Command Section

CMSG_DATA(3)           FreeBSD Library Functions Manual           CMSG_DATA(3)

NAME
     CMSG_DATA, CMSG_FIRSTHDR, CMSG_LEN, CMSG_NXTHDR, CMSG_SPACE - socket
     control message routines for ancillary data access

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/socket.h>

     unsigned char *
     CMSG_DATA(struct cmsghdr *);

     struct cmsghdr *
     CMSG_FIRSTHDR(struct msghdr *);

     size_t
     CMSG_LEN(size_t);

     struct cmsghdr *
     CMSG_NXTHDR(struct msghdr *, struct cmsghdr *);

     size_t
     CMSG_SPACE(size_t);

DESCRIPTION
     The control message API is used to construct ancillary data objects for
     use in control messages sent and received across sockets.

     Control messages are passed around by the recvmsg(2) and sendmsg(2)
     system calls.  The cmsghdr structure, described in recvmsg(2), is used to
     specify a chain of control messages.

     These routines should be used instead of directly accessing the control
     message header members and data buffers as they ensure that necessary
     alignment constraints are met.

     The following routines are provided:

     CMSG_DATA(cmsg)
             This routine accesses the data portion of the control message
             header cmsg.  It ensures proper alignment constraints on the
             beginning of ancillary data are met.

     CMSG_FIRSTHDR(msghdr)
             This routine accesses the first control message attached to the
             message msghdr.  If no control messages are attached to the
             message, this routine returns NULL.

     CMSG_LEN(len)
             This routine determines the size in bytes of a control message,
             which includes the control message header.  len specifies the
             length of the data held by the control message.  This value is
             what is normally stored in the cmsg_len of each control message.
             This routine accounts for any alignment constraints on the
             beginning of ancillary data.

     CMSG_NXTHDR(msghdr, cmsg)
             This routine returns the location of the control message
             following cmsg in the message msghdr.  If cmsg is the last
             control message in the chain, this routine returns NULL.

     CMSG_SPACE(len)
             This routine determines the size in bytes needed to hold a
             control message and its contents of length len, which includes
             the control message header.  This value is what is normally
             stored in msg_msgcontrollen.  This routine accounts for any
             alignment constraints on the beginning of ancillary data as well
             as any needed to pad the next control message.

EXAMPLES
     The following example constructs a control message containing a file
     descriptor in the parent process and passes it over a pre-shared socket
     over the child process.  Then the child process sends a "hello" string to
     the parent process using the received file descriptor.

     #include <sys/socket.h>

     #include <err.h>
     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <string.h>
     #include <sysexits.h>
     #include <unistd.h>

     #define HELLOLEN    sizeof("hello")

     int
     main()
     {
             struct msghdr msg;
             union {
                     struct cmsghdr hdr;
                     unsigned char    buf[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int))];
             } cmsgbuf;
             char buf[HELLOLEN];
             int hellofd[2];
             int presharedfd[2];
             struct cmsghdr *cmsg;

             if (socketpair(PF_LOCAL, SOCK_STREAM, 0, presharedfd) == -1)
                     err(EX_OSERR, "failed to create a pre-shared socket pair");

             memset(&msg, 0, sizeof(msg));
             msg.msg_control = &cmsgbuf.buf;
             msg.msg_controllen = sizeof(cmsgbuf.buf);
             msg.msg_iov = NULL;
             msg.msg_iovlen = 0;

             switch (fork()) {
             case -1:
                     err(EX_OSERR, "fork");
             case 0:
                     close(presharedfd[0]);
                     strlcpy(buf, "hello", HELLOLEN);

                     if (recvmsg(presharedfd[1], &msg, 0) == -1)
                             err(EX_IOERR, "failed to receive a message");
                     if (msg.msg_flags & (MSG_CTRUNC | MSG_TRUNC))
                             errx(EX_IOERR, "control message truncated");
                     for (cmsg = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg); cmsg != NULL;
                         cmsg = CMSG_NXTHDR(&msg, cmsg)) {
                             if (cmsg->cmsg_len == CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int)) &&
                                 cmsg->cmsg_level == SOL_SOCKET &&
                                 cmsg->cmsg_type == SCM_RIGHTS) {
                                     hellofd[1] = *(int *)CMSG_DATA(cmsg);
                                     printf("child: sending '%s'\n", buf);
                                     if (write(hellofd[1], buf, HELLOLEN) == -1)
                                         err(EX_IOERR, "failed to send 'hello'");
                             }
                     }
                     break;
             default:
                     close(presharedfd[1]);

                     if (socketpair(PF_LOCAL, SOCK_STREAM, 0, hellofd) == -1)
                             err(EX_OSERR, "failed to create a 'hello' socket pair");

                     cmsg = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg);
                     cmsg->cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int));
                     cmsg->cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET;
                     cmsg->cmsg_type = SCM_RIGHTS;
                     *(int *)CMSG_DATA(cmsg) = hellofd[1];

                     if (sendmsg(presharedfd[0], &msg, 0) == -1)
                             err(EX_IOERR, "sendmsg");
                     close(hellofd[1]);

                     if (read(hellofd[0], buf, HELLOLEN) == -1)
                             err(EX_IOERR, "faild to receive 'hello'");
                     printf("parent: received '%s'\n", buf);
                     break;
             }

             return (0);
     }

SEE ALSO
     recvmsg(2), sendmsg(2), socket(2), ip(4), ip6(4), unix(4)

STANDARDS
     W. Stevens and M. Thomas, Advanced Sockets API for IPv6, RFC 2292,
     February 1998.

     W. Stevens, M. Thomas, E. Nordmark, and T. Jinmei, Advanced Sockets
     Application Program Interface (API) for IPv6, RFC 3542, May 2003.

HISTORY
     The control message API first appeared in 4.2BSD.  This manual page was
     originally written by Jared Yanovich <jaredy@OpenBSD.org> for OpenBSD 3.8
     and eventually brought to FreeBSD 12.0 by Mateusz Piotrowski
     <0mp@FreeBSD.org>.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6         March 13, 2020         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6

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