xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/getcap.3 (revision 6829dae12bb055451fa467da4589c43bd03b1e64)
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31.\"	@(#)getcap.3	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/13/94
32.\" $FreeBSD$
33.\"
34.Dd March 22, 2002
35.Dt GETCAP 3
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm cgetent ,
39.Nm cgetset ,
40.Nm cgetmatch ,
41.Nm cgetcap ,
42.Nm cgetnum ,
43.Nm cgetstr ,
44.Nm cgetustr ,
45.Nm cgetfirst ,
46.Nm cgetnext ,
47.Nm cgetclose
48.Nd capability database access routines
49.Sh LIBRARY
50.Lb libc
51.Sh SYNOPSIS
52.In stdlib.h
53.Ft int
54.Fn cgetent "char **buf" "char **db_array" "const char *name"
55.Ft int
56.Fn cgetset "const char *ent"
57.Ft int
58.Fn cgetmatch "const char *buf" "const char *name"
59.Ft char *
60.Fn cgetcap "char *buf" "const char *cap" "int type"
61.Ft int
62.Fn cgetnum "char *buf" "const char *cap" "long *num"
63.Ft int
64.Fn cgetstr "char *buf" "const char *cap" "char **str"
65.Ft int
66.Fn cgetustr "char *buf" "const char *cap" "char **str"
67.Ft int
68.Fn cgetfirst "char **buf" "char **db_array"
69.Ft int
70.Fn cgetnext "char **buf" "char **db_array"
71.Ft int
72.Fn cgetclose "void"
73.Sh DESCRIPTION
74The
75.Fn cgetent
76function extracts the capability
77.Fa name
78from the database specified by the
79.Dv NULL
80terminated file array
81.Fa db_array
82and returns a pointer to a
83.Xr malloc 3 Ns \&'d
84copy of it in
85.Fa buf .
86The
87.Fn cgetent
88function will first look for files ending in
89.Pa .db
90(see
91.Xr cap_mkdb 1 )
92before accessing the ASCII file.
93The
94.Fa buf
95argument
96must be retained through all subsequent calls to
97.Fn cgetmatch ,
98.Fn cgetcap ,
99.Fn cgetnum ,
100.Fn cgetstr ,
101and
102.Fn cgetustr ,
103but may then be
104.Xr free 3 Ns \&'d .
105On success 0 is returned, 1 if the returned
106record contains an unresolved
107.Ic tc
108expansion,
109\-1 if the requested record could not be found,
110\-2 if a system error was encountered (could not open/read a file, etc.) also
111setting
112.Va errno ,
113and \-3 if a potential reference loop is detected (see
114.Ic tc=
115comments below).
116.Pp
117The
118.Fn cgetset
119function enables the addition of a character buffer containing a single capability
120record entry
121to the capability database.
122Conceptually, the entry is added as the first ``file'' in the database, and
123is therefore searched first on the call to
124.Fn cgetent .
125The entry is passed in
126.Fa ent .
127If
128.Fa ent
129is
130.Dv NULL ,
131the current entry is removed from the database.
132A call to
133.Fn cgetset
134must precede the database traversal.
135It must be called before the
136.Fn cgetent
137call.
138If a sequential access is being performed (see below), it must be called
139before the first sequential access call
140.Po Fn cgetfirst
141or
142.Fn cgetnext
143.Pc ,
144or be directly preceded by a
145.Fn cgetclose
146call.
147On success 0 is returned and \-1 on failure.
148.Pp
149The
150.Fn cgetmatch
151function will return 0 if
152.Fa name
153is one of the names of the capability record
154.Fa buf ,
155\-1 if
156not.
157.Pp
158The
159.Fn cgetcap
160function searches the capability record
161.Fa buf
162for the capability
163.Fa cap
164with type
165.Fa type .
166A
167.Fa type
168is specified using any single character.
169If a colon (`:') is used, an
170untyped capability will be searched for (see below for explanation of
171types).
