NAME

     socket — create an endpoint for communication

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

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

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

DESCRIPTION

     The socket() system call creates an endpoint for communication and returns a descriptor.

     The domain argument specifies a communications domain within which communication 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:

           PF_LOCAL        Host-internal protocols, formerly called PF_UNIX,
           PF_UNIX         Host-internal protocols, deprecated, use PF_LOCAL,
           PF_INET         Internet version 4 protocols,
           PF_PUP          PUP protocols, like BSP,
           PF_APPLETALK    AppleTalk protocols,
           PF_ROUTE        Internal Routing protocol,
           PF_LINK         Link layer interface,
           PF_IPX          Novell Internet Packet eXchange protocol,
           PF_RTIP         Help Identify RTIP packets,
           PF_PIP          Help Identify PIP packets,
           PF_ISDN         Integrated Services Digital Network,
           PF_KEY          Internal key-management function,
           PF_INET6        Internet version 6 protocols,
           PF_NATM         Native ATM access,
           PF_ATM          ATM,
           PF_NETGRAPH     Netgraph sockets

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

           SOCK_STREAM     Stream socket,
           SOCK_DGRAM      Datagram socket,
           SOCK_RAW        Raw-protocol interface,
           SOCK_RDM        Reliably-delivered packet,
           SOCK_SEQPACKET  Sequenced packet stream

     A SOCK_STREAM type provides sequenced, reliable, two-way connection based byte streams.  An
     out-of-band data transmission mechanism may be supported.  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 facility is protocol specific, and
     presently unimplemented.  SOCK_RAW sockets provide access to internal network protocols and
     interfaces.  The types SOCK_RAW, which is available only to the super-user, and SOCK_RDM,
     which is planned, but not yet implemented, are not described here.

     The protocol argument 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 specified in this manner.  The protocol number to use is particular to the
     “communication domain” in which communication is to take place; see protocols(5).

     The protocol argument may be set to zero (0) to request the default implementation of a
     socket type for the protocol, if any.

     Sockets of type SOCK_STREAM are full-duplex byte streams, similar to pipes.  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) system call.  Once connected, data may be
     transferred using read(2) and write(2) calls or some variant of the send(2) and recv(2)
     functions.  (Some protocol families, such as the Internet family, support the notion of an
     “implied connect”, which permits data to be sent piggybacked onto a connect operation by
     using the sendto(2) system call.)  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 absence 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).  By default, a SIGPIPE signal is raised if a process sends
     on a broken stream, but this behavior may be inhibited via setsockopt(2).

     SOCK_SEQPACKET sockets employ the same system calls as SOCK_STREAM sockets.  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 correspondents named in
     send(2) calls.  Datagrams are generally received with recvfrom(2), which returns the next
     datagram with its return address.

     An fcntl(2) system 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 options are defined
     in the file <sys/socket.h>.  The setsockopt(2) and getsockopt(2) system calls 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() system call fails if:

     [EPROTONOSUPPORT]  The protocol type or the specified protocol is not supported 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.

     [EPERM]            User has insufficient privileges to carry out the requested operation.

SEE ALSO

     accept(2), bind(2), connect(2), getpeername(2), getsockname(2), getsockopt(2), ioctl(2),
     listen(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), shutdown(2), socketpair(2), write(2),
     getprotoent(3), netgraph(4), protocols(5)

     “An Introductory 4.3 BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial”, PS1, 7.

     “BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial”, PS1, 8.

HISTORY

     The socket() system call appeared in 4.2BSD.