xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/nsdispatch.3 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
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6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
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33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd January 22, 2007
36.Dt NSDISPATCH 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm nsdispatch
40.Nd name-service switch dispatcher routine
41.Sh LIBRARY
42.Lb libc
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In sys/types.h
45.In stdarg.h
46.In nsswitch.h
47.Ft int
48.Fo nsdispatch
49.Fa "void *retval"
50.Fa "const ns_dtab dtab[]"
51.Fa "const char *database"
52.Fa "const char *method_name"
53.Fa "const ns_src defaults[]"
54.Fa "..."
55.Fc
56.Sh DESCRIPTION
57The
58.Fn nsdispatch
59function invokes the methods specified in
60.Va dtab
61in the order given by
62.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
63for the database
64.Va database
65until a successful entry is found.
66.Pp
67.Va retval
68is passed to each method to modify as necessary, to pass back results to
69the caller of
70.Fn nsdispatch .
71.Pp
72Each method has the function signature described by the typedef:
73.Pp
74.Ft typedef int
75.Fn \*(lp*nss_method\*(rp "void *retval" "void *mdata" "va_list *ap" ;
76.Pp
77.Va dtab
78is an array of
79.Va ns_dtab
80structures, which have the following format:
81.Bd -literal -offset indent
82typedef struct _ns_dtab {
83	const char	*src;
84	nss_method	 method;
85	void		*mdata;
86} ns_dtab;
87.Ed
88.Pp
89.Bd -ragged -offset indent
90The
91.Fa dtab
92array should consist of one entry for each source type that is
93implemented, with
94.Va src
95as the name of the source,
96.Va method
97as a function which handles that source, and
98.Va mdata
99as a handle on arbitrary data to be passed to the method.
100The last entry in
101.Va dtab
102should contain
103.Dv NULL
104values for
105.Va src ,
106.Va method ,
107and
108.Va mdata .
109.Ed
110.Pp
111Additionally, methods may be implemented in NSS modules, in
112which case they are selected using the
113.Fa database
114and
115.Fa method_name
116arguments along with the configured source.
117(The methods supplied via
118.Fa dtab
119take priority over those implemented in NSS modules in the event
120of a conflict.)
121.Pp
122.Va defaults
123contains a list of default sources to try if
124.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
125is missing or corrupted, or if there is no relevant entry for
126.Va database .
127It is an array of
128.Va ns_src
129structures, which have the following format:
130.Bd -literal -offset indent
131typedef struct _ns_src {
132	const char	*src;
133	u_int32_t	 flags;
134} ns_src;
135.Ed
136.Pp
137.Bd -ragged -offset indent
138The
139.Fa defaults
140array should consist of one entry for each source to be configured by
141default indicated by
142.Va src ,
143and
144.Va flags
145set to the criterion desired
146(usually
147.Dv NS_SUCCESS ;
148refer to
149.Sx Method return values
150for more information).
151The last entry in
152.Va defaults
153should have
154.Va src
155set to
156.Dv NULL
157and
158.Va flags
159set to 0.
160.Pp
161For convenience, a global variable defined as:
162.Dl extern const ns_src __nsdefaultsrc[];
163exists which contains a single default entry for the source
164.Sq files
165that may be used by callers which do not require complicated default
166rules.
167.Ed
168.Pp
169.Sq Va ...
170are optional extra arguments, which are passed to the appropriate method
171as a variable argument list of the type
172.Vt va_list .
173.Ss Valid source types
174While there is support for arbitrary sources, the following
175#defines for commonly implemented sources are available:
176.Bl -column NSSRC_COMPAT compat -offset indent
177.It Sy "#define	value"
178.It Dv NSSRC_FILES Ta """files""
179.It Dv NSSRC_DNS Ta """dns""
180.It Dv NSSRC_NIS Ta """nis""
181.It Dv NSSRC_COMPAT Ta """compat""
182.El
183.Pp
184Refer to
185.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
186for a complete description of what each source type is.
187.Pp
188.Ss Method return values
189The
190.Vt nss_method
191functions must return one of the following values depending upon status
192of the lookup:
193.Bl -column "Return value" "Status code"
194.It Sy "Return value	Status code"
195.It Dv NS_SUCCESS Ta success
196.It Dv NS_NOTFOUND Ta notfound
197.It Dv NS_UNAVAIL Ta unavail
198.It Dv NS_TRYAGAIN Ta tryagain
199.It Dv NS_RETURN Ta -none-
200.El
201.Pp
202Refer to
203.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
204for a complete description of each status code.
205.Pp
206The
207.Fn nsdispatch
208function returns the value of the method that caused the dispatcher to
209terminate, or
210.Dv NS_NOTFOUND
211otherwise.
212.Sh NOTES
213.Fx Ns 's
214.Lb libc
215provides stubs for compatibility with NSS modules
216written for the
217.Tn GNU
218C Library
219.Nm nsswitch
220interface.
221However, these stubs only support the use of the
222.Dq Li passwd
223and
224.Dq Li group
225databases.
226.Sh SEE ALSO
227.Xr hesiod 3 ,
228.Xr stdarg 3 ,
229.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
230.Xr yp 8
231.Sh HISTORY
232The
233.Fn nsdispatch
234function first appeared in
235.Fx 5.0 .
236It was imported from the
237.Nx
238Project,
239where it appeared first in
240.Nx 1.4 .
241Support for NSS modules first appeared in
242.Fx 5.1 .
243.Sh AUTHORS
244Luke Mewburn
245.Aq lukem@netbsd.org
246wrote this freely-distributable name-service switch implementation,
247using ideas from the
248.Tn ULTRIX
249svc.conf(5)
250and
251.Tn Solaris
252nsswitch.conf(4)
253manual pages.
254The
255.Fx
256Project
257added the support for threads and NSS modules, and normalized the uses
258of
259.Fn nsdispatch
260within the standard C library.
261