rpc - library routines for remote procedure calls
Standard C library (
libc,
-lc)
These routines allow C programs to make procedure calls on other machines across
the network. First, the client calls a procedure to send a data packet to the
server. Upon receipt of the packet, the server calls a dispatch routine to
perform the requested service, and then sends back a reply. Finally, the
procedure call returns to the client.
To take use of these routines, include the header file
<rpc/rpc.h>.
The prototypes below make use of the following types:
typedef int bool_t;
typedef bool_t (*xdrproc_t)(XDR *, void *, ...);
typedef bool_t (*resultproc_t)(caddr_t resp,
struct sockaddr_in *raddr);
See the header files for the declarations of the
AUTH,
CLIENT,
SVCXPRT, and
XDR types.
void auth_destroy(AUTH *auth);
- A macro that destroys the authentication information
associated with auth. Destruction usually involves deallocation of
private data structures. The use of auth is undefined after calling
auth_destroy().
AUTH *authnone_create(void);
- Create and return an RPC authentication handle that passes
nonusable authentication information with each remote procedure call. This
is the default authentication used by RPC.
AUTH *authunix_create(char *host, uid_t uid, gid_t gid,
int len, gid_t aup_gids[.len]);
- Create and return an RPC authentication handle that
contains authentication information. The parameter host is the name
of the machine on which the information was created; uid is the
user's user ID; gid is the user's current group ID; len and
aup_gids refer to a counted array of groups to which the user
belongs. It is easy to impersonate a user.
AUTH *authunix_create_default(void);
- Calls authunix_create() with the appropriate
parameters.
int callrpc(char *host, unsigned long prognum,
unsigned long versnum, unsigned long procnum,
xdrproc_t inproc, const char *in,
xdrproc_t outproc, char *out);
- Call the remote procedure associated with prognum,
versnum, and procnum on the machine, host. The
parameter in is the address of the procedure's argument(s), and
out is the address of where to place the result(s); inproc
is used to encode the procedure's parameters, and outproc is used
to decode the procedure's results. This routine returns zero if it
succeeds, or the value of enum clnt_stat cast to an integer if it
fails. The routine clnt_perrno() is handy for translating failure
statuses into messages.
- Warning: calling remote procedures with this routine uses
UDP/IP as a transport; see clntudp_create() for restrictions. You
do not have control of timeouts or authentication using this routine.
enum clnt_stat clnt_broadcast(unsigned long prognum,
unsigned long versnum, unsigned long procnum,
xdrproc_t inproc, char *in,
xdrproc_t outproc, char *out,
resultproc_t eachresult);
- Like callrpc(), except the call message is broadcast
to all locally connected broadcast nets. Each time it receives a response,
this routine calls eachresult(), whose form is:
-
eachresult(char *out, struct sockaddr_in *addr);
- where out is the same as out passed to
clnt_broadcast(), except that the remote procedure's output is
decoded there; addr points to the address of the machine that sent
the results. If eachresult() returns zero, clnt_broadcast()
waits for more replies; otherwise it returns with appropriate status.
- Warning: broadcast sockets are limited in size to the
maximum transfer unit of the data link. For ethernet, this value is 1500
bytes.
enum clnt_stat clnt_call(CLIENT *clnt, unsigned long procnum,
xdrproc_t inproc, char *in,
xdrproc_t outproc, char *out,
struct timeval tout);
- A macro that calls the remote procedure procnum
associated with the client handle, clnt, which is obtained with an
RPC client creation routine such as clnt_create(). The parameter
in is the address of the procedure's argument(s), and out is
the address of where to place the result(s); inproc is used to
encode the procedure's parameters, and outproc is used to decode
the procedure's results; tout is the time allowed for results to
come back.
clnt_destroy(CLIENT *clnt);
- A macro that destroys the client's RPC handle. Destruction
usually involves deallocation of private data structures, including
clnt itself. Use of clnt is undefined after calling
clnt_destroy(). If the RPC library opened the associated socket, it
will close it also. Otherwise, the socket remains open.
CLIENT *clnt_create(const char *host, unsigned long prog,
unsigned long vers, const char *proto);
- Generic client creation routine. host identifies the
name of the remote host where the server is located. proto
indicates which kind of transport protocol to use. The currently supported
values for this field are “udp” and “tcp”.
Default timeouts are set, but can be modified using
clnt_control().
