NAME

       netlink - Netlink macros

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <asm/types.h>
       #include <linux/netlink.h>

       int NLMSG_ALIGN(size_t size);
       int NLMSG_LENGTH(size_t size);
       int NLMSG_SPACE(size_t size);
       void *NLMSG_DATA(struct nlmsghdr *nlh);
       struct nlmsghdr *NLMSG_NEXT(struct nlmsghdr *nlh, int size);
       int NLMSG_OK(struct nlmsghdr *nlh, int size);
       int NLMSG_PAYLOAD(struct nlmsghdr *nlh, int size);

DESCRIPTION

       <linux/netlink.h>  defines  several  standard  macros  to  access or create a netlink datagram.  They are
       similar in spirit to the macros defined in cmsg(3) for auxiliary data.  The buffer passed to and  from  a
       netlink socket should be accessed using only these macros.

       NLMSG_ALIGN()
              Round the size of a netlink message up to align it properly.

       NLMSG_LENGTH()
              Given  the payload size, size, this macro returns the aligned size to store in the nlmsg_len field
              of the nlmsghdr.

       NLMSG_SPACE()
              Return the number of bytes that a netlink message with payload of size would occupy.

       NLMSG_DATA()
              Return a pointer to the payload associated with the passed nlmsghdr.

       NLMSG_NEXT()
              Get the next nlmsghdr in a multipart message.  The caller  must  check  if  the  current  nlmsghdr
              didn't  have the NLMSG_DONE set—this function doesn't return NULL on end.  The size argument is an
              lvalue containing the remaining size of the message buffer.  This macro decrements it by the  size
              of the message header.

       NLMSG_OK()
              Return true if the netlink message is not truncated and is in a form suitable for parsing.

       NLMSG_PAYLOAD()
              Return the size of the payload associated with the nlmsghdr.

VERSIONS

       It is often better to use netlink via libnetlink than via the low-level kernel interface.

STANDARDS

       Linux.

SEE ALSO

       libnetlink(3), netlink(7)

Linux man-pages 6.16                               2025-05-17                                         netlink(3)