xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/gen/getgrent.3 (revision 67640b13)
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28.\"     From: @(#)getgrent.3	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
29.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/gen/getgrent.3,v 1.28 2007/01/09 00:27:53 imp Exp $
30.\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libc/gen/getgrent.3,v 1.5 2008/04/19 10:08:05 swildner Exp $
31.\"
32.Dd April 19, 2008
33.Dt GETGRENT 3
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm getgrent ,
37.Nm getgrent_r ,
38.Nm getgrnam ,
39.Nm getgrnam_r ,
40.Nm getgrgid ,
41.Nm getgrgid_r ,
42.Nm setgroupent ,
43.Nm setgrent ,
44.Nm endgrent
45.Nd group database operations
46.Sh LIBRARY
47.Lb libc
48.Sh SYNOPSIS
49.In grp.h
50.Ft struct group *
51.Fn getgrent void
52.Ft int
53.Fn getgrent_r "struct group *grp" "char *buffer" "size_t bufsize" "struct group **result"
54.Ft struct group *
55.Fn getgrnam "const char *name"
56.Ft int
57.Fn getgrnam_r "const char *name" "struct group *grp" "char *buffer" "size_t bufsize" "struct group **result"
58.Ft struct group *
59.Fn getgrgid "gid_t gid"
60.Ft int
61.Fn getgrgid_r "gid_t gid" "struct group *grp" "char *buffer" "size_t bufsize" "struct group **result"
62.Ft int
63.Fn setgroupent "int stayopen"
64.Ft void
65.Fn setgrent void
66.Ft void
67.Fn endgrent void
68.Sh DESCRIPTION
69These functions operate on the group database file
70.Pa /etc/group
71which is described
72in
73.Xr group 5 .
74Each line of the database is defined by the structure
75.Vt group
76found in the include
77file
78.In grp.h :
79.Bd -literal -offset indent
80struct group {
81	char	*gr_name;	/* group name */
82	char	*gr_passwd;	/* group password */
83	gid_t	gr_gid;		/* group id */
84	char	**gr_mem;	/* group members */
85};
86.Ed
87.Pp
88The functions
89.Fn getgrnam
90and
91.Fn getgrgid
92search the group database for the given group name pointed to by
93.Fa name
94or the group id pointed to by
95.Fa gid ,
96respectively, returning the first one encountered.
97Identical group
98names or group gids may result in undefined behavior.
99.Pp
100The
101.Fn getgrent
102function
103sequentially reads the group database and is intended for programs
104that wish to step through the complete list of groups.
105.Pp
106The functions
107.Fn getgrent_r ,
108.Fn getgrnam_r ,
109and
110.Fn getgrgid_r
111are thread-safe versions of
112.Fn getgrent ,
113.Fn getgrnam ,
114and
115.Fn getgrgid ,
116respectively.
117The caller must provide storage for the results of the search in
118the
119.Fa grp ,
120.Fa buffer ,
121.Fa bufsize ,
122and
123.Fa result
124arguments.
125When these functions are successful, the
126.Fa grp
127argument will be filled-in, and a pointer to that argument will be
128stored in
129.Fa result .
130If an entry is not found or an error occurs,
131.Fa result
132will be set to
133.Dv NULL .
134.Pp
135These functions will open the group file for reading, if necessary.
136.Pp
137The
138.Fn setgroupent
139function
140opens the file, or rewinds it if it is already open.
141If
142.Fa stayopen
143is non-zero, file descriptors are left open, significantly speeding
144functions subsequent calls.
145This functionality is unnecessary for
146.Fn getgrent
147as it does not close its file descriptors by default.
148It should also
149be noted that it is dangerous for long-running programs to use this
150functionality as the group file may be updated.
151.Pp
152The
153.Fn setgrent
154function
155is identical to
156.Fn setgroupent
157with an argument of zero.
158.Pp
159The
160.Fn endgrent
161function
162closes any open files.
163.Sh RETURN VALUES
164The functions
165.Fn getgrent ,
166.Fn getgrnam ,
167and
168.Fn getgrgid ,
169return a pointer to a group structure on success or
170.Dv NULL
171if the entry is not found or if an error occurs.
172If an error does occur,
173.Va errno
174will be set.
175Note that programs must explicitly set
176.Va errno
177to zero before calling any of these functions if they need to
178distinguish between a non-existent entry and an error.
179The functions
180.Fn getgrent_r ,
181.Fn getgrnam_r ,
182and
183.Fn getgrgid_r
184return 0 if no error occurred, or an error number to indicate failure.
185It is not an error if a matching entry is not found.
186(Thus, if
187.Fa result
188is set to
189.Dv NULL
190and the return value is 0, no matching entry exists.)
191.Pp
192The
193.Fn setgroupent
194function returns the value 1 if successful, otherwise the value
1950 is returned.
196The
197.Fn endgrent
198function has no return value.
199.Sh FILES
200.Bl -tag -width /etc/group -compact
201.It Pa /etc/group
202group database file
203.El
204.Sh COMPATIBILITY
205The historic function
206.Fn setgrfile ,
207which allowed the specification of alternate password databases, has
208been deprecated and is no longer available.
209.Sh SEE ALSO
210.Xr getpwent 3 ,
211.Xr group 5 ,
212.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
213.Xr yp 8
214.Sh STANDARDS
215The
216.Fn getgrent ,
217.Fn getgrnam ,
218.Fn getgrnam_r ,
219.Fn getgrgid ,
220.Fn getgrgid_r
221and
222.Fn endgrent
223functions conform to
224.St -p1003.1-96 .
225.Sh HISTORY
226The functions
227.Fn endgrent ,
228.Fn getgrent ,
229.Fn getgrnam ,
230.Fn getgrgid ,
231and
232.Fn setgrent
233appeared in
234.At v7 .
235The functions
236.Fn setgrfile
237and
238.Fn setgroupent
239appeared in
240.Bx 4.3 Reno .
241The functions
242.Fn getgrent_r ,
243.Fn getgrnam_r ,
244and
245.Fn getgrgid_r
246appeared in
247.Fx 5.1
248and
249.Dx 2.1 .
250.Sh BUGS
251The functions
252.Fn getgrent ,
253.Fn getgrnam ,
254.Fn getgrgid ,
255.Fn setgroupent
256and
257.Fn setgrent
258leave their results in an internal static object and return
259a pointer to that object.
260Subsequent calls to
261the same function
262will modify the same object.
263.Pp
264The functions
265.Fn getgrent ,
266.Fn getgrent_r ,
267.Fn endgrent ,
268.Fn setgroupent ,
269and
270.Fn setgrent
271are fairly useless in a networked environment and should be
272avoided, if possible.
273The
274.Fn getgrent
275and
276.Fn getgrent_r
277functions
278make no attempt to suppress duplicate information if multiple
279sources are specified in
280.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 .
281