172A pointer to the value of
173.Fa cap
174in
175.Fa buf
176is returned on success,
177.Dv NULL
178if the requested capability could not be
179found.
180The end of the capability value is signaled by a `:' or
181.Tn ASCII
182.Dv NUL
183(see below for capability database syntax).
184.Pp
185The
186.Fn cgetnum
187function retrieves the value of the numeric capability
188.Fa cap
189from the capability record pointed to by
190.Fa buf .
191The numeric value is returned in the
192.Ft long
193pointed to by
194.Fa num .
1950 is returned on success, \-1 if the requested numeric capability could not
196be found.
197.Pp
198The
199.Fn cgetstr
200function retrieves the value of the string capability
201.Fa cap
202from the capability record pointed to by
203.Fa buf .
204A pointer to a decoded,
205.Dv NUL
206terminated,
207.Xr malloc 3 Ns \&'d
208copy of the string is returned in the
209.Ft char *
210pointed to by
211.Fa str .
212The number of characters in the decoded string not including the trailing
213.Dv NUL
214is returned on success, \-1 if the requested string capability could not
215be found, \-2 if a system error was encountered (storage allocation
216failure).
217.Pp
218The
219.Fn cgetustr
220function is identical to
221.Fn cgetstr
222except that it does not expand special characters, but rather returns each
223character of the capability string literally.
224.Pp
225The
226.Fn cgetfirst
227and
228.Fn cgetnext
229functions comprise a function group that provides for sequential
230access of the
231.Dv NULL
232pointer terminated array of file names,
233.Fa db_array .
234The
235.Fn cgetfirst
236function returns the first record in the database and resets the access
237to the first record.
238The
239.Fn cgetnext
240function returns the next record in the database with respect to the
241record returned by the previous
242.Fn cgetfirst
243or
244.Fn cgetnext
245call.
246If there is no such previous call, the first record in the database is
247returned.
248Each record is returned in a
249.Xr malloc 3 Ns \&'d
250copy pointed to by
251.Fa buf .
252.Ic Tc
253expansion is done (see
254.Ic tc=
255comments below).
256Upon completion of the database 0 is returned, 1 is returned upon successful
257return of record with possibly more remaining (we have not reached the end of
258the database yet), 2 is returned if the record contains an unresolved
259.Ic tc
260expansion, \-1 is returned if a system error occurred, and \-2
261is returned if a potential reference loop is detected (see
262.Ic tc=
263comments below).
264Upon completion of database (0 return) the database is closed.
265.Pp
266The
267.Fn cgetclose
268function closes the sequential access and frees any memory and file descriptors
269being used.
270Note that it does not erase the buffer pushed by a call to
271.Fn cgetset .
272.Sh CAPABILITY DATABASE SYNTAX
273Capability databases are normally
274.Tn ASCII
275and may be edited with standard
276text editors.
277Blank lines and lines beginning with a `#' are comments
278and are ignored.
279Lines ending with a `\|\e' indicate that the next line
280is a continuation of the current line; the `\|\e' and following newline
281are ignored.
282Long lines are usually continued onto several physical
283lines by ending each line except the last with a `\|\e'.
284.Pp
285Capability databases consist of a series of records, one per logical
286line.
287Each record contains a variable number of `:'-separated fields
288(capabilities).
289Empty fields consisting entirely of white space
290characters (spaces and tabs) are ignored.
291.Pp
292The first capability of each record specifies its names, separated by `|'
293characters.
294These names are used to reference records in the database.
295By convention, the last name is usually a comment and is not intended as
296a lookup tag.
297For example, the
298.Em vt100
299record from the
300.Xr termcap 5
301database begins:
302.Pp
303.Dl "d0\||\|vt100\||\|vt100-am\||\|vt100am\||\|dec vt100:"
304.Pp
305giving four names that can be used to access the record.
