xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/rpc/rpc_clnt_calls.3 (revision ae477ca7da55f76d28859e1bd01cd1051e36f28f)
1.\" Copyright 1989 AT&T
2.\" Copyright (c) 1988 Sun Microsystems, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.
3.Dd May 7, 1993
4.Dt RPC_CLNT_CALLS 3
5.Os
6.Sh NAME
7.Nm rpc_clnt_calls ,
8.Nm clnt_call ,
9.Nm clnt_freeres ,
10.Nm clnt_geterr ,
11.Nm clnt_perrno ,
12.Nm clnt_perror ,
13.Nm clnt_sperrno ,
14.Nm clnt_sperror ,
15.Nm rpc_broadcast ,
16.Nm rpc_broadcast_exp ,
17.Nm rpc_call
18.Nd library routines for client side calls
19.Sh LIBRARY
20.Lb libc
21.Sh SYNOPSIS
22.In rpc/rpc.h
23.Ft "enum clnt_stat"
24.Fn clnt_call "CLIENT *clnt" "const rpcproc_t procnum" "const xdrproc_t inproc" "const caddr_t in" "const xdrproc_t outproc" "caddr_t out" "const struct timeval tout"
25.Ft bool_t
26.Fn clnt_freeres "CLIENT *clnt" "const xdrproc_t outproc" "caddr_t out"
27.Ft void
28.Fn clnt_geterr "const CLIENT * clnt" "struct rpc_err * errp"
29.Ft void
30.Fn clnt_perrno "const enum clnt_stat stat"
31.Ft void
32.Fn clnt_perror "CLIENT *clnt" "const char *s"
33.Ft "char *"
34.Fn clnt_sperrno "const enum clnt_stat stat"
35.Ft "char *"
36.Fn clnt_sperror "CLIENT *clnt" "const char * s"
37.Ft "enum clnt_stat"
38.Fo rpc_broadcast
39.Fa "const rpcprog_t prognum" "const rpcvers_t versnum"
40.Fa "const rpcproc_t procnum" "const xdrproc_t inproc"
41.Fa "const caddr_t in" "const xdrproc_t outproc" "caddr_t out"
42.Fa "const resultproc_t eachresult" "const char *nettype"
43.Fc
44.Ft "enum clnt_stat"
45.Fo rpc_broadcast_exp
46.Fa "const rpcprog_t prognum" "const rpcvers_t versnum"
47.Fa "const rpcproc_t procnum" "const xdrproc_t xargs"
48.Fa "caddr_t argsp" "const xdrproc_t xresults"
49.Fa "caddr_t resultsp" "const resultproc_t eachresult"
50.Fa "const int inittime" "const int waittime"
51.Fa "const char * nettype"
52.Fc
53.Ft "enum clnt_stat"
54.Fo rpc_call
55.Fa "const char *host" "const rpcprog_t prognum"
56.Fa "const rpcvers_t versnum" "const rpcproc_t procnum"
57.Fa "const xdrproc_t inproc" "const char *in"
58.Fa "const xdrproc_t outproc" "char *out" "const char *nettype"
59.Fc
60.Sh DESCRIPTION
61RPC library routines allow C language programs to make procedure
62calls on other machines across the network.
63First, the client calls a procedure to send a request to the server.
64Upon receipt of the request, the server calls a dispatch routine
65to perform the requested service, and then sends back a reply.
66.Pp
67The
68.Fn clnt_call ,
69.Fn rpc_call ,
70and
71.Fn rpc_broadcast
72routines handle the client side of the procedure call.
73The remaining routines deal with error handling in the case of errors.
74.Pp
75Some of the routines take a
76.Vt CLIENT
77handle as one of the arguments.
78A
79.Vt CLIENT
80handle can be created by an RPC creation routine such as
81.Fn clnt_create
82(see
83.Xr rpc_clnt_create 3 ) .
84.Pp
85These routines are safe for use in multithreaded applications.
86.Vt CLIENT
87handles can be shared between threads, however in this implementation
88requests by different threads are serialized (that is, the first request will
89receive its results before the second request is sent).
90.Sh Routines
91See
92.Xr rpc 3
93for the definition of the
94.Vt CLIENT
95data structure.
96.Bl -tag -width XXXXX
97.It Fn clnt_call
98A function macro that calls the remote procedure
99.Fa procnum
100associated with the client handle,
101.Fa clnt ,
102which is obtained with an RPC
103client creation routine such as
104.Fn clnt_create
105(see
106.Xr rpc_clnt_create 3 ) .
107The
108.Fa inproc
109argument
110is the XDR function used to encode the procedure's arguments, and
111.Fa outproc
112is the XDR function used to decode the procedure's results;
113.Fa in
114is the address of the procedure's argument(s), and
115.Fa out
116is the address of where to place the result(s).
117The
118.Fa tout
119argument
120is the time allowed for results to be returned, which is overridden by
121a time-out set explicitly through
122.Fn clnt_control ,
123see
124.Xr rpc_clnt_create 3 .
125If the remote call succeeds, the status returned is
126.Dv RPC_SUCCESS ,
127otherwise an appropriate status is returned.
