPIPE signal. SO_DONTROUTE indicates that outgoing messages should bypass the standard routing facilities. Instead, messages are directed to the appropriate network interface according to the network portion of the destination address.

SO_LINGER controls the action taken when unsent messages are queued on a socket and a close(2) is performed. If the socket promises reliable delivery of data and SO_LINGER is set, the system will block the process on the close() attempt until it is able to transmit the data or until it decides it is unable to deliver the information (a timeout period, termed the linger interval, is specified in the setsockopt() call when SO_LINGER is requested). If SO_LINGER is disabled and a close() is issued, the system will process the close() in a manner that allows the process to continue as quickly as possible.

The option SO_BROADCAST requests permission to send broadcast datagrams on the socket. With protocols that support out-of-band data, the SO_OOBINLINE option requests that out-of-band data be placed in the normal data input queue as received; it will then be accessible with recv() or read() calls without the MSG_OOB flag.

SO_SNDBUF and SO_RCVBUF are options that adjust the normal buffer sizes allocated for output and input buffers, respectively. The buffer size may be increased for high-volume connections or may be decreased to limit the possible backlog of incoming data. The maximum buffer size for UDP is determined by the value of the ndd variable udp_max_buf. The maximum buffer size for TCP is determined the value of the ndd variable tcp_max_buf. Use the ndd(1M) utility to determine the current default values. See the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual for information on setting the values of udp_max_buf and tcp_max_buf.

By default, delayed errors (such as ICMP port unreachable packets) are returned only for connected datagram sockets. SO_DGRAM_ERRIND makes it possible to receive errors for datagram sockets that are not connected. When this option is set, certain delayed errors received after completion of a sendto() or sendmsg() operation will cause a subsequent sendto() or sendmsg() operation using the same destination address (to parameter) to fail with the appropriate error. See send(3SOCKET).

Finally, SO_TYPE and SO_ERROR are options used only with getsockopt(). SO_TYPE returns the type of the socket, for example, SOCK_STREAM. It is useful for servers that inherit sockets on startup. SO_ERROR returns any pending error on the socket and clears the error status. It may be used to check for asynchronous errors on connected datagram sockets or for other asynchronous errors.

RETURN VALUES

If successful, getsockopt() and setsockopt() return 0; otherwise, the functions return -1 and set errno to indicate the error.

ERRORS

The getsockopt() and setsockopt() calls succeed unless:

EBADF

The argument s is not a valid file descriptor.

ENOMEM

There was insufficient memory available for the operation to complete.

ENOPROTOOPT

The option is unknown at the level indicated.

ENOSR

There were insufficient STREAMS resources available for the operation to complete.

ENOTSOCK

The argument s is not a socket.

ENOBUFS

SO_SNDBUF or SO_RCVBUF exceeds a system limit.

EINVAL

Invalid length for IP_OPTIONS.

EHOSTUNREACH

Invalid address for IP_MULTICAST_IF.

EINVAL

Not a multicast address for IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP and IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.

EADDRNOTAVAIL

Bad interface address for IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP and IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.

EADDRINUSE

Address already joined for IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP.

ENOENT

Address not joined for IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.

EPERM

No permissions.

EINVAL

The specified option is invalid at the specified socket level, or the socket has been shut down.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
MT-Level	Safe

SEE ALSO

ndd(1M), close(2), ioctl(2), read(2), bind(3SOCKET), getprotobyname(3SOCKET), recv(3SOCKET), send(3SOCKET), socket(3SOCKET), attributes(5)

Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual

SunOS 5.9  Last Revised 29 Oct 2003

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUES | ERRORS | ATTRIBUTES | SEE ALSO