Untitled Document

These routines allow C programs to make procedure calls on other machines across the network. First, the client calls a procedure to send a data packet to the server. Upon receipt of the packet, the server calls a dispatch routine to perform the requested service, and then sends back a reply. Finally, the procedure call returns to the client.

Routines that are used for Secure RPC (DES authentication) are not available in this release.

1.1 auth_destroy()

void
auth_destroy(auth)
AUTH *auth;

A macro that destroys the authentication information associated with auth. Destruction usually involves deallocation of private data structures. The use of auth is undefined after calling auth_destroy().

1.2 authnone_create()

AUTH *
authnone_create()

Create and returns an RPC authentication handle that passes nonusable authentication information with each remote procedure call. This is the default authentication used by RPC.

1.3 authunix_create()

AUTH *
authunix_create(host, uid, gid, len, aup_gids)
char *host;
int uid, gid, len, *aup_gids;

Create and return an RPC authentication handle that contains Unix authentication information. The parameter host is the name of the machine on which the information was created; uid is the user’s user ID; gid is the user’s current group ID; len and aup_gids refer to a counted array of groups to which the user belongs. It is easy to impersonate a user.

1.4 authunix_create_default()

AUTH *
authunix_create_default()

1.5 callrpc()

int
callrpc(host, prognum, versnum, procnum, inproc, in, outproc, out)
char *host;
u_long prognum, versnum, procnum;
char *in, *out;
xdrproc_t inproc, outproc;

Call the remote procedure associated with prognum, versnum, and procnum on the machine, host. The parameter in is the address of the procedure’s argument(s), and out is the address of where to place the result(s); inproc is used to encode the procedure’s parameters, and outproc is used to decode the procedure’s results. This routine returns zero if it succeeds, or the value of enum clnt_stat cast to an integer if it fails. The routine is handy for translating failure statuses into messages.

Warning: calling remote procedures with this routine uses UDP/IP as a transport; see section clntudp_create() for restrictions. You do not have control of timeouts or authentication using this routine.

1.6 clnt_broadcast()

enum clnt_stat
clnt_broadcast(prognum, versnum, procnum, inproc, in, outproc, out, eachresult)
u_long prognum, versnum, procnum;
char *in, *out;
xdrproc_t inproc, outproc;
resultproc_t eachresult;

Like except the call message is broadcast to all locally connected broadcast nets. Each time it receives a response, this routine calls eachresult(), whose form is:

int
eachresult(out, addr)
char *out;
struct sockaddr_in *addr;

where out is the same as out passed to clnt_broadcast(), except that the remote procedure’s output is decoded there; addr points to the address of the machine that sent the results. If eachresult() returns zero, clnt_broadcast() waits for more replies; otherwise it returns with appropriate status.

Warning: broadcast sockets are limited in size to the maximum transfer unit of the data link. For ethernet, this value is 1500 bytes.

1.7 clnt_call()

enum clnt_stat
clnt_call(clnt, procnum, inproc, in, outproc, out, tout)
CLIENT *clnt;
u_long procnum;
xdrproc_t inproc, outproc;
char *in, *out;
struct timeval tout;

A macro that calls the remote procedure procnum associated with the client handle, clnt, which is obtained with an RPC client creation routine such as The parameter in is the address of the procedure’s argument(s), and out is the address of where to place the result(s); inproc is used to encode the procedure’s parameters, and outproc is used to decode the procedure’s results; tout is the time allowed for results to come back.

1.8 clnt_destroy()

void
clnt_destroy(clnt)
CLIENT *clnt;

A macro that destroys the client’s RPC handle. Destruction usually involves deallocation of private data structures, including clnt itself. Use of clnt is undefined after calling clnt_destroy(). If the RPC library opened the associated socket, it will close it also. Otherwise, the socket remains open.

1.9 clnt_create()

CLIENT *
clnt_create(host, prog, vers, proto)
char *host;
u_long prog, vers;
char *proto;

Generic client creation routine. host identifies the name of the remote host where the server is located. proto indicates which kind of transport protocol to use. The currently supported values for this field are "udp" and "tcp". Default timeouts are set, but can be modified using

Warning: Using UDP has its shortcomings. Since UDP-based RPC messages can only hold up to 8 Kbytes of encoded data, this transport cannot be used for procedures that take large arguments or return huge results.