128.It Fn clnt_freeres
129A function macro that frees any data allocated by the
130RPC/XDR system when it decoded the results of an RPC call.
131The
132.Fa out
133argument
134is the address of the results, and
135.Fa outproc
136is the XDR routine describing the results.
137This routine returns 1 if the results were successfully freed,
138and 0 otherwise.
139.It Fn clnt_geterr
140A function macro that copies the error structure out of the client
141handle to the structure at address
142.Fa errp .
143.It Fn clnt_perrno
144Print a message to standard error corresponding
145to the condition indicated by
146.Fa stat .
147A newline is appended.
148Normally used after a procedure call fails for a routine
149for which a client handle is not needed, for instance
150.Fn rpc_call .
151.It Fn clnt_perror
152Print a message to the standard error indicating why an
153RPC call failed;
154.Fa clnt
155is the handle used to do the call.
156The message is prepended with string
157.Fa s
158and a colon.
159A newline is appended.
160Normally used after a remote procedure call fails
161for a routine which requires a client handle,
162for instance
163.Fn clnt_call .
164.It Fn clnt_sperrno
165Take the same arguments as
166.Fn clnt_perrno ,
167but instead of sending a message to the standard error
168indicating why an RPC
169call failed, return a pointer to a string which contains the message.
170The
171.Fn clnt_sperrno
172function
173is normally used instead of
174.Fn clnt_perrno
175when the program does not have a standard error (as a program
176running as a server quite likely does not), or if the programmer
177does not want the message to be output with
178.Fn printf
179(see
180.Xr printf 3 ) ,
181or if a message format different than that supported by
182.Fn clnt_perrno
183is to be used.
184Note:
185unlike
186.Fn clnt_sperror
187and
188.Fn clnt_spcreateerror
189(see
190.Xr rpc_clnt_create 3 ) ,
191.Fn clnt_sperrno
192does not return pointer to static data so the
193result will not get overwritten on each call.
194.It Fn clnt_sperror
195Like
196.Fn clnt_perror ,
197except that (like
198.Fn clnt_sperrno )
199it returns a string instead of printing to standard error.
200However,
201.Fn clnt_sperror
202does not append a newline at the end of the message.
203Warning:
204returns pointer to a buffer that is overwritten
205on each call.
206.It Fn rpc_broadcast
207Like
208.Fn rpc_call ,
209except the call message is broadcast to
210all the connectionless transports specified by
211.Fa nettype .
212If
213.Fa nettype
214is
215.Dv NULL ,
216it defaults to
217.Qq netpath .
218Each time it receives a response,
219this routine calls
220.Fn eachresult ,
221whose form is:
222.Ft bool_t
223.Fn eachresult "caddr_t out" "const struct netbuf * addr" "const struct netconfig * netconf"
224where
225.Fa out
226is the same as
227.Fa out
228passed to
229.Fn rpc_broadcast ,
230except that the remote procedure's output is decoded there;
231.Fa addr
232points to the address of the machine that sent the results, and
233.Fa netconf
234is the netconfig structure of the transport on which the remote
235server responded.
236If
237.Fn eachresult
238returns 0,
239.Fn rpc_broadcast
240waits for more replies;
241otherwise it returns with appropriate status.
242Warning:
243broadcast file descriptors are limited in size to the
244maximum transfer size of that transport.
245For Ethernet, this value is 1500 bytes.
246The
247.Fn rpc_broadcast
248function
249uses
250.Dv AUTH_SYS
251credentials by default (see
252.Xr rpc_clnt_auth 3 ) .
253.It Fn rpc_broadcast_exp
254Like
255.Fn rpc_broadcast ,
256except that the initial timeout,
257.Fa inittime
258and the maximum timeout,
259.Fa waittime
260are specified in milliseconds.
261The
262.Fa inittime
263argument
264is the initial time that
265.Fn rpc_broadcast_exp
266waits before resending the request.
267After the first resend, the re-transmission interval
268increases exponentially until it exceeds
269.Fa waittime .
270.It Fn rpc_call
271Call the remote procedure associated with
272.Fa prognum ,
273.Fa versnum ,
274and
275.Fa procnum
276on the machine,
277.Fa host .
278The
279.Fa inproc
280argument
281is used to encode the procedure's arguments, and
282.Fa outproc
283is used to decode the procedure's results;
284.Fa in
285is the address of the procedure's argument(s), and
286.Fa out
287is the address of where to place the result(s).
288The
289.Fa nettype
290argument
291can be any of the values listed on
292.Xr rpc 3 .
293This routine returns
294.Dv RPC_SUCCESS
295if it succeeds,
296or an appropriate status is returned.
297Use the
298.Fn clnt_perrno
299routine to translate failure status into error messages.
300Warning:
301.Fn rpc_call
302uses the first available transport belonging
303to the class
304.Fa nettype ,
305on which it can create a connection.
306You do not have control of timeouts or authentication
307using this routine.
308.El
309.Sh SEE ALSO
310.Xr printf 3 ,
311.Xr rpc 3 ,
312.Xr rpc_clnt_auth 3 ,
313.Xr rpc_clnt_create 3
314