xref: /openbsd/lib/libc/net/getifaddrs.3 (revision 3d8817e4)
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2.\"	BSDI	getifaddrs.3,v 2.5 2000/02/23 14:51:59 dab Exp
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24.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
25.Dt GETIFADDRS 3
26.Os
27.Sh NAME
28.Nm getifaddrs
29.Nd get interface addresses
30.Sh SYNOPSIS
31.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
32.Fd #include <sys/socket.h>
33.Fd #include <ifaddrs.h>
34.Ft int
35.Fn getifaddrs "struct ifaddrs **ifap"
36.Ft void
37.Fn freeifaddrs "struct ifaddrs *ifap"
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Fn getifaddrs
41function stores a reference to a linked list of the network interfaces
42on the local machine in the memory referenced by
43.Fa ifap .
44The list consists of
45.Nm ifaddrs
46structures, as defined in the include file
47.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h .
48The
49.Nm ifaddrs
50structure contains at least the following entries:
51.Bd -literal
52    struct ifaddrs   *ifa_next;         /* Pointer to next struct */
53    char             *ifa_name;         /* Interface name */
54    u_int             ifa_flags;        /* Interface flags */
55    struct sockaddr  *ifa_addr;         /* Interface address */
56    struct sockaddr  *ifa_netmask;      /* Interface netmask */
57    struct sockaddr  *ifa_broadaddr;    /* Interface broadcast address */
58    struct sockaddr  *ifa_dstaddr;      /* P2P interface destination */
59    void             *ifa_data;		/* Address specific data */
60.Ed
61.Bl -tag -width ifa_broadaddr
62.It Fa ifa_next
63Contains a pointer to the next structure on the list.
64This field is set to
65.Dv NULL
66in the last structure on the list.
67.It Fa ifa_name
68Contains the interface name.
69.It Fa ifa_flags
70Contains the interface flags, as set by
71.Xr ifconfig 8 .
72.It Fa ifa_addr
73References either the address of the interface or the link level
74address of the interface, if one exists, otherwise it is
75.Dv NULL .
76(The
77.Fa sa_family
78field of the
79.Fa ifa_addr
80field should be consulted to determine the format of the
81.Fa ifa_addr
82address.)
83.It Fa ifa_netmask
84References the netmask associated with
85.Fa ifa_addr ,
86if one is set, otherwise it is
87.Dv NULL .
88.It Fa ifa_broadaddr
89This field, which should only be referenced for non-P2P interfaces,
90references the broadcast address associated with
91.Fa ifa_addr ,
92if one exists, otherwise it is
93.Dv NULL .
94.It Fa ifa_dstaddr
95References the destination address on a P2P interface,
96if one exists, otherwise it is
97.Dv NULL .
98.It Fa ifa_data
99References address family specific data.
100For
101.Dv AF_LINK
102addresses it contains a pointer to the
103.Li struct if_data
104(as defined in include file
105.Aq Pa net/if.h )
106which contains various interface attributes and statistics.
107For all other address families,
108.Fa ifa_data
109is
110.Dv NULL .
111.El
112.Pp
113The data returned by
114.Fn getifaddrs
115is dynamically allocated and should be freed using
116.Fn freeifaddrs
117when no longer needed.
118.Sh RETURN VALUES
119Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.
120Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
121.Va errno
122is set to indicate the error.
123.Sh ERRORS
124The
125.Fn getifaddrs
126may fail and set
127.Va errno
128for any of the errors specified for the library routines
129.Xr ioctl 2 ,
130.Xr socket 2 ,
131.Xr malloc 3 ,
132or
133.Xr sysctl 3 .
134.Sh SEE ALSO
135.Xr ioctl 2 ,
136.Xr socket 2 ,
137.Xr sysctl 3 ,
138.Xr networking 4 ,
139.Xr ifconfig 8
140.Sh HISTORY
141The
142.Fn getifaddrs
143function first appeared in BSDI BSD/OS.
144The function has been available on
145.Ox
146since
147.Ox 2.7 .
148.Sh BUGS
149If both
150.Aq Pa net/if.h
151and
152.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h
153are being included,
154.Aq Pa net/if.h
155.Em must
156be included before
157.Aq Pa ifaddrs.h .
158