NAME

     mbchain, mb_init, mb_initm, mb_done, mb_detach, mb_fixhdr, mb_reserve, mb_put_uint8,
     mb_put_uint16be, mb_put_uint16le, mb_put_uint32be, mb_put_uint32le, mb_put_int64be,
     mb_put_int64le, mb_put_mem, mb_put_mbuf, mb_put_uio — set of functions to build an mbuf
     chain from various data types

SYNOPSIS

     options LIBMCHAIN
     kldload libmchain

     #include <sys/param.h>
     #include <sys/uio.h>
     #include <sys/mchain.h>

     int
     mb_init(struct mbchain *mbp);

     void
     mb_initm(struct mbchain *mbp, struct mbuf *m);

     void
     mb_done(struct mbchain *mbp);

     struct mbuf *
     mb_detach(struct mbchain *mbp);

     int
     mb_fixhdr(struct mbchain *mbp);

     caddr_t
     mb_reserve(struct mbchain *mbp, int size);

     int
     mb_put_uint8(struct mbchain *mbp, u_int8_t x);

     int
     mb_put_uint16be(struct mbchain *mbp, u_int16_t x);

     int
     mb_put_uint16le(struct mbchain *mbp, u_int16_t x);

     int
     mb_put_uint32be(struct mbchain *mbp, u_int32_t x);

     int
     mb_put_uint32le(struct mbchain *mbp, u_int32_t x);

     int
     mb_put_int64be(struct mbchain *mbp, int64_t x);

     int
     mb_put_int64le(struct mbchain *mbp, int64_t x);

     int
     mb_put_mem(struct mbchain *mbp, c_caddr_t source, int size, int type);

     int
     mb_put_mbuf(struct mbchain *mbp, struct mbuf *m);

     int
     mb_put_uio(struct mbchain *mbp, struct uio *uiop, int size);

DESCRIPTION

     These functions are used to compose mbuf chains from various data types.  The mbchain
     structure is used as a working context and should be initialized with a call to either
     mb_init() or mb_initm().  It has the following fields:

     mb_top    (struct mbuf *) A pointer to the top of constructed mbuf chain.

     mb_cur    (struct mbuf *) A pointer to the currently filled mbuf.

     mb_mleft  (int) Number of bytes left in the current mbuf.

     mb_count  (int) Total number of bytes placed in the mbuf chain.

     mb_copy   (mb_copy_t *) User-defined function to perform a copy into mbuf; useful if any
               unusual data conversion is necessary.

     mb_udata  (void *) User-supplied data which can be used in the mb_copy function.

     mb_done() function disposes an mbuf chain pointed to by mbp->mb_top field and sets the field
     to NULL.

     mb_detach() function returns the value of mbp->mb_top field and sets its value to NULL.

     mb_fixhdr() recalculates the length of an mbuf chain and updates the m_pkthdr.len field of
     the first mbuf in the chain.  It returns the calculated length.

     mb_reserve() ensures that the object of the length specified by the size argument will fit
     in the current mbuf (mbuf allocation is performed if necessary), and advances all pointers
     as if the real data was placed.  Returned value will point to the beginning of the reserved
     space.  Note that the size of the object should not exceed MLEN bytes.

     All mb_put_*() functions perform an actual copy of the data into mbuf chain.  Functions
     which have le or be suffixes will perform conversion to the little- or big-endian data
     formats.

     mb_put_mem() function copies size bytes of data specified by the source argument to an mbuf
     chain.  The type argument specifies the method used to perform a copy, and can be one of the
     following:

     MB_MSYSTEM  Use bcopy() function.

     MB_MUSER    Use copyin(9) function.

     MB_MINLINE  Use an “inline” loop which does not call any function.

     MB_MZERO    Do not copy any data, but just fill the destination with zero bytes.

     MB_MCUSTOM  Call function specified by the mbp->mb_copy field.

RETURN VALUES

     All int functions except mb_fixhdr() return zero if successful and an error code otherwise.

     Note: after failure of any function, an mbuf chain is left in the broken state, and only
     mb_done() function can safely be called to destroy it.

EXAMPLES

     struct mbchain *mbp;
     struct mbuf *m;

     mb_init(mbp);
     mb_put_uint8(mbp, 33);
     mb_put_uint16le(mbp, length);
     m = m_copym(mbp->mb_top, 0, M_COPYALL, M_WAIT);
     send(m);
     mb_done(mbp);

SEE ALSO

     mbuf(9), mdchain(9)

AUTHORS

     This manual page was written by Boris Popov <bp@FreeBSD.org>.