getsockopt(2) BSD System Calls Manual getsockopt(2)
NAME
getsockopt, setsockopt -- get and set options on sockets
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/socket.h>
int
getsockopt(int socket, int level, int option_name,
void *restrict option_value, socklen_t *restrict option_len);
int
setsockopt(int socket, int level, int option_name,
const void *option_value, socklen_t option_len);
DESCRIPTION
Getsockopt() and setsockopt() manipulate the 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 the protocol number of the appropriate proto-
col controlling the option is supplied. For example, to indicate that an
option is to be interpreted by the TCP protocol, level should be set to
the protocol number of TCP; see getprotoent(3).
The parameters option_value and option_len are used to access option val-
ues for setsockopt(). For getsockopt() they identify a buffer in which
the value for the requested option(s) are to be returned. For
getsockopt(), option_len is a value-result parameter, initially contain-
ing the size of the buffer pointed to by option_value, and modified on
return to indicate the actual size of the value returned. If no option
value is to be supplied or returned, option_value may be NULL.
option_name and any specified options are passed uninterpreted to the
appropriate protocol module for interpretation. The include file
<sys/socket.h> contains definitions for socket level options, described
below. Options at other protocol levels vary in format and name; consult
the appropriate entries in section 4 of the manual.
Most socket-level options utilize an int parameter for option_value. For
setsockopt(), the 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, defined in <sys/socket.h>, which specifies the desired
state of the option and the linger interval (see below). SO_SNDTIMEO and
SO_RCVTIMEO use a struct timeval parameter, defined in <sys/time.h>.
The following options are recognized at the socket level. Except as
noted, each may be examined with getsockopt() and set with setsockopt().
SO_DEBUG enables recording of debugging information
SO_REUSEADDR enables local address reuse
SO_REUSEPORT enables duplicate address and port bindings
SO_KEEPALIVE enables keep connections alive
SO_DONTROUTE enables routing bypass for outgoing messages
SO_LINGER linger on close if data present
SO_BROADCAST enables permission to transmit broadcast messages
SO_OOBINLINE enables reception of out-of-band data in band
SO_SNDBUF set buffer size for output
SO_RCVBUF set buffer size for input
SO_SNDLOWAT set minimum count for output
SO_RCVLOWAT set minimum count for input
SO_SNDTIMEO set timeout value for output
SO_RCVTIMEO set timeout value for input
SO_TYPE get the type of the socket (get only)
SO_ERROR get and clear error on the socket (get only)
SO_NOSIGPIPE do not generate SIGPIPE, instead return EPIPE
SO_NREAD number of bytes to be read (get only)
SO_NWRITE number of bytes written not yet sent by the
protocol (get only)
SO_LINGER_SEC linger on close if data present with timeout in
seconds
SO_DEBUG enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules.
SO_REUSEADDR indicates that the rules used in validating addresses sup-
plied in a bind(2) call should allow reuse of local addresses.
SO_REUSEPORT allows completely duplicate bindings by multiple processes
if they all set SO_REUSEPORT before binding the port. This option per-
mits multiple instances of a program to each receive UDP/IP multicast or
broadcast datagrams destined for the bound port.
SO_KEEPALIVE enables the periodic transmission of messages on a connected
socket. Should the connected party fail to respond to these messages,
the connection is considered broken and processes using the socket are
notified via a SIGPIPE signal when attempting to send data.
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
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 sys-
tem will process the close in a manner that allows the process to con-
tinue as quickly as possible.
SO_LINGER_SEC is the same option as SO_LINGER except the linger time is
in seconds for SO_LINGER_SEC.
The option SO_BROADCAST requests permission to send broadcast datagrams
on the socket. Broadcast was a privileged operation in earlier versions
of the system.
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. Some protocols always behave as if this option is set.
SO_SNDBUF and SO_RCVBUF are options to 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 system places an abso-
lute limit on these values.
SO_SNDLOWAT is an option to set the minimum count for output operations.