- Warning: using UDP has its shortcomings. Since UDP-based
RPC messages can hold only up to 8 Kbytes of encoded data, this transport
cannot be used for procedures that take large arguments or return huge
results.
bool_t clnt_control(CLIENT *cl, int req, char *info);
- A macro used to change or retrieve various information
about a client object. req indicates the type of operation, and
info is a pointer to the information. For both UDP and TCP, the
supported values of req and their argument types and what they do
are:
-
CLSET_TIMEOUT struct timeval // set total timeout
CLGET_TIMEOUT struct timeval // get total timeout
- Note: if you set the timeout using clnt_control(),
the timeout parameter passed to clnt_call() will be ignored in all
future calls.
-
CLGET_SERVER_ADDR struct sockaddr_in
// get server's address
- The following operations are valid for UDP only:
-
CLSET_RETRY_TIMEOUT struct timeval // set the retry timeout
CLGET_RETRY_TIMEOUT struct timeval // get the retry timeout
- The retry timeout is the time that "UDP RPC"
waits for the server to reply before retransmitting the request.
clnt_freeres(CLIENT * clnt, xdrproc_t outproc, char *out);
- A macro that frees any data allocated by the RPC/XDR system
when it decoded the results of an RPC call. The parameter out is
the address of the results, and outproc is the XDR routine
describing the results. This routine returns one if the results were
successfully freed, and zero otherwise.
void clnt_geterr(CLIENT *clnt, struct rpc_err *errp);
- A macro that copies the error structure out of the client
handle to the structure at address errp.
void clnt_pcreateerror(const char *s);
- Print a message to standard error indicating why a client
RPC handle could not be created. The message is prepended with string
s and a colon. Used when a clnt_create(),
clntraw_create(), clnttcp_create(), or
clntudp_create() call fails.
void clnt_perrno(enum clnt_stat stat);
- Print a message to standard error corresponding to the
condition indicated by stat. Used after callrpc().
clnt_perror(CLIENT *clnt, const char *s);
- Print a message to standard error indicating why an RPC
call failed; clnt is the handle used to do the call. The message is
prepended with string s and a colon. Used after
clnt_call().
char *clnt_spcreateerror(const char *s);
- Like clnt_pcreateerror(), except that it returns a
string instead of printing to the standard error.
- Bugs: returns pointer to static data that is overwritten on
each call.
char *clnt_sperrno(enum clnt_stat stat);
- Take the same arguments as clnt_perrno(), but
instead of sending a message to the standard error indicating why an RPC
call failed, return a pointer to a string which contains the message. The
string ends with a NEWLINE.
-
clnt_sperrno() is used instead of
clnt_perrno() if the program does not have a standard error (as a
program running as a server quite likely does not), or if the programmer
does not want the message to be output with printf(3), or if a
message format different than that supported by clnt_perrno() is to
be used. Note: unlike clnt_sperror() and
clnt_spcreateerror(), clnt_sperrno() returns pointer to
static data, but the result will not get overwritten on each call.
char *clnt_sperror(CLIENT *rpch, const char *s);
- Like clnt_perror(), except that (like
clnt_sperrno()) it returns a string instead of printing to standard
error.
- Bugs: returns pointer to static data that is overwritten on
each call.
CLIENT *clntraw_create(unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum);
- This routine creates a toy RPC client for the remote
program prognum, version versnum. The transport used to pass
messages to the service is actually a buffer within the process's address
space, so the corresponding RPC server should live in the same address
space; see svcraw_create(). This allows simulation of RPC and
acquisition of RPC overheads, such as round trip times, without any kernel
interference. This routine returns NULL if it fails.
CLIENT *clnttcp_create(struct sockaddr_in *addr,
unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
int *sockp, unsigned int sendsz, unsigned int recvsz);
- This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program
prognum, version versnum; the client uses TCP/IP as a
transport. The remote program is located at Internet address *addr.
If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to the actual port
that the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service
is consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a
socket; if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and
sets sockp. Since TCP-based RPC uses buffered I/O, the user may
specify the size of the send and receive buffers with the parameters
sendsz and recvsz; values of zero choose suitable defaults.
This routine returns NULL if it fails.
CLIENT *clntudp_create(struct sockaddr_in *addr,
unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
struct timeval wait, int *sockp);
- This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program
prognum, version versnum; the client uses use UDP/IP as a
transport. The remote program is located at Internet address addr.
If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to actual port that
the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service is
consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a socket;
if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and sets
sockp. The UDP transport resends the call message in intervals of
wait time until a response is received or until the call times out.
The total time for the call to time out is specified by
clnt_call().
- Warning: since UDP-based RPC messages can hold only up to 8
Kbytes of encoded data, this transport cannot be used for procedures that
take large arguments or return huge results.