1.10 clnt_control()

bool_t
clnt_control(cl, req, info)
CLIENT *cl;
char *info;

A macro used to change or retrieve various information about a client object. req indicates the type of operation, and info is a pointer to the information. For both UDP and TCP, the supported values of req and their argument types and what they do are:

CLSET_TIMEOUT        struct timeval      set total timeout
CLGET_TIMEOUT        struct timeval      get total timeout

Note: if you set the timeout using clnt_control(), the timeout parameter passed to will be ignored in all future calls.

CLGET_SERVER_ADDR    struct sockaddr_in  get server's address

CLSET_RETRY_TIMEOUT  struct timeval      set the retry timeout
CLGET_RETRY_TIMEOUT  struct timeval      get the retry timeout

The retry timeout is the time that UDP RPC waits for the server to reply before retransmitting the request.

1.11 clnt_freeres()

bool_t
clnt_freeres(clnt, outproc, out)
CLIENT *clnt;
xdrproc_t outproc;
char *out;

A macro that frees any data allocated by the RPC/XDR system when it decoded the results of an RPC call. The parameter out is the address of the results, and outproc is the XDR routine describing the results. This routine returns one if the results were successfully freed, and zero otherwise.

1.12 clnt_geterr()

void
clnt_geterr(clnt, errp)
CLIENT *clnt;
struct rpc_err *errp;

A macro that copies the error structure out of the client handle to the structure at address errp.

1.13 clnt_pcreateerror()

void
clnt_pcreateerror(s)
char *s;

Print a message to standard error indicating why a client RPC handle could not be created. The message is prepended with string s and a colon. Used when a or call fails.

1.14 clnt_perrno()

void
clnt_perrno(stat)
enum clnt_stat stat;

Print a message to standard error corresponding to the condition indicated by stat. Used after

1.15 clnt_perror()

void 
clnt_perror(clnt, s)
CLIENT *clnt;
char *s;

Print a message to standard error indicating why an RPC call failed; clnt is the handle used to do the call. The message is prepended with string s and a colon. Used after

1.16 clnt_spcreateerror()

char *
clnt_spcreateerror(s)
char *s;

1.17 clnt_sperrno()

char *
clnt_sperrno(stat)
enum clnt_stat stat;

Take the same arguments as but instead of sending a message to the standard error indicating why an RPC call failed, return a pointer to a string which contains the message. The string ends with a '\n'. clnt_sperrno() is used instead of if the program does not have a standard error (as a program running as a server quite likely does not), or if the programmer does not want the message to be output with printf, or if a message format different than that supported by is to be used.

Note: unlike and clnt_sperrno() returns pointer to static data, but the result will not get overwritten on each call.

1.18 clnt_sperror()

char *
clnt_sperror(rpch, s)
CLIENT *rpch;
char *s;

Like except that (like it returns a string instead of printing to standard error.

1.19 clntraw_create()

CLIENT *
clntraw_create(prognum, versnum)
u_long prognum, versnum;

This routine creates a toy RPC client for the remote program prognum, version versnum. The transport used to pass messages to the service is actually a buffer within the process’s address space, so the corresponding RPC server should live in the same address space; see This allows simulation of RPC and acquisition of RPC overheads, such as round trip times, without any kernel interference. This routine returns NULL if it fails.

1.20 clnttcp_create()

CLIENT *
clnttcp_create(addr, prognum, versnum, sockp, sendsz, recvsz)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;
u_long prognum, versnum;
int *sockp;
u_int sendsz, recvsz;

This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program prognum, version versnum; the client uses TCP/IP as a transport. The remote program is located at Internet address *addr. If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to the actual port that the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service is consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a socket; if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and sets sockp. Since TCP-based RPC uses buffered I/O, the user may specify the size of the send and receive buffers with the parameters sendsz and recvsz; values of zero choose suitable defaults. This routine returns NULL if it fails.

1.21 clntudp_create()

CLIENT *
clntudp_create(addr, prognum, versnum, wait, sockp)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;
u_long prognum, versnum;
struct timeval wait;
int *sockp;

This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program prognum, version versnum; the client uses use UDP/IP as a transport. The remote program is located at Internet address addr. If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to actual port that the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service is consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a socket; if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and sets sockp. The UDP transport resends the call message in intervals of wait time until a response is received or until the call times out. The total time for the call to time out is specified by

Warning: since UDP-based RPC messages can only hold up to 8 Kbytes of encoded data, this transport cannot be used for procedures that take large arguments or return huge results.