306.Pp
307The remaining non-empty capabilities describe a set of (name, value)
308bindings, consisting of a names optionally followed by a typed value:
309.Pp
310.Bl -tag -width "nameTvalue" -compact
311.It name
312typeless [boolean] capability
313.Em name No "is present [true]"
314.It name Ns Em \&T Ns value
315capability
316.Pq Em name , \&T
317has value
318.Em value
319.It name@
320no capability
321.Em name No exists
322.It name Ns Em T Ns \&@
323capability
324.Pq Em name , T
325does not exist
326.El
327.Pp
328Names consist of one or more characters.
329Names may contain any character
330except `:', but it is usually best to restrict them to the printable
331characters and avoid use of graphics like `#', `=', `%', `@', etc.
332Types
333are single characters used to separate capability names from their
334associated typed values.
335Types may be any character except a `:'.
336Typically, graphics like `#', `=', `%', etc.\& are used.
337Values may be any
338number of characters and may contain any character except `:'.
339.Sh CAPABILITY DATABASE SEMANTICS
340Capability records describe a set of (name, value) bindings.
341Names may
342have multiple values bound to them.
343Different values for a name are
344distinguished by their
345.Fa types .
346The
347.Fn cgetcap
348function will return a pointer to a value of a name given the capability
349name and the type of the value.
350.Pp
351The types `#' and `=' are conventionally used to denote numeric and
352string typed values, but no restriction on those types is enforced.
353The
354functions
355.Fn cgetnum
356and
357.Fn cgetstr
358can be used to implement the traditional syntax and semantics of `#'
359and `='.
360Typeless capabilities are typically used to denote boolean objects with
361presence or absence indicating truth and false values respectively.
362This interpretation is conveniently represented by:
363.Pp
364.Dl "(getcap(buf, name, ':') != NULL)"
365.Pp
366A special capability,
367.Ic tc= name ,
368is used to indicate that the record specified by
369.Fa name
370should be substituted for the
371.Ic tc
372capability.
373.Ic Tc
374capabilities may interpolate records which also contain
375.Ic tc
376capabilities and more than one
377.Ic tc
378capability may be used in a record.
379A
380.Ic tc
381expansion scope (i.e., where the argument is searched for) contains the
382file in which the
383.Ic tc
384is declared and all subsequent files in the file array.
385.Pp
386When a database is searched for a capability record, the first matching
387record in the search is returned.
388When a record is scanned for a
389capability, the first matching capability is returned; the capability
390.Ic :nameT@:
391will hide any following definition of a value of type
392.Em T
393for
394.Fa name ;
395and the capability
396.Ic :name@:
397will prevent any following values of
398.Fa name
399from being seen.
400.Pp
401These features combined with
402.Ic tc
403capabilities can be used to generate variations of other databases and
404records by either adding new capabilities, overriding definitions with new
405definitions, or hiding following definitions via `@' capabilities.
406.Sh EXAMPLES
407.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
408example\||\|an example of binding multiple values to names:\e
409	:foo%bar:foo^blah:foo@:\e
410	:abc%xyz:abc^frap:abc$@:\e
411	:tc=more:
412.Ed
413.Pp
414The capability foo has two values bound to it (bar of type `%' and blah of
415type `^') and any other value bindings are hidden.
416The capability abc
417also has two values bound but only a value of type `$' is prevented from
418being defined in the capability record more.
419.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
420file1:
421 	new\||\|new_record\||\|a modification of "old":\e
422		:fript=bar:who-cares@:tc=old:blah:tc=extensions:
423file2:
424	old\||\|old_record\||\|an old database record:\e
425		:fript=foo:who-cares:glork#200:
426.Ed
427.Pp
428The records are extracted by calling
429.Fn cgetent
430with file1 preceding file2.
431In the capability record new in file1, fript=bar overrides the definition
432of fript=foo interpolated from the capability record old in file2,
433who-cares@ prevents the definition of any who-cares definitions in old
434from being seen, glork#200 is inherited from old, and blah and anything
435defined by the record extensions is added to those definitions in old.
