Provided by: manpages-dev_4.04-2_all 
NAME
socketcall - socket system calls
SYNOPSIS
int socketcall(int call, unsigned long *args);
DESCRIPTION
socketcall() is a common kernel entry point for the socket system calls. call determines which socket
function to invoke. args points to a block containing the actual arguments, which are passed through to
the appropriate call.
User programs should call the appropriate functions by their usual names. Only standard library
implementors and kernel hackers need to know about socketcall().
CONFORMING TO
This call is specific to Linux, and should not be used in programs intended to be portable.
NOTES
On a some architectures—for example, x86-64 and ARM—there is no socketcall() system call; instead
socket(2), accept(2), bind(2), and so on really are implemented as separate system calls.
On x86-32, socketcall() was historically the only entry point for the sockets API. However, starting in
Linux 4.3, direct system calls are provided on x86-32 for the sockets API. This facilitates the creation
of seccomp(2) filters that filter sockets system calls (for new user-space binaries that are compiled to
use the new entry points) and also provides a (very) small performance improvement.
SEE ALSO
accept(2), bind(2), connect(2), getpeername(2), getsockname(2), getsockopt(2), listen(2), recv(2), recvfrom(2), recvmsg(2), send(2), sendmsg(2), sendto(2), setsockopt(2), shutdown(2), socket(2), socketpair(2)
COLOPHON
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