1.22 clntudp_bufcreate()

CLIENT *
clntudp_bufcreate(addr, prognum, versnum, wait, sockp, sendsize, recosize)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;
u_long prognum, versnum;
struct timeval wait;
int *sockp;
unsigned int sendsize;
unsigned int recosize;

This routine creates an RPC client for the remote program prognum, on versnum; the client uses use UDP/IP as a transport. The remote program is located at Internet address addr. If addr->sin_port is zero, then it is set to actual port that the remote program is listening on (the remote portmap service is consulted for this information). The parameter sockp is a socket; if it is RPC_ANYSOCK, then this routine opens a new one and sets sockp. The UDP transport resends the call message in intervals of wait time until a response is received or until the call times out. The total time for the call to time out is specified by This allows the user to specify the maximun packet size for sending and receiving UDP-based RPC messages.

1.23 get_myaddress()

void
get_myaddress(addr)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;

Stuff the machine’s IP address into *addr, without consulting the library routines that deal with host database or name service. The port number is always set to htons(PMAPPORT).

1.24 pmap_getmaps()

struct pmaplist *
pmap_getmaps(addr)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;

A user interface to the portmap service, which returns a list of the current RPC program-to-port mappings on the host located at IP address *addr. This routine can return NULL. The command uses this routine.

1.25 pmap_getport()

u_short
pmap_getport(addr, prognum, versnum, protocol)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;
u_long prognum, versnum, protocol;

A user interface to the portmap service, which returns the port number on which waits a service that supports program number prognum, version versnum, and speaks the transport protocol associated with protocol. The value of protocol is most likely IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP. A return value of zero means that the mapping does not exist or that the RPC system failured to contact the remote portmap service. In the latter case, the global variable contains the RPC status.

1.26 pmap_rmtcall()

enum clnt_stat
pmap_rmtcall(addr, prognum, versnum, procnum, 
             inproc, in, outproc, out, tout, portp)
struct sockaddr_in *addr;
u_long prognum, versnum, procnum;
char *in, *out;
xdrproc_t inproc, outproc;
struct timeval tout;
u_long *portp;

A user interface to the portmap service, which instructs portmap on the host at IP address *addr to make an RPC call on your behalf to a procedure on that host. The parameter *portp will be modified to the program’s port number if the procedure succeeds. The definitions of other parameters are discussed in and This procedure should be used for a "ping" and nothing else. See also

1.27 pmap_set()

bool_t
pmap_set(prognum, versnum, protocol, port)
u_long prognum, versnum, protocol;
u_short port;

A user interface to the portmap service, which establishes a mapping between the triple [prognum,versnum,protocol] and port on the machine’s portmap service. The value of protocol is most likely IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP. This routine returns one if it succeeds, zero otherwise. Automatically done by

1.28 pmap_unset()

bool_t
pmap_unset(prognum, versnum)
u_long prognum, versnum;

A user interface to the portmap service, which destroys all mapping between the triple [prognum,versnum,*] and ports on the machine’s portmap service. This routine returns one if it succeeds, zero otherwise.

1.29 registerrpc()

int
registerrpc(prognum, versnum, procnum, procname, inproc, outproc)
u_long prognum, versnum, procnum;
char *(*procname) () ;
xdrproc_t inproc, outproc;

Register procedure procname with the RPC service package. If a request arrives for program prognum, version versnum, and procedure procnum, procname is called with a pointer to its parameter(s); progname should return a pointer to its static result(s); inproc is used to decode the parameters while outproc is used to encode the results. This routine returns zero if the registration succeeded, -1 otherwise.

Warning: remote procedures registered in this form are accessed using the UDP/IP transport; see for restrictions.

1.30 rpc_createerr

struct rpc_createerr     rpc_createerr;

A global variable whose value is set by any RPC client creation routine that does not succeed. Use the routine to print the reason why.

1.31 svc_destroy()

void
svc_destroy(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

A macro that destroys the RPC service transport handle, xprt. Destruction usually involves deallocation of private data structures, including xprt itself. Use of xprt is undefined after calling this routine.

1.32 svc_fdset

fd_set svc_fdset;

A global variable reflecting the RPC service side’s read file descriptor bit mask; it is suitable as a parameter to the select system call. This is only of interest if a service implementor does not call but rather does his own asynchronous event processing. This variable is read-only (do not pass its address to select!), yet it may change after calls to or any creation routines.