CLIENT *clntudp_bufcreate(struct sockaddr_in *addr,
unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
struct timeval wait, int *sockp,
unsigned int sendsize, unsigned int recosize);
- This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program
prognum, on versnum; the client uses use UDP/IP as a
transport. The remote program is located at Internet address addr.
If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to actual port that
the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service is
consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a socket;
if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and sets
sockp. The UDP transport resends the call message in intervals of
wait time until a response is received or until the call times out.
The total time for the call to time out is specified by
clnt_call().
- This allows the user to specify the maximum packet size for
sending and receiving UDP-based RPC messages.
void get_myaddress(struct sockaddr_in *addr);
- Stuff the machine's IP address into *addr, without
consulting the library routines that deal with /etc/hosts. The port
number is always set to htons(PMAPPORT).
struct pmaplist *pmap_getmaps(struct sockaddr_in *addr);
- A user interface to the portmap service, which
returns a list of the current RPC program-to-port mappings on the host
located at IP address *addr. This routine can return NULL. The
command rpcinfo -p uses this routine.
unsigned short pmap_getport(struct sockaddr_in *addr,
unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
unsigned int protocol);
- A user interface to the portmap service, which
returns the port number on which waits a service that supports program
number prognum, version versnum, and speaks the transport
protocol associated with protocol. The value of protocol is
most likely IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP. A return value of
zero means that the mapping does not exist or that the RPC system failed
to contact the remote portmap service. In the latter case, the
global variable rpc_createerr contains the RPC status.
enum clnt_stat pmap_rmtcall(struct sockaddr_in *addr,
unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
unsigned long procnum,
xdrproc_t inproc, char *in,
xdrproc_t outproc, char *out,
struct timeval tout, unsigned long *portp);
- A user interface to the portmap service, which
instructs portmap on the host at IP address *addr to make an
RPC call on your behalf to a procedure on that host. The parameter
*portp will be modified to the program's port number if the
procedure succeeds. The definitions of other parameters are discussed in
callrpc() and clnt_call(). This procedure should be used for
a “ping” and nothing else. See also
clnt_broadcast().
bool_t pmap_set(unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
int protocol, unsigned short port);
- A user interface to the portmap service, which
establishes a mapping between the triple
[prognum,versnum,protocol] and port on the
machine's portmap service. The value of protocol is most
likely IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP. This routine returns one
if it succeeds, zero otherwise. Automatically done by
svc_register().
bool_t pmap_unset(unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum);
- A user interface to the portmap service, which
destroys all mapping between the triple
[prognum,versnum,*] and ports on the machine's
portmap service. This routine returns one if it succeeds, zero
otherwise.
int registerrpc(unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum,
unsigned long procnum, char *(*procname)(char *),
xdrproc_t inproc, xdrproc_t outproc);
- Register procedure procname with the RPC service
package. If a request arrives for program prognum, version
versnum, and procedure procnum, procname is called
with a pointer to its parameter(s); procname should return a
pointer to its static result(s); inproc is used to decode the
parameters while outproc is used to encode the results. This
routine returns zero if the registration succeeded, -1 otherwise.
- Warning: remote procedures registered in this form are
accessed using the UDP/IP transport; see svcudp_create() for
restrictions.
struct rpc_createerr rpc_createerr;
- A global variable whose value is set by any RPC client
creation routine that does not succeed. Use the routine
clnt_pcreateerror() to print the reason why.
void svc_destroy(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- A macro that destroys the RPC service transport handle,
xprt. Destruction usually involves deallocation of private data
structures, including xprt itself. Use of xprt is undefined
after calling this routine.
fd_set svc_fdset;
- A global variable reflecting the RPC service side's read
file descriptor bit mask; it is suitable as a parameter to the
select(2) system call. This is of interest only if a service
implementor does their own asynchronous event processing, instead of
calling svc_run(). This variable is read-only (do not pass its
address to select(2)!), yet it may change after calls to
svc_getreqset() or any creation routines.
int svc_fds;
- Similar to svc_fdset, but limited to 32 file
descriptors. This interface is obsoleted by svc_fdset.
svc_freeargs(SVCXPRT *xprt, xdrproc_t inproc, char *in);
- A macro that frees any data allocated by the RPC/XDR system
when it decoded the arguments to a service procedure using
svc_getargs(). This routine returns 1 if the results were
successfully freed, and zero otherwise.
svc_getargs(SVCXPRT *xprt, xdrproc_t inproc, char *in);
- A macro that decodes the arguments of an RPC request
associated with the RPC service transport handle, xprt. The
parameter in is the address where the arguments will be placed;
inproc is the XDR routine used to decode the arguments. This
routine returns one if decoding succeeds, and zero otherwise.
