xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/gethostname.3 (revision b9f654b163bce26de79705e77b872427c9f2afa1)
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.\"     @(#)gethostname.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd August 18, 2003
32.Dt GETHOSTNAME 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm gethostname ,
36.Nm sethostname
37.Nd get/set name of current host
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In unistd.h
42.Ft int
43.Fn gethostname "char *name" "size_t namelen"
44.Ft int
45.Fn sethostname "const char *name" "int namelen"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Fn gethostname
49function
50returns the standard host name for the current processor, as
51previously set by
52.Fn sethostname .
53The
54.Fa namelen
55argument
56specifies the size of the
57.Fa name
58array.
59The returned name is null-terminated unless insufficient space is provided.
60.Pp
61The
62.Fn sethostname
63function
64sets the name of the host machine to be
65.Fa name ,
66which has length
67.Fa namelen .
68This call is restricted to the super-user and
69is normally used only when the system is bootstrapped.
70.Pp
71Host names are limited to
72.Brq Dv HOST_NAME_MAX
73characters, not including the trailing null, currently 255.
74.Sh RETURN VALUES
75.Rv -std
76.Sh ERRORS
77The following errors may be returned by these calls:
78.Bl -tag -width Er
79.It Bq Er EFAULT
80The
81.Fa name
82or
83.Fa namelen
84argument gave an
85invalid address.
86.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
87The current host name is longer than
88.Fa namelen .
89(For
90.Fn gethostname
91only.)
92.It Bq Er EPERM
93The caller tried to set the host name and was not the super-user.
94.El
95.Sh SEE ALSO
96.Xr sysconf 3 ,
97.Xr sysctl 3
98.Sh STANDARDS
99The
100.Fn gethostname
101function conforms to
102.St -p1003.1-2001 .
103Callers should be aware that
104.Brq Dv HOST_NAME_MAX
105may be variable or infinite, but is guaranteed to be no less than
106.Brq Dv _POSIX_HOST_NAME_MAX .
107On older systems, this limit was defined in the non-standard header
108.In sys/param.h
109as
110.Dv MAXHOSTNAMELEN ,
111and counted the terminating null.
112The
113.Fn sethostname
114function and the error returns for
115.Fn gethostname
116are not standardized.
117.Sh HISTORY
118The
119.Fn gethostname
120function appeared in
121.Bx 4.2 .
122The
123.Fa namelen
124argument to
125.Fn gethostname
126was changed to
127.Vt size_t
128in
129.Fx 5.2
130for alignment with
131.St -p1003.1-2001 .
132