Most output operations process all of the data supplied by the call,
delivering data to the protocol for transmission and blocking as neces-
sary for flow control. Nonblocking output operations will process as
much data as permitted (subject to flow control) without blocking, but
will process no data if flow control does not allow the smaller of the
low-water mark value or the entire request to be processed. A select(2)
operation testing the ability to write to a socket will return true only
if the low-water mark amount could be processed. The default value for
SO_SNDLOWAT is set to a convenient size for network efficiency, often
2048.
SO_RCVLOWAT is an option to set the minimum count for input operations.
In general, receive calls will block until any (non-zero) amount of data
is received, then return with the smaller of the amount available or the
amount requested. The default value for SO_RCVLOWAT is 1. If
SO_RCVLOWAT is set to a larger value, blocking receive calls normally
wait until they have received the smaller of the low-water mark value or
the requested amount. Receive calls may still return less than the low-
water mark if an error occurs, a signal is caught, or the type of data
next in the receive queue is different than that returned.
SO_SNDTIMEO is an option to set a timeout value for output operations.
It accepts a struct timeval parameter with the number of seconds and
microseconds used to limit waits for output operations to complete. If a
send operation has blocked for this much time, it returns with a partial
count or with the error EWOULDBLOCK if no data were sent. In the current
implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional data are
delivered to the protocol, implying that the limit applies to output por-
tions ranging in size from the low-water mark to the high-water mark for
output.
SO_RCVTIMEO is an option to set a timeout value for input operations. It
accepts a struct timeval parameter with the number of seconds and
microseconds used to limit waits for input operations to complete. In
the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
data are received by the protocol, and thus the limit is in effect an
inactivity timer. If a receive operation has been blocked for this much
time without receiving additional data, it returns with a short count or
with the error EWOULDBLOCK if no data were received. The struct timeval
parameter must represent a positive time interval; otherwise,
setsockopt() returns with the error EDOM.
SO_NOSIGPIPE is an option that prevents SIGPIPE from being raised when a
write fails on a socket to which there is no reader; instead, the write
to the socket returns with the error EPIPE when there is no reader.
Finally, SO_TYPE, SO_ERROR, SO_NREAD, and SO_NWRITE are options used only
with getsockopt().
SO_TYPE returns the type of the socket, such as 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.
SO_NREAD returns the amount of data in the input buffer that is available
to be received. For datagram oriented sockets, SO_NREAD returns the size
of the first packet -- this differs from the ioctl() command FIONREAD
that returns the total amount of data available.
SO_NWRITE returns the amount of data in the output buffer not yet sent by
the protocol.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the value 0 is returned; otherwise the
value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the
error.
ERRORS
The getsockopt() and setsockopt() system calls will succeed unless:
[EBADF] The argument socket is not a valid file descriptor.
[EFAULT] The address pointed to by option_value is not in a
valid part of the process address space. For
getsockopt(), this error may also be returned if
option_len is not in a valid part of the process
address space.
[EINVAL] The option is invalid at the level indicated.
[ENOBUFS] Insufficient system resources available for the call
to complete.
[ENOMEM] Insufficient memory available for the system call to
complete.
[ENOPROTOOPT] The option is unknown at the level indicated.
[ENOTSOCK] The argument socket is not a socket (e.g., a plain
file).
The setsockopt() system call will succeed unless:
[EDOM] The argument option_value is out of bounds.
[EISCONN] socket is already connected and a specified option
cannot be set while this is the case.
[EINVAL] The socket has been shut down.
LEGACY SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
The include file <sys/types.h> is necessary.
SEE ALSO
socket(2), bind(2), ioctl(2), getprotoent(3), protocols(5)
BUGS
Several of the socket options should be handled at lower levels of the
system.
HISTORY
The getsockopt() system call appeared in 4.2BSD.
4.3-Reno Berkeley Distribution April 19, 1994 4.3-Reno Berkeley Distribution
Mac OS X 10.9.1 - Generated Mon Jan 6 07:33:34 CST 2014