xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/nsdispatch.3 (revision dd41de95a84d979615a2ef11df6850622bf6184e)
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33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd October 15, 2018
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.
115Modules must use source names different from the built-in ones.
116.Pp
117.Va defaults
118contains a list of default sources to try if
119.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
120is missing or corrupted, or if there is no relevant entry for
121.Va database .
122It is an array of
123.Va ns_src
124structures, which have the following format:
125.Bd -literal -offset indent
126typedef struct _ns_src {
127	const char	*src;
128	uint32_t	 flags;
129} ns_src;
130.Ed
131.Pp
132The
133.Fa defaults
134array should consist of one entry for each source to be configured by
135default indicated by
136.Va src ,
137and
138.Va flags
139set to the criterion desired
140(usually
141.Dv NS_SUCCESS ;
142refer to
143.Sx Method return values
144for more information).
145The last entry in
146.Va defaults
147should have
148.Va src
149set to
150.Dv NULL
151and
152.Va flags
153set to 0.
154.Pp
155For convenience, a global variable defined as:
156.Pp
157.Dl extern const ns_src __nsdefaultsrc[];
158.Pp
159exists which contains a single default entry for the source
160.Sq files
161that may be used by callers which do not require complicated default
162rules.
163.Pp
164.Sq Va ...
165are optional extra arguments, which are passed to the appropriate method
166as a variable argument list of the type
167.Vt va_list .
168.Ss Valid source types
169While there is support for arbitrary sources, the following
170#defines for commonly implemented sources are available:
171.Bl -column NSSRC_COMPAT compat -offset indent
172.It Sy "#define	value"
173.It Dv NSSRC_FILES Ta  \&"files\&"
174.It Dv NSSRC_DB Ta \&"db\&"
175.It Dv NSSRC_DNS Ta \&"dns\&"
176.It Dv NSSRC_NIS Ta \&"nis\&"
177.It Dv NSSRC_COMPAT Ta \&"compat\&"
178.El
179.Pp
180Refer to
181.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
182for a complete description of what each source type is.
183.Ss Method return values
184The
185.Vt nss_method
186functions must return one of the following values depending upon status
187of the lookup:
188.Bl -column "Return value" "Status code"
189.It Sy "Return value	Status code"
190.It Dv NS_SUCCESS Ta success
191.It Dv NS_NOTFOUND Ta notfound
192.It Dv NS_UNAVAIL Ta unavail
193.It Dv NS_TRYAGAIN Ta tryagain
194.It Dv NS_RETURN Ta -none-
195.El
196.Pp
197Refer to
198.Xr nsswitch.conf 5
199for a complete description of each status code.
200.Pp
201The
202.Fn nsdispatch
203function returns the value of the method that caused the dispatcher to
204terminate, or
205.Dv NS_NOTFOUND
206otherwise.
207.Sh NOTES
208.Fx Ns 's
209.Lb libc
210provides stubs for compatibility with NSS modules
211written for the
212.Tn GNU
213C Library
214.Nm nsswitch
215interface.
216However, these stubs only support the use of the
217.Dq Li passwd
218and
219.Dq Li group
220databases.
221.Sh SEE ALSO
222.Xr hesiod 3 ,
223.Xr stdarg 3 ,
224.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
225.Xr yp 8
226.Sh HISTORY
227The
228.Fn nsdispatch
229function first appeared in
230.Fx 5.0 .
231It was imported from the
232.Nx
233Project,
234where it appeared first in
235.Nx 1.4 .
236Support for NSS modules first appeared in
237.Fx 5.1 .
238.Sh AUTHORS
239.An Luke Mewburn Aq Mt lukem@netbsd.org
240wrote this freely-distributable name-service switch implementation,
241using ideas from the
242.Tn ULTRIX
243svc.conf(5)
244and
245.Tn Solaris
246nsswitch.conf(4)
247manual pages.
248The
249.Fx
250Project
251added the support for threads and NSS modules, and normalized the uses
252of
253.Fn nsdispatch
254within the standard C library.
255