struct sockaddr_in *svc_getcaller(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- The approved way of getting the network address of the
caller of a procedure associated with the RPC service transport handle,
xprt.
void svc_getreqset(fd_set *rdfds);
- This routine is of interest only if a service implementor
does not call svc_run(), but instead implements custom asynchronous
event processing. It is called when the select(2) system call has
determined that an RPC request has arrived on some RPC socket(s);
rdfds is the resultant read file descriptor bit mask. The routine
returns when all sockets associated with the value of rdfds have
been serviced.
void svc_getreq(int rdfds);
- Similar to svc_getreqset(), but limited to 32 file
descriptors. This interface is obsoleted by svc_getreqset().
bool_t svc_register(SVCXPRT *xprt, unsigned long prognum,
unsigned long versnum,
void (*dispatch)(struct svc_req *, SVCXPRT *),
unsigned long protocol);
- Associates prognum and versnum with the
service dispatch procedure, dispatch. If protocol is zero,
the service is not registered with the portmap service. If
protocol is nonzero, then a mapping of the triple
[prognum,versnum,protocol] to xprt->xp_port
is established with the local portmap service (generally
protocol is zero, IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP). The
procedure dispatch has the following form:
-
dispatch(struct svc_req *request, SVCXPRT *xprt);
- The svc_register() routine returns one if it
succeeds, and zero otherwise.
void svc_run(void);
- This routine never returns. It waits for RPC requests to
arrive, and calls the appropriate service procedure using
svc_getreq() when one arrives. This procedure is usually waiting
for a select(2) system call to return.
bool_t svc_sendreply(SVCXPRT *xprt, xdrproc_t outproc, char *out);
- Called by an RPC service's dispatch routine to send the
results of a remote procedure call. The parameter xprt is the
request's associated transport handle; outproc is the XDR routine
which is used to encode the results; and out is the address of the
results. This routine returns one if it succeeds, zero otherwise.
void svc_unregister(unsigned long prognum, unsigned long versnum);
- Remove all mapping of the double
[prognum,versnum] to dispatch routines, and of the triple
[prognum,versnum,*] to port number.
void svcerr_auth(SVCXPRT *xprt, enum auth_stat why);
- Called by a service dispatch routine that refuses to
perform a remote procedure call due to an authentication error.
void svcerr_decode(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Called by a service dispatch routine that cannot
successfully decode its parameters. See also svc_getargs().
void svcerr_noproc(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Called by a service dispatch routine that does not
implement the procedure number that the caller requests.
void svcerr_noprog(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Called when the desired program is not registered with the
RPC package. Service implementors usually do not need this routine.
void svcerr_progvers(SVCXPRT *xprt, unsigned long low_vers,
unsigned long high_vers);
- Called when the desired version of a program is not
registered with the RPC package. Service implementors usually do not need
this routine.
void svcerr_systemerr(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Called by a service dispatch routine when it detects a
system error not covered by any particular protocol. For example, if a
service can no longer allocate storage, it may call this routine.
void svcerr_weakauth(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Called by a service dispatch routine that refuses to
perform a remote procedure call due to insufficient authentication
parameters. The routine calls svcerr_auth(xprt, AUTH_TOOWEAK).
SVCXPRT *svcfd_create(int fd, unsigned int sendsize,
unsigned int recvsize);
- Create a service on top of any open file descriptor.
Typically, this file descriptor is a connected socket for a stream
protocol such as TCP. sendsize and recvsize indicate sizes
for the send and receive buffers. If they are zero, a reasonable default
is chosen.
SVCXPRT *svcraw_create(void);
- This routine creates a toy RPC service transport, to which
it returns a pointer. The transport is really a buffer within the
process's address space, so the corresponding RPC client should live in
the same address space; see clntraw_create(). This routine allows
simulation of RPC and acquisition of RPC overheads (such as round trip
times), without any kernel interference. This routine returns NULL if it
fails.
SVCXPRT *svctcp_create(int sock, unsigned int send_buf_size,
unsigned int recv_buf_size);
- This routine creates a TCP/IP-based RPC service transport,
to which it returns a pointer. The transport is associated with the socket
sock, which may be RPC_ANYSOCK, in which case a new socket
is created. If the socket is not bound to a local TCP port, then this
routine binds it to an arbitrary port. Upon completion,
xprt->xp_sock is the transport's socket descriptor, and
xprt->xp_port is the transport's port number. This routine
returns NULL if it fails. Since TCP-based RPC uses buffered I/O, users may
specify the size of buffers; values of zero choose suitable defaults.
