gethostbyname2 man page on OpenBSD

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GETHOSTBYNAME(3)	  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual	      GETHOSTBYNAME(3)

NAME
     gethostbyname, gethostbyname2, gethostbyaddr, gethostent, sethostent,
     endhostent, hstrerror, herror - get network host entry

SYNOPSIS
     #include <netdb.h>

     extern int h_errno;

     struct hostent *
     gethostbyname(const char *name);

     struct hostent *
     gethostbyname2(const char *name, int af);

     struct hostent *
     gethostbyaddr(const void *addr, socklen_t len, int af);

     struct hostent *
     gethostent(void);

     void
     sethostent(int stayopen);

     void
     endhostent(void);

     void
     herror(const char *string);

     const char *
     hstrerror(int err);

DESCRIPTION
     The gethostbyname(), gethostbyname2(), and gethostbyaddr() functions each
     return a pointer to an object with the following structure describing an
     Internet host referenced by name or by address, respectively.  This
     structure contains either information obtained from the name server
     (i.e., resolver(3) and named(8)), broken-out fields from a line in
     /etc/hosts, or database entries supplied by the yp(8) system.
     resolv.conf(5) describes how the particular database is chosen.

	   struct  hostent {
		   char	   *h_name;	   /* official name of host */
		   char	   **h_aliases;	   /* alias list */
		   int	   h_addrtype;	   /* host address type */
		   int	   h_length;	   /* length of address */
		   char	   **h_addr_list;  /* list of returned addresses */
	   };
	   #define h_addr  h_addr_list[0]  /* address, for backward compat */

     The members of this structure are:

     h_name	  Official name of the host.

     h_aliases	  A null-terminated array of alternate names for the host.

     h_addrtype	  The type of address being returned.

     h_length	  The length, in bytes, of the address.

     h_addr_list  A null-terminated array of network addresses for the host.
		  Host addresses are returned in network byte order.

     h_addr	  The first address in h_addr_list; this is for backward
		  compatibility.

     The function gethostbyname() will search for the named host in the
     current domain and its parents using the search lookup semantics detailed
     in resolv.conf(5) and hostname(7).

     gethostbyname2() is an advanced form of gethostbyname() which allows
     lookups in address families other than AF_INET.  Currently, the only
     supported address family besides AF_INET is AF_INET6.

     The gethostbyaddr() function will search for the specified address of
     length len in the address family af.  The only address family currently
     supported is AF_INET.

     The sethostent() function may be used to request the use of a connected
     TCP socket for queries.  If the stayopen flag is non-zero, this sets the
     option to send all queries to the name server using TCP and to retain the
     connection after each call to gethostbyname() or gethostbyaddr().
     Otherwise, queries are performed using UDP datagrams.

     The endhostent() function closes the TCP connection.

     The herror() function prints an error message describing the failure.  If
     its argument string is non-null, it is prepended to the message string
     and separated from it by a colon (`:') and a space.  The error message is
     printed with a trailing newline.  The contents of the error message is
     the same as that returned by hstrerror() with argument h_errno.

ENVIRONMENT
     HOSTALIASES  A file containing local host aliases.	 See hostname(7) for
		  more information.

     RES_OPTIONS  A list of options to override the resolver's internal
		  defaults.  See resolver(3) for more information.

FILES
     /etc/hosts
     /etc/resolv.conf

DIAGNOSTICS
     Error return status from gethostbyname(), gethostbyname2(), and
     gethostbyaddr() is indicated by return of a null pointer.	The external
     integer h_errno may then be checked to see whether this is a temporary
     failure or an invalid or unknown host.

     The variable h_errno can have the following values:

     HOST_NOT_FOUND  No such host is known.

     TRY_AGAIN	     This is usually a temporary error and means that the
		     local server did not receive a response from an
		     authoritative server.  A retry at some later time may
		     succeed.

     NO_RECOVERY     Some unexpected server failure was encountered.  This is
		     a non-recoverable error.

     NO_DATA	     The requested name is valid but does not have an IP
		     address; this is not a temporary error.  This means that
		     the name is known to the name server but there is no
		     address associated with this name.	 Another type of
		     request to the name server using this domain name will
		     result in an answer; for example, a mail-forwarder may be
		     registered for this domain.

     NETDB_INTERNAL  An internal error occurred.  This may occur when an
		     address family other than AF_INET or AF_INET6 is
		     specified or when a resource is unable to be allocated.

     NETDB_SUCCESS   The function completed successfully.

SEE ALSO
     getaddrinfo(3), getnameinfo(3), resolver(3), hosts(5), resolv.conf(5),
     hostname(7), named(8)

HISTORY
     The herror() function appeared in 4.3BSD.	The endhostent(),
     gethostbyaddr(), gethostbyname(), gethostent(), and sethostent()
     functions appeared in 4.2BSD.

CAVEATS
     If the search routines in resolv.conf(5) decide to read the /etc/hosts
     file, gethostent() and other functions will read the next line of the
     file, re-opening the file if necessary.

     The sethostent() function opens and/or rewinds the file /etc/hosts.  If
     the stayopen argument is non-zero, the file will not be closed after each
     call to gethostbyname(), gethostbyname2(), or gethostbyaddr().

     The endhostent() function closes the file.

BUGS
     These functions use static data storage; if the data is needed for future
     use, it should be copied before any subsequent calls overwrite it.

     Only the Internet address formats are currently understood.

     YP does not support any address families other than AF_INET and uses the
     traditional database format.

OpenBSD 4.9			 May 31, 2007			   OpenBSD 4.9
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