xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/nsdispatch.3 (revision 783d3ff6d7fae619db8a7990b8a6387de0c677b5)
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33.Dd October 15, 2018
34.Dt NSDISPATCH 3
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm nsdispatch
38.Nd name-service switch dispatcher routine
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libc
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In sys/types.h
43.In stdarg.h
44.In nsswitch.h
45.Ft int
46.Fo nsdispatch
47.Fa "void *retval"
48.Fa "const ns_dtab dtab[]"
49.Fa "const char *database"
50.Fa "const char *method_name"
51.Fa "const ns_src defaults[]"
52.Fa "..."
53.Fc
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The
56.Fn nsdispatch
57function invokes the methods specified in
58.Va dtab
59in the order given by
60.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
61for the database
62.Va database
63until a successful entry is found.
64.Pp
65.Va retval
66is passed to each method to modify as necessary, to pass back results to
67the caller of
68.Fn nsdispatch .
69.Pp
70Each method has the function signature described by the typedef:
71.Pp
72.Ft typedef int
73.Fn \*(lp*nss_method\*(rp "void *retval" "void *mdata" "va_list *ap" ;
74.Pp
75.Va dtab
76is an array of
77.Va ns_dtab
78structures, which have the following format:
79.Bd -literal -offset indent
80typedef struct _ns_dtab {
81	const char	*src;
82	nss_method	 method;
83	void		*mdata;
84} ns_dtab;
85.Ed
86.Pp
87The
88.Fa dtab
89array should consist of one entry for each source type that is
90implemented, with
91.Va src
92as the name of the source,
93.Va method
94as a function which handles that source, and
95.Va mdata
96as a handle on arbitrary data to be passed to the method.
97The last entry in
98.Va dtab
99should contain
100.Dv NULL
101values for
102.Va src ,
103.Va method ,
104and
105.Va mdata .
106.Pp
107Additionally, methods may be implemented in NSS modules, in
108which case they are selected using the
109.Fa database
110and
111.Fa method_name
112arguments along with the configured source.
113Modules must use source names different from the built-in ones.
114.Pp
115.Va defaults
116contains a list of default sources to try if
117.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
118is missing or corrupted, or if there is no relevant entry for
119.Va database .
120It is an array of
121.Va ns_src
122structures, which have the following format:
123.Bd -literal -offset indent
124typedef struct _ns_src {
125	const char	*src;
126	uint32_t	 flags;
127} ns_src;
128.Ed
129.Pp
130The
131.Fa defaults
132array should consist of one entry for each source to be configured by
133default indicated by
134.Va src ,
135and
136.Va flags
137set to the criterion desired
138(usually
139.Dv NS_SUCCESS ;
140refer to
141.Sx Method return values
142for more information).
143The last entry in
144.Va defaults
145should have
146.Va src
147set to
148.Dv NULL
149and
150.Va flags
151set to 0.
152.Pp
153For convenience, a global variable defined as:
154.Pp
155.Dl extern const ns_src __nsdefaultsrc[];
156.Pp
157exists which contains a single default entry for the source
158.Sq files
159that may be used by callers which do not require complicated default
160rules.
161.Pp
162.Sq Va ...
163are optional extra arguments, which are passed to the appropriate method
164as a variable argument list of the type
165.Vt va_list .
166.Ss Valid source types
167While there is support for arbitrary sources, the following
168#defines for commonly implemented sources are available:
169.Bl -column NSSRC_COMPAT compat -offset indent
170.It Sy "#define	value"
171.It Dv NSSRC_FILES Ta  \&"files\&"
172.It Dv NSSRC_DB Ta \&"db\&"
173.It Dv NSSRC_DNS Ta \&"dns\&"
174.It Dv NSSRC_NIS Ta \&"nis\&"
175.It Dv NSSRC_COMPAT Ta \&"compat\&"
176.El
177.Pp
178Refer to
179.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
180for a complete description of what each source type is.
181.Ss Method return values
182The
183.Vt nss_method
184functions must return one of the following values depending upon status
185of the lookup:
186.Bl -column "Return value" "Status code"
187.It Sy "Return value	Status code"
188.It Dv NS_SUCCESS Ta success
189.It Dv NS_NOTFOUND Ta notfound
190.It Dv NS_UNAVAIL Ta unavail
191.It Dv NS_TRYAGAIN Ta tryagain
192.It Dv NS_RETURN Ta -none-
193.El
194.Pp
195Refer to
196.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
197for a complete description of each status code.
198.Pp
199The
200.Fn nsdispatch
201function returns the value of the method that caused the dispatcher to
202terminate, or
203.Dv NS_NOTFOUND
204otherwise.
205.Sh NOTES
206.Fx Ns 's
207.Lb libc
208provides stubs for compatibility with NSS modules
209written for the
210.Tn GNU
211C Library
212.Nm nsswitch
213interface.
214However, these stubs only support the use of the
215.Dq Li passwd
216and
217.Dq Li group
218databases.
219.Sh SEE ALSO
220.Xr hesiod 3 ,
221.Xr stdarg 3 ,
222.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
223.Xr yp 8
224.Sh HISTORY
225The
226.Fn nsdispatch
227function first appeared in
228.Fx 5.0 .
229It was imported from the
230.Nx
231Project,
232where it appeared first in
233.Nx 1.4 .
234Support for NSS modules first appeared in
235.Fx 5.1 .
236.Sh AUTHORS
237.An Luke Mewburn Aq Mt lukem@netbsd.org
238wrote this freely-distributable name-service switch implementation,
239using ideas from the
240.Tn ULTRIX
241svc.conf(5)
242and
243.Tn Solaris
244nsswitch.conf(4)
245manual pages.
246The
247.Fx
248Project
249added the support for threads and NSS modules, and normalized the uses
250of
251.Fn nsdispatch
252within the standard C library.
253