xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/linkaddr.3 (revision f0adf7f5cdd241db2f2c817683191a6ef64a4e95)
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35.\"     From: @(#)linkaddr.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 7/28/93
36.\" $FreeBSD$
37.\"
38.Dd June 17, 1996
39.Dt LINK_ADDR 3
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm link_addr ,
43.Nm link_ntoa
44.Nd elementary address specification routines for link level access
45.Sh LIBRARY
46.Lb libc
47.Sh SYNOPSIS
48.In sys/types.h
49.In sys/socket.h
50.In net/if_dl.h
51.Ft void
52.Fn link_addr "const char *addr" "struct sockaddr_dl *sdl"
53.Ft char *
54.Fn link_ntoa "const struct sockaddr_dl *sdl"
55.Sh DESCRIPTION
56The routine
57.Fn link_addr
58interprets character strings representing
59link-level addresses, returning binary information suitable
60for use in system calls.
61The routine
62.Fn link_ntoa
63takes
64a link-level
65address and returns an
66.Tn ASCII
67string representing some of the information present,
68including the link level address itself, and the interface name
69or number, if present.
70This facility is experimental and is
71still subject to change.
72.Pp
73For
74.Fn link_addr ,
75the string
76.Fa addr
77may contain
78an optional network interface identifier of the form
79.Dq "name unit-number" ,
80suitable for the first argument to
81.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
82followed in all cases by a colon and
83an interface address in the form of
84groups of hexadecimal digits
85separated by periods.
86Each group represents a byte of address;
87address bytes are filled left to right from
88low order bytes through high order bytes.
89.Pp
90.\" A regular expression may make this format clearer:
91.\" .Bd -literal -offset indent
92.\" ([a-z]+[0-9]+:)?[0-9a-f]+(\e.[0-9a-f]+)*
93.\" .Ed
94.\" .Pp
95Thus
96.Li le0:8.0.9.13.d.30
97represents an ethernet address
98to be transmitted on the first Lance ethernet interface.
99.Pp
100The direct use of these functions is deprecated in favor of the
101.Xr addr2ascii 3
102interface; however, portable programs cannot rely on the latter as it is
103not yet widely implemented.
104.Sh RETURN VALUES
105The
106.Fn link_ntoa
107function
108always returns a null terminated string.
109The
110.Fn link_addr
111function
112has no return value.
113(See
114.Sx BUGS . )
115.Sh SEE ALSO
116.Xr addr2ascii 3
117.\" .Xr iso 4
118.Sh HISTORY
119The
120.Fn link_addr
121and
122.Fn link_ntoa
123functions appeared in
124.Bx 4.3 Reno .
125.Sh BUGS
126The returned values for link_ntoa
127reside in a static memory area.
128.Pp
129The function
130.Fn link_addr
131should diagnose improperly formed input, and there should be an unambiguous
132way to recognize this.
133.Pp
134If the
135.Va sdl_len
136field of the link socket address
137.Fa sdl
138is 0,
139.Fn link_ntoa
140will not insert a colon before the interface address bytes.
141If this translated address is given to
142.Fn link_addr
143without inserting an initial colon,
144the latter will not interpret it correctly.
145