1.33 svc_fds

int svc_fds;

1.34 svc_freeargs()

bool_t
svc_freeargs(xprt, inproc, in)
SVCXPRT *xprt;
xdrproc_t inproc;
char *in;

A macro that frees any data allocated by the RPC/XDR system when it decoded the arguments to a service procedure using This routine returns 1 if the results were successfully freed, and zero otherwise.

1.35 svc_getargs()

bool_t
svc_getargs(xprt, inproc, in)
SVCXPRT *xprt;
xdrproc_t inproc;
char *in;

A macro that decodes the arguments of an RPC request associated with the RPC service transport handle, xprt. The parameter in is the address where the arguments will be placed; inproc is the XDR routine used to decode the arguments. This routine returns one if decoding succeeds, and zero otherwise.

1.36 svc_getcaller()

struct sockaddr_in *
svc_getcaller(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

The approved way of getting the network address of the caller of a procedure associated with the RPC service transport handle, xprt.

1.37 svc_getreqset()

void
svc_getreqset(rdfds)
fd_set *rdfds;

This routine is only of interest if a service implementor does not call but instead implements custom asynchronous event processing. It is called when the select() system call has determined that an RPC request has arrived on some RPC socket(s); rdfds is the resultant read file descriptor bit mask. The routine returns when all sockets associated with the value of rdfds have been serviced.

1.38 svc_getreq()

void 
svc_getreq(rdfds)
int rdfds;

1.39 svc_register()

bool_t
svc_register(xprt, prognum, versnum, dispatch, protocol)
SVCXPRT *xprt;
u_long prognum, versnum;
void (*dispatch) ();
u_long protocol;

Associates prognum and versnum with the service dispatch procedure, dispatch. If protocol is zero, the service is not registered with the portmap service. If protocol is non-zero, then a mapping of the triple [prognum,versnum,protocol] to xprt->xp_port is established with the local portmap service (generally protocol is zero, IPPROTO_UDP or IPPROTO_TCP). The procedure dispatch has the following form:

void
dispatch(request, xprt)
struct svc_req *request;
SVCXPRT *xprt;

1.40 svc_run()

void
svc_run()

This routine never returns. It waits for RPC requests to arrive, and calls the appropriate service procedure using when one arrives. This procedure is usually waiting for a select() system call to return.

1.41 svc_sendreply()

bool_t
svc_sendreply(xprt, outproc, out)
SVCXPRT *xprt;
xdrproc_t outproc;
char *out;

Called by an RPC service’s dispatch routine to send the results of a remote procedure call. The parameter xprt is the request’s associated transport handle; outproc is the XDR routine which is used to encode the results; and out is the address of the results. This routine returns one if it succeeds, zero otherwise.

1.42 svc_unregister()

void
svc_unregister(prognum, versnum)
u_long prognum, versnum;

Remove all mapping of the double [prognum,versnum] to dispatch routines, and of the triple [prognum,versnum,*] to port number.

1.43 svcerr_auth()

void
svcerr_auth(xprt, why)
SVCXPRT *xprt;
enum auth_stat why;

Called by a service dispatch routine that refuses to perform a remote procedure call due to an authentication error.

1.44 svcerr_decode()

void
svcerr_decode(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called by a service dispatch routine that cannot successfully decode its parameters. Also See section svc_getargs().

1.45 svcerr_noproc()

void
svcerr_noproc(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called by a service dispatch routine that does not implement the procedure number that the caller requests.

1.46 svcerr_noprog()

void
svcerr_noprog(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called when the desired program is not registered with the RPC package. Service implementors usually do not need this routine.

1.47 svcerr_progvers()

void
svcerr_progvers(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called when the desired version of a program is not registered with the RPC package. Service implementors usually do not need this routine.

1.48 svcerr_systemerr()

void
svcerr_systemerr(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called by a service dispatch routine when it detects a system error not covered by any particular protocol. For example, if a service can no longer allocate storage, it may call this routine.

1.49 svcerr_weakauth()

void
svcerr_weakauth(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Called by a service dispatch routine that refuses to perform a remote procedure call due to insufficient authentication parameters. The routine calls svcerr_auth(xprt, AUTH_TOOWEAK).

1.50 svcraw_create()

SVCXPRT *
svcraw_create()

This routine creates a toy RPC service transport, to which it returns a pointer. The transport is really a buffer within the process’s address space, so the corresponding RPC client should live in the same address space; see This routine allows simulation of RPC and acquisition of RPC overheads (such as round trip times), without any kernel interference. This routine returns NULL if it fails.

