xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/linkaddr.3 (revision 1719886f6d08408b834d270c59ffcfd821c8f63a)
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31.Dd February 28, 2007
32.Dt LINK_ADDR 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm link_addr ,
36.Nm link_ntoa
37.Nd elementary address specification routines for link level access
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In sys/types.h
42.In sys/socket.h
43.In net/if_dl.h
44.Ft void
45.Fn link_addr "const char *addr" "struct sockaddr_dl *sdl"
46.Ft char *
47.Fn link_ntoa "const struct sockaddr_dl *sdl"
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The routine
50.Fn link_addr
51interprets character strings representing
52link-level addresses, returning binary information suitable
53for use in system calls.
54The routine
55.Fn link_ntoa
56takes
57a link-level
58address and returns an
59.Tn ASCII
60string representing some of the information present,
61including the link level address itself, and the interface name
62or number, if present.
63This facility is experimental and is
64still subject to change.
65.Pp
66For
67.Fn link_addr ,
68the string
69.Fa addr
70may contain
71an optional network interface identifier of the form
72.Dq "name unit-number" ,
73suitable for the first argument to
74.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
75followed in all cases by a colon and
76an interface address in the form of
77groups of hexadecimal digits
78separated by periods.
79Each group represents a byte of address;
80address bytes are filled left to right from
81low order bytes through high order bytes.
82.Pp
83.\" A regular expression may make this format clearer:
84.\" .Bd -literal -offset indent
85.\" ([a-z]+[0-9]+:)?[0-9a-f]+(\e.[0-9a-f]+)*
86.\" .Ed
87.\" .Pp
88Thus
89.Li le0:8.0.9.13.d.30
90represents an ethernet address
91to be transmitted on the first Lance ethernet interface.
92.Sh RETURN VALUES
93The
94.Fn link_ntoa
95function
96always returns a null terminated string.
97The
98.Fn link_addr
99function
100has no return value.
101(See
102.Sx BUGS . )
103.Sh SEE ALSO
104.Xr getnameinfo 3
105.Sh HISTORY
106The
107.Fn link_addr
108and
109.Fn link_ntoa
110functions appeared in
111.Bx 4.3 Reno .
112.Sh BUGS
113The returned values for link_ntoa
114reside in a static memory area.
115.Pp
116The function
117.Fn link_addr
118should diagnose improperly formed input, and there should be an unambiguous
119way to recognize this.
120.Pp
121If the
122.Va sdl_len
123field of the link socket address
124.Fa sdl
125is 0,
126.Fn link_ntoa
127will not insert a colon before the interface address bytes.
128If this translated address is given to
129.Fn link_addr
130without inserting an initial colon,
131the latter will not interpret it correctly.
132