socket man page on MirBSD

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SOCKET(2)		   BSD Programmer's Manual		     SOCKET(2)

NAME
     socket - create an endpoint for communication

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>

     int
     socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);

DESCRIPTION
     socket() creates an endpoint for communication and returns a descriptor.

     The domain parameter specifies a communications domain within which com-
     munication will take place; this selects the protocol family which should
     be used. These families are defined in the include file <sys/socket.h>.
     The currently understood formats are

	   AF_UNIX	   (UNIX internal protocols),
	   AF_INET	   (ARPA Internet protocols),
	   AF_INET6	   (ARPA IPv6 protocols),
	   AF_ISO	   (ISO protocols),
	   AF_NS	   (Xerox Network Systems protocols),
	   AF_IPX	   (Internetwork Packet Exchange), and
	   AF_IMPLINK	   (IMP host at IMP link layer).

     The socket has the indicated type, which specifies the semantics of com-
     munication. Currently defined types are:

	   SOCK_STREAM
	   SOCK_DGRAM
	   SOCK_RAW
	   SOCK_SEQPACKET
	   SOCK_RDM

     A SOCK_STREAM type provides sequenced, reliable, two-way connection based
     byte streams. An out-of-band data transmission mechanism may be support-
     ed. A SOCK_DGRAM socket supports datagrams (connectionless, unreliable
     messages of a fixed (typically small) maximum length). A SOCK_SEQPACKET
     socket may provide a sequenced, reliable, two-way connection-based data
     transmission path for datagrams of fixed maximum length; a consumer may
     be required to read an entire packet with each read system call. This fa-
     cility is protocol specific, and presently implemented only for PF_NS.
     SOCK_RAW sockets provide access to internal network protocols and inter-
     faces. The types SOCK_RAW, which is available only to the superuser, and
     SOCK_RDM, which is planned, but not yet implemented, are not described
     here.

     The protocol specifies a particular protocol to be used with the socket.
     Normally only a single protocol exists to support a particular socket
     type within a given protocol family. However, it is possible that many
     protocols may exist, in which case a particular protocol must be speci-
     fied in this manner. The protocol number to use is particular to the com-
     munication domain in which communication is to take place; see
     protocols(5). A value of 0 for protocol will let the system select an ap-
     propriate protocol for the requested socket type.

     Sockets of type SOCK_STREAM are full-duplex byte streams. A stream socket
     must be in a connected state before any data may be sent or received on
     it. A connection to another socket is created with a connect(2) call.
     Once connected, data may be transferred using read(2) and write(2) calls
     or some variant of the send(2) and recv(2) calls. When a session has been
     completed a close(2) may be performed. Out-of-band data may also be
     transmitted as described in send(2) and received as described in recv(2).
     The communications protocols used to implement a SOCK_STREAM ensure that
     data is not lost or duplicated. If a piece of data for which the peer
     protocol has buffer space cannot be successfully transmitted within a
     reasonable length of time, then the connection is considered broken and
     calls will indicate an error with -1 returns and with ETIMEDOUT as the
     specific code in the global variable errno. The protocols optionally keep
     sockets "warm" by forcing transmissions roughly every minute in the ab-
     sence of other activity. An error is then indicated if no response can be
     elicited on an otherwise idle connection for an extended period (e.g., 5
     minutes). A SIGPIPE signal is raised if a process sends on a broken
     stream; this causes naive processes, which do not handle the signal, to
     exit.

     SOCK_SEQPACKET sockets employ the same system calls as SOCK_STREAM sock-
     ets. The only difference is that read(2) calls will return only the
     amount of data requested, and any remaining in the arriving packet will
     be discarded.

     SOCK_DGRAM and SOCK_RAW sockets allow sending of datagrams to correspon-
     dents named in send(2) calls. Datagrams are generally received with
     recvfrom(2), which returns the next datagram with its return address.

     An fcntl(2) call can be used to specify a process group to receive a
     SIGURG signal when the out-of-band data arrives. It may also enable non-
     blocking I/O and asynchronous notification of I/O events via SIGIO.

     The operation of sockets is controlled by socket level options. These op-
     tions are defined in the file <sys/socket.h>. setsockopt(2) and
     getsockopt(2) are used to set and get options, respectively.

RETURN VALUES
     A -1 is returned if an error occurs, otherwise the return value is a
     descriptor referencing the socket.

ERRORS
     The socket() call fails if:

     [EPROTONOSUPPORT]
		   The protocol type or the specified protocol is not support-
		   ed within this domain.

     [EMFILE]	   The per-process descriptor table is full.

     [ENFILE]	   The system file table is full.

     [EACCES]	   Permission to create a socket of the specified type and/or
		   protocol is denied.

     [ENOBUFS]	   Insufficient buffer space is available. The socket cannot
		   be created until sufficient resources are freed.

SEE ALSO
     accept(2), bind(2), connect(2), getsockname(2), getsockopt(2), ioctl(2),
     listen(2), poll(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), setsockopt(2),
     shutdown(2), socketpair(2), write(2), getprotoent(3), netintro(4)

     An Introductory 4.3 BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial, reprinted in
     UNIX Programmer's Supplementary Documents Volume 1.

     BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial, reprinted in UNIX Programmer's
     Supplementary Documents Volume 1.

HISTORY
     The socket() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

MirOS BSD #10-current		 June 4, 1993				     1
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