xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/getifaddrs.3 (revision 4f8f43b06ed07e96a250855488cc531799d5b78f)
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25.Dd November 25, 2014
26.Dt GETIFADDRS 3
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm getifaddrs
30.Nd get interface addresses
31.Sh SYNOPSIS
32.In ifaddrs.h
33.Ft int
34.Fn getifaddrs "struct ifaddrs **ifap"
35.Ft void
36.Fn freeifaddrs "struct ifaddrs *ifp"
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The
39.Fn getifaddrs
40function stores a reference to a linked list of the network interfaces
41on the local machine in the memory referenced by
42.Fa ifap .
43The list consists of
44.Nm ifaddrs
45structures, as defined in the include file
46.In ifaddrs.h .
47The
48.Nm ifaddrs
49structure contains at least the following entries:
50.Bd -literal
51    struct ifaddrs   *ifa_next;         /* Pointer to next struct */
52    char             *ifa_name;         /* Interface name */
53    u_int             ifa_flags;        /* Interface flags */
54    struct sockaddr  *ifa_addr;         /* Interface address */
55    struct sockaddr  *ifa_netmask;      /* Interface netmask */
56    struct sockaddr  *ifa_broadaddr;    /* Interface broadcast address */
57    struct sockaddr  *ifa_dstaddr;      /* P2P interface destination */
58    void             *ifa_data;		/* Address specific data */
59.Ed
60.Pp
61The
62.Li ifa_next
63field contains a pointer to the next structure on the list.
64This field is
65.Dv NULL
66in last structure on the list.
67.Pp
68The
69.Li ifa_name
70field contains the interface name.
71.Pp
72The
73.Li ifa_flags
74field contains the interface flags, as set by
75.Xr ifconfig 8
76utility.
77.Pp
78The
79.Li ifa_addr
80field references either the address of the interface or the link level
81address of the interface, if one exists, otherwise it is NULL.
82(The
83.Li sa_family
84field of the
85.Li ifa_addr
86field should be consulted to determine the format of the
87.Li ifa_addr
88address.)
89.Pp
90The
91.Li ifa_netmask
92field references the netmask associated with
93.Li ifa_addr ,
94if one is set, otherwise it is NULL.
95.Pp
96The
97.Li ifa_broadaddr
98field,
99which should only be referenced for non-P2P interfaces,
100references the broadcast address associated with
101.Li ifa_addr ,
102if one exists, otherwise it is NULL.
103.Pp
104The
105.Li ifa_dstaddr
106field references the destination address on a P2P interface,
107if one exists, otherwise it is NULL.
108.Pp
109The
110.Li ifa_data
111field references address family specific data
112in a pointer to the
113.Fa struct if_data
114(as defined in include file
115.In net/if.h ) .
116For
117.Dv AF_LINK
118addresses,
119it contains various interface attributes and statistics.
120For all other address families,
121it contains per-address interface statistics.
122.Pp
123The data returned by
124.Fn getifaddrs
125is dynamically allocated and should be freed using
126.Fn freeifaddrs
127when no longer needed.
128.Sh RETURN VALUES
129.Rv -std getifaddrs
130.Sh ERRORS
131The
132.Fn getifaddrs
133may fail and set
134.Va errno
135for any of the errors specified for the library routines
136.Xr ioctl 2 ,
137.Xr socket 2 ,
138.Xr malloc 3
139or
140.Xr sysctl 3 .
141.Sh SEE ALSO
142.Xr ioctl 2 ,
143.Xr socket 2 ,
144.Xr sysctl 3 ,
145.Xr networking 4 ,
146.Xr ifconfig 8
147.Sh HISTORY
148The
149.Nm
150implementation first appeared in BSDi
151.Bsx .
152.Sh BUGS
153If both
154.In net/if.h
155and
156.In ifaddrs.h
157are being included,
158.In net/if.h
159.Em must
160be included before
161.In ifaddrs.h .
162