xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/nsdispatch.3 (revision 641a6cfb86023499caafe26a4d821a0b885cf00b)
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33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd April 4, 2010
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
89The
90.Fa dtab
91array should consist of one entry for each source type that is
92implemented, with
93.Va src
94as the name of the source,
95.Va method
96as a function which handles that source, and
97.Va mdata
98as a handle on arbitrary data to be passed to the method.
99The last entry in
100.Va dtab
101should contain
102.Dv NULL
103values for
104.Va src ,
105.Va method ,
106and
107.Va mdata .
108.Pp
109Additionally, methods may be implemented in NSS modules, in
110which case they are selected using the
111.Fa database
112and
113.Fa method_name
114arguments along with the configured source.
115(The methods supplied via
116.Fa dtab
117take priority over those implemented in NSS modules in the event
118of a conflict.)
119.Pp
120.Va defaults
121contains a list of default sources to try if
122.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
123is missing or corrupted, or if there is no relevant entry for
124.Va database .
125It is an array of
126.Va ns_src
127structures, which have the following format:
128.Bd -literal -offset indent
129typedef struct _ns_src {
130	const char	*src;
131	uint32_t	 flags;
132} ns_src;
133.Ed
134.Pp
135The
136.Fa defaults
137array should consist of one entry for each source to be configured by
138default indicated by
139.Va src ,
140and
141.Va flags
142set to the criterion desired
143(usually
144.Dv NS_SUCCESS ;
145refer to
146.Sx Method return values
147for more information).
148The last entry in
149.Va defaults
150should have
151.Va src
152set to
153.Dv NULL
154and
155.Va flags
156set to 0.
157.Pp
158For convenience, a global variable defined as:
159.Pp
160.Dl extern const ns_src __nsdefaultsrc[];
161.Pp
162exists which contains a single default entry for the source
163.Sq files
164that may be used by callers which do not require complicated default
165rules.
166.Pp
167.Sq Va ...
168are optional extra arguments, which are passed to the appropriate method
169as a variable argument list of the type
170.Vt va_list .
171.Ss Valid source types
172While there is support for arbitrary sources, the following
173#defines for commonly implemented sources are available:
174.Bl -column NSSRC_COMPAT compat -offset indent
175.It Sy "#define	value"
176.It Dv NSSRC_FILES Ta  \&"files\&"
177.It Dv NSSRC_DB Ta \&"db\&"
178.It Dv NSSRC_DNS Ta \&"dns\&"
179.It Dv NSSRC_NIS Ta \&"nis\&"
180.It Dv NSSRC_COMPAT Ta \&"compat\&"
181.El
182.Pp
183Refer to
184.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
185for a complete description of what each source type is.
186.Ss Method return values
187The
188.Vt nss_method
189functions must return one of the following values depending upon status
190of the lookup:
191.Bl -column "Return value" "Status code"
192.It Sy "Return value	Status code"
193.It Dv NS_SUCCESS Ta success
194.It Dv NS_NOTFOUND Ta notfound
195.It Dv NS_UNAVAIL Ta unavail
196.It Dv NS_TRYAGAIN Ta tryagain
197.It Dv NS_RETURN Ta -none-
198.El
199.Pp
200Refer to
201.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
202for a complete description of each status code.
203.Pp
204The
205.Fn nsdispatch
206function returns the value of the method that caused the dispatcher to
207terminate, or
208.Dv NS_NOTFOUND
209otherwise.
210.Sh NOTES
211.Fx Ns 's
212.Lb libc
213provides stubs for compatibility with NSS modules
214written for the
215.Tn GNU
216C Library
217.Nm nsswitch
218interface.
219However, these stubs only support the use of the
220.Dq Li passwd
221and
222.Dq Li group
223databases.
224.Sh SEE ALSO
225.Xr hesiod 3 ,
226.Xr stdarg 3 ,
227.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
228.Xr yp 8
229.Sh HISTORY
230The
231.Fn nsdispatch
232function first appeared in
233.Fx 5.0 .
234It was imported from the
235.Nx
236Project,
237where it appeared first in
238.Nx 1.4 .
239Support for NSS modules first appeared in
240.Fx 5.1 .
241.Sh AUTHORS
242Luke Mewburn
243.Aq lukem@netbsd.org
244wrote this freely-distributable name-service switch implementation,
245using ideas from the
246.Tn ULTRIX
247svc.conf(5)
248and
249.Tn Solaris
250nsswitch.conf(4)
251manual pages.
252The
253.Fx
254Project
255added the support for threads and NSS modules, and normalized the uses
256of
257.Fn nsdispatch
258within the standard C library.
259