436Note that the position of the fript=bar and who-cares@ definitions before
437tc=old is important here.
438If they were after, the definitions in old
439would take precedence.
440.Sh CGETNUM AND CGETSTR SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS
441Two types are predefined by
442.Fn cgetnum
443and
444.Fn cgetstr :
445.Pp
446.Bl -tag -width "nameXnumber" -compact
447.It Em name Ns \&# Ns Em number
448numeric capability
449.Em name
450has value
451.Em number
452.It Em name Ns = Ns Em string
453string capability
454.Em name
455has value
456.Em string
457.It Em name Ns \&#@
458the numeric capability
459.Em name
460does not exist
461.It Em name Ns \&=@
462the string capability
463.Em name
464does not exist
465.El
466.Pp
467Numeric capability values may be given in one of three numeric bases.
468If the number starts with either
469.Ql 0x
470or
471.Ql 0X
472it is interpreted as a hexadecimal number (both upper and lower case a-f
473may be used to denote the extended hexadecimal digits).
474Otherwise, if the number starts with a
475.Ql 0
476it is interpreted as an octal number.
477Otherwise the number is interpreted as a decimal number.
478.Pp
479String capability values may contain any character.
480Non-printable
481.Dv ASCII
482codes, new lines, and colons may be conveniently represented by the use
483of escape sequences:
484.Bl -column "\e\|X,X\e\|X" "(ASCII octal nnn)"
485^X	('X' & 037)	control-X
486\e\|b, \e\|B	(ASCII 010)	backspace
487\e\|t, \e\|T	(ASCII 011)	tab
488\e\|n, \e\|N	(ASCII 012)	line feed (newline)
489\e\|f, \e\|F	(ASCII 014)	form feed
490\e\|r, \e\|R	(ASCII 015)	carriage return
491\e\|e, \e\|E	(ASCII 027)	escape
492\e\|c, \e\|C	(:)	colon
493\e\|\e	(\e\|)	back slash
494\e\|^	(^)	caret
495\e\|nnn	(ASCII octal nnn)
496.El
497.Pp
498A `\|\e' may be followed by up to three octal digits directly specifies
499the numeric code for a character.
500The use of
501.Tn ASCII
502.Dv NUL Ns s ,
503while easily
504encoded, causes all sorts of problems and must be used with care since
505.Dv NUL Ns s
506are typically used to denote the end of strings; many applications
507use `\e\|200' to represent a
508.Dv NUL .
509.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
510The
511.Fn cgetent ,
512.Fn cgetset ,
513.Fn cgetmatch ,
514.Fn cgetnum ,
515.Fn cgetstr ,
516.Fn cgetustr ,
517.Fn cgetfirst ,
518and
519.Fn cgetnext
520functions
521return a value greater than or equal to 0 on success and a value less
522than 0 on failure.
523The
524.Fn cgetcap
525function returns a character pointer on success and a
526.Dv NULL
527on failure.
528.Pp
529The
530.Fn cgetent ,
531and
532.Fn cgetset
533functions may fail and set
534.Va errno
535for any of the errors specified for the library functions:
536.Xr fopen 3 ,
537.Xr fclose 3 ,
538.Xr open 2 ,
539and
540.Xr close 2 .
541.Pp
542The
543.Fn cgetent ,
544.Fn cgetset ,
545.Fn cgetstr ,
546and
547.Fn cgetustr
548functions
549may fail and set
550.Va errno
551as follows:
552.Bl -tag -width Er
553.It Bq Er ENOMEM
554No memory to allocate.
555.El
556.Sh SEE ALSO
557.Xr cap_mkdb 1 ,
558.Xr malloc 3
559.Sh BUGS
560Colons (`:') cannot be used in names, types, or values.
561.Pp
562There are no checks for
563.Ic tc Ns = Ns Ic name
564loops in
565.Fn cgetent .
566.Pp
567The buffer added to the database by a call to
568.Fn cgetset
569is not unique to the database but is rather prepended to any database used.
570