xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/gethostname.3 (revision 1719886f6d08408b834d270c59ffcfd821c8f63a)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
13.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
14.\"    without specific prior written permission.
15.\"
16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
26.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
27.\"
28.Dd July 13, 2020
29.Dt GETHOSTNAME 3
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm gethostname ,
33.Nm sethostname
34.Nd get/set name of current host
35.Sh LIBRARY
36.Lb libc
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.In unistd.h
39.Ft int
40.Fn gethostname "char *name" "size_t namelen"
41.Ft int
42.Fn sethostname "const char *name" "int namelen"
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The
45.Fn gethostname
46function
47returns the standard host name for the current processor, as
48previously set by
49.Fn sethostname .
50The
51.Fa namelen
52argument
53specifies the size of the
54.Fa name
55array.
56The returned name is null-terminated unless insufficient space is provided.
57.Pp
58The
59.Fn sethostname
60function
61sets the name of the host machine to be
62.Fa name ,
63which has length
64.Fa namelen .
65This call is restricted to the super-user and
66is normally used only when the system is bootstrapped.
67.Pp
68Applications should use
69.Fn sysconf _SC_HOST_NAME_MAX
70to find the maximum length of a host name (not including the terminating null).
71.Sh RETURN VALUES
72.Rv -std
73.Sh ERRORS
74The following errors may be returned by these calls:
75.Bl -tag -width Er
76.It Bq Er EFAULT
77The
78.Fa name
79or
80.Fa namelen
81argument gave an
82invalid address.
83.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
84The current host name is longer than
85.Fa namelen .
86(For
87.Fn gethostname
88only.)
89.It Bq Er EPERM
90The caller tried to set the host name and was not the super-user.
91.El
92.Sh SEE ALSO
93.Xr sysconf 3 ,
94.Xr sysctl 3
95.Sh STANDARDS
96The
97.Fn gethostname
98function conforms to
99.St -p1003.1-2001 .
100Callers should be aware that
101.Brq Dv HOST_NAME_MAX
102may be variable or infinite, but is guaranteed to be no less than
103.Brq Dv _POSIX_HOST_NAME_MAX .
104On older systems, this limit was defined in the non-standard header
105.In sys/param.h
106as
107.Dv MAXHOSTNAMELEN ,
108and counted the terminating null.
109The
110.Fn sethostname
111function and the error returns for
112.Fn gethostname
113are not standardized.
114.Sh HISTORY
115The
116.Fn gethostname
117function appeared in
118.Bx 4.2 .
119The
120.Fa namelen
121argument to
122.Fn gethostname
123was changed to
124.Vt size_t
125in
126.Fx 5.2
127for alignment with
128.St -p1003.1-2001 .
129