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man pages section 3: Basic Library Functions

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Updated: July 2017
 
 

initgroups(3C)

Name

initgroups - initialize the supplementary group access list

Synopsis

#include <grp.h>
#include <sys/types.h>

int initgroups(const char *name, gid_t basegid);

Description

The initgroups() function reads the group database to get the group membership for the user specified by name, and initializes the supplementary group access list of the calling process (see getgrnam(3C) and getgroups(2)). The basegid group ID is also included in the supplementary group access list. This is typically the real group ID from the user database.

While scanning the group database, if the number of groups, including the basegid entry, exceeds NGROUPS_MAX, subsequent group entries are ignored.

Return Values

Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, −1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

Errors

The initgroups() function will fail and not change the supplementary group access list if:

EPERM

The {PRIV_PROC_SETID} privilege is not asserted in the effective set of the calling process.

Attributes

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

ATTRIBUTE TYPE
ATTRIBUTE VALUE
MT-Level
MT-Safe

See Also

getgroups(2), getgrnam(3C), attributes(5)