Ubuntu Manpage: CMSG_ALIGN, CMSG_SPACE, CMSG_NXTHDR, CMSG_FIRSTHDR

NAME

       CMSG_ALIGN, CMSG_SPACE, CMSG_NXTHDR, CMSG_FIRSTHDR - access ancillary data

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/socket.h>

       struct cmsghdr *CMSG_FIRSTHDR(struct msghdr *msgh);
       struct cmsghdr *CMSG_NXTHDR(struct msghdr *msgh, struct cmsghdr *cmsg);
       size_t CMSG_ALIGN(size_t length);
       size_t CMSG_SPACE(size_t length);
       size_t CMSG_LEN(size_t length);
       unsigned char *CMSG_DATA(struct cmsghdr *cmsg);

       struct cmsghdr {
           socklen_t cmsg_len;    /* data byte count, including header */
           int       cmsg_level;  /* originating protocol */
           int       cmsg_type;   /* protocol-specific type */
           /* followed by unsigned char cmsg_data[]; */
       };

DESCRIPTION

These macros are used to create and access control messages (also called ancillary data)
that are not a part of the socket payload. This control information may include the
interface the packet was received on, various rarely used header fields, an extended error
description, a set of file descriptors or UNIX credentials. For instance, control
messages can be used to send additional header fields such as IP options. Ancillary data
is sent by calling sendmsg(2) and received by calling recvmsg(2). See their manual pages
for more information.

Ancillary data is a sequence of struct cmsghdr structures with appended data. This
sequence should be accessed using only the macros described in this manual page and never
directly. See the specific protocol man pages for the available control message types.
The maximum ancillary buffer size allowed per socket can be set using
/proc/sys/net/core/optmem_max; see socket(7).

CMSG_FIRSTHDR() returns a pointer to the first cmsghdr in the ancillary data buffer
associated with the passed msghdr.

CMSG_NXTHDR() returns the next valid cmsghdr after the passed cmsghdr. It returns NULL
when there isn't enough space left in the buffer.

CMSG_ALIGN(), given a length, returns it including the required alignment. This is a
constant expression.

CMSG_SPACE() returns the number of bytes an ancillary element with payload of the passed
data length occupies. This is a constant expression.

CMSG_DATA() returns a pointer to the data portion of a cmsghdr.

CMSG_LEN() returns the value to store in the cmsg_len member of the cmsghdr structure,
taking into account any necessary alignment. It takes the data length as an argument.
This is a constant expression.

To create ancillary data, first initialize the msg_controllen member of the msghdr with
the length of the control message buffer. Use CMSG_FIRSTHDR() on the msghdr to get the
first control message and CMSG_NXTHDR() to get all subsequent ones. In each control
message, initialize cmsg_len (with CMSG_LEN()), the other cmsghdr header fields, and the
data portion using CMSG_DATA(). Finally, the msg_controllen field of the msghdr should be
set to the sum of the CMSG_SPACE() of the length of all control messages in the buffer.
For more information on the msghdr, see recvmsg(2).

When the control message buffer is too short to store all messages, the MSG_CTRUNC flag is
set in the msg_flags member of the msghdr.

CONFORMING TO

       This ancillary data model conforms to the POSIX.1g draft, 4.4BSD-Lite, the  IPv6  advanced
       API described in RFC 2292 and SUSv2.  CMSG_ALIGN() is a Linux extension.

NOTES

       For  portability,  ancillary data should be accessed using only the macros described here.
       CMSG_ALIGN() is a Linux extension and should not be used in portable programs.

       In Linux, CMSG_LEN(), CMSG_DATA(), and CMSG_ALIGN()  are  constant  expressions  (assuming
       their  argument  is constant); this could be used to declare the size of global variables.
       This may not be portable, however.

EXAMPLE

       This code looks for the IP_TTL option in a received ancillary buffer:

           struct msghdr msgh;
           struct cmsghdr *cmsg;
           int *ttlptr;
           int received_ttl;

           /* Receive auxiliary data in msgh */
           for (cmsg = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msgh); cmsg != NULL;
                   cmsg = CMSG_NXTHDR(&msgh,cmsg)) {
               if (cmsg->cmsg_level == IPPROTO_IP
                       && cmsg->cmsg_type == IP_TTL) {
                   ttlptr = (int *) CMSG_DATA(cmsg);
                   received_ttl = *ttlptr;
                   break;
               }
           }
           if (cmsg == NULL) {
               /*
                * Error: IP_TTL not enabled or small buffer
                * or I/O error.
                */
           }

       The code below passes an array of  file  descriptors  over  a  UNIX  domain  socket  using
       SCM_RIGHTS:

           struct msghdr msg = {0};
           struct cmsghdr *cmsg;
           int myfds[NUM_FD]; /* Contains the file descriptors to pass. */
           union {
               /* ancillary data buffer, wrapped in a union in order to ensure
                  it is suitably aligned */
               char buf[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof myfds)];
               struct cmsghdr align;
           } u;
           int *fdptr;

           msg.msg_control = u.buf;
           msg.msg_controllen = sizeof u.buf;
           cmsg = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg);
           cmsg->cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET;
           cmsg->cmsg_type = SCM_RIGHTS;
           cmsg->cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int) * NUM_FD);
           /* Initialize the payload: */
           fdptr = (int *) CMSG_DATA(cmsg);
           memcpy(fdptr, myfds, NUM_FD * sizeof(int));

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 4.04 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.