SVCXPRT *svcudp_bufcreate(int sock, unsigned int sendsize,
unsigned int recosize);
- This routine creates a UDP/IP-based RPC service transport,
to which it returns a pointer. The transport is associated with the socket
sock, which may be RPC_ANYSOCK, in which case a new socket
is created. If the socket is not bound to a local UDP port, then this
routine binds it to an arbitrary port. Upon completion,
xprt->xp_sock is the transport's socket descriptor, and
xprt->xp_port is the transport's port number. This routine
returns NULL if it fails.
- This allows the user to specify the maximum packet size for
sending and receiving UDP-based RPC messages.
SVCXPRT *svcudp_create(int sock);
- This call is equivalent to
svcudp_bufcreate(sock,SZ,SZ) for some default size SZ.
bool_t xdr_accepted_reply(XDR *xdrs, struct accepted_reply *ar);
- Used for encoding RPC reply messages. This routine is
useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the
RPC package.
bool_t xdr_authunix_parms(XDR *xdrs, struct authunix_parms *aupp);
- Used for describing UNIX credentials. This routine is
useful for users who wish to generate these credentials without using the
RPC authentication package.
void xdr_callhdr(XDR *xdrs, struct rpc_msg *chdr);
- Used for describing RPC call header messages. This routine
is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using
the RPC package.
bool_t xdr_callmsg(XDR *xdrs, struct rpc_msg *cmsg);
- Used for describing RPC call messages. This routine is
useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the
RPC package.
bool_t xdr_opaque_auth(XDR *xdrs, struct opaque_auth *ap);
- Used for describing RPC authentication information
messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style
messages without using the RPC package.
bool_t xdr_pmap(XDR *xdrs, struct pmap *regs);
- Used for describing parameters to various portmap
procedures, externally. This routine is useful for users who wish to
generate these parameters without using the pmap interface.
bool_t xdr_pmaplist(XDR *xdrs, struct pmaplist **rp);
- Used for describing a list of port mappings, externally.
This routine is useful for users who wish to generate these parameters
without using the pmap interface.
bool_t xdr_rejected_reply(XDR *xdrs, struct rejected_reply *rr);
- Used for describing RPC reply messages. This routine is
useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the
RPC package.
bool_t xdr_replymsg(XDR *xdrs, struct rpc_msg *rmsg);
- Used for describing RPC reply messages. This routine is
useful for users who wish to generate RPC style messages without using the
RPC package.
void xprt_register(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- After RPC service transport handles are created, they
should register themselves with the RPC service package. This routine
modifies the global variable svc_fds. Service implementors usually
do not need this routine.
void xprt_unregister(SVCXPRT *xprt);
- Before an RPC service transport handle is destroyed, it
should unregister itself with the RPC service package. This routine
modifies the global variable svc_fds. Service implementors usually
do not need this routine.
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
attributes(7).
Interface |
Attribute |
Value |
auth_destroy (), authnone_create (), authunix_create (),
authunix_create_default (), callrpc (), clnt_broadcast (), clnt_call (),
clnt_destroy (), clnt_create (), clnt_control (), clnt_freeres (),
clnt_geterr (), clnt_pcreateerror (), clnt_perrno (), clnt_perror (),
clnt_spcreateerror (), clnt_sperrno (), clnt_sperror (), clntraw_create
(), clnttcp_create (), clntudp_create (), clntudp_bufcreate (),
get_myaddress (), pmap_getmaps (), pmap_getport (), pmap_rmtcall (),
pmap_set (), pmap_unset (), registerrpc (), svc_destroy (), svc_freeargs
(), svc_getargs (), svc_getcaller (), svc_getreqset (), svc_getreq (),
svc_register (), svc_run (), svc_sendreply (), svc_unregister (),
svcerr_auth (), svcerr_decode (), svcerr_noproc (), svcerr_noprog (),
svcerr_progvers (), svcerr_systemerr (), svcerr_weakauth (), svcfd_create
(), svcraw_create (), svctcp_create (), svcudp_bufcreate (), svcudp_create
(), xdr_accepted_reply (), xdr_authunix_parms (), xdr_callhdr (),
xdr_callmsg (), xdr_opaque_auth (), xdr_pmap (), xdr_pmaplist (),
xdr_rejected_reply (), xdr_replymsg (), xprt_register (), xprt_unregister
() |
Thread safety |
MT-Safe |
xdr(3)
The following manuals:
Remote Procedure Calls: Protocol Specification
Remote Procedure Call Programming Guide
rpcgen Programming Guide
RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification, RFC 1050, Sun
Microsystems, Inc., USC-ISI.