1.51 svctcp_create()

SVCXPRT *
svctcp_create(sock, send_buf_size, recv_buf_size)
int sock;
u_int send_buf_size, recv_buf_size;

This routine creates a TCP/IP-based RPC service transport, to which it returns a pointer. The transport is associated with the socket sock, which may be RPC_ANYSOCK, in which case a new socket is created. If the socket is not bound to a local TCP port, then this routine binds it to an arbitrary port. Upon completion, xprt->xp_sock is the transport’s socket descriptor, and xprt->xp_port is the transport’s port number. This routine returns NULL if it fails. Since TCP-based RPC uses buffered I/O, users may specify the size of buffers; values of zero choose suitable defaults.

1.52 svcfd_create()

SVCXPRT *
svcfd_create(fd, sendsize, recvsize)
int fd;
u_int sendsize;
u_int recvsize;

Create a service on top of any open descriptor. Typically, this descriptor is a connected socket for a stream protocol such as TCP. sendsize and recvsize indicate sizes for the send and receive buffers. If they are zero, a reasonable default is chosen.

1.53 svcudp_bufcreate()

SVCXPRT *
svcudp_bufcreate(sock, sendsize, recvsize)
int sock;
u_int sendsize, recvsize;

This routine creates a UDP/IP-based RPC service transport, to which it returns a pointer. The transport is associated with the socket sock, which may be RPC_ANYSOCK, in which case a new socket is created. If the socket is not bound to a local UDP port, then this routine binds it to an arbitrary port. Upon completion, xprt->xp_sock is the transport’s socket descriptor, and xprt->xp_port is the transport’s port number. This routine returns NULL if it fails. This allows the user to specify the maximun packet size for sending and receiving UDP-based RPC messages.

1.54 svcudp_create()

SVCXPRT *
svcudp_create(sock)
int sock;

This routine creates a UDP/IP-based RPC service transport, to which it returns a pointer. This is done by calling the with the default buffer size UDPMSGSIZE.

1.55 xdr_accepted_reply()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_accepted_reply(xdrs, ar)
XDR *xdrs;
struct accepted_reply *ar;

Used for encoding RPC reply messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the RPC package.

1.56 xdr_authunix_parms()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_authunix_parms(xdrs, aupp)
XDR *xdrs;
struct authunix_parms *aupp;

Used for describing UNIX credentials. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate these credentials without using the RPC authentication package.

1.57 xdr_callhdr()

void
xdr_callhdr(xdrs, chdr)
XDR *xdrs;
struct rpc_msg *chdr;

Used for describing RPC call header messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the RPC package.

1.58 xdr_callmsg()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_callmsg(xdrs, cmsg)
XDR *xdrs;
struct rpc_msg *cmsg;

Used for describing RPC call messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the RPC package.

1.59 xdr_opaque_auth()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_opaque_auth(xdrs, ap)
XDR *xdrs;
struct opaque_auth *ap;

Used for describing RPC authentication information messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the RPC package.

1.60 xdr_pmap()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_pmap(xdrs, regs)
XDR *xdrs;
struct pmap *regs;

Used for describing parameters to various portmap procedures, externally. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate these parameters without using the pmap interface.

1.61 xdr_pmaplist()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_pmaplist(xdrs, rp)
XDR *xdrs;
struct pmaplist **rp;

Used for describing a list of port mappings, externally. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate these parameters without using the pmap interface.

1.62 xdr_rejected_reply()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_rejected_reply(xdrs, rr)
XDR *xdrs;
struct rejected_reply *rr;

Used for describing RPC reply messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC-style messages without using the RPC package.

1.63 xdr_replymsg()

bool_t XDRFUN
xdr_replymsg(xdrs, rmsg)
XDR *xdrs;
struct rpc_msg *rmsg;

Used for describing RPC reply messages. This routine is useful for users who wish to generate RPC style messages without using the RPC package.

1.64 xprt_register()

void
xprt_register(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

After RPC service transport handles are created, they should register themselves with the RPC service package. This routine modifies the global variable Service implementors usually do not need this routine.

1.65 xprt_unregister()

void
xprt_unregister(xprt)
SVCXPRT *xprt;

Before an RPC service transport handle is destroyed, it should unregister itself with the RPC service package. This routine modifies the global variable Service implementors usually do not need this routine.

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1 RPC Function Reference