xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/linkaddr.3 (revision 783d3ff6d7fae619db8a7990b8a6387de0c677b5)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" Donn Seeley at BSDI.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
16.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
17.\"    without specific prior written permission.
18.\"
19.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
20.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
21.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
22.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
23.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
24.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
25.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
26.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
27.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
28.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
29.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
30.\"
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