GETSOCKOPT(2)               BSD System Calls Manual              GETSOCKOPT(2)

NAME
     getsockopt, setsockopt -- get and set options on sockets

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/socket.h>

     int
     getsockopt(int socket, int level, int option_name,
         void *restrict option_value, socklen_t *restrict option_len);

     int
     setsockopt(int socket, int level, int option_name,
         const void *option_value, socklen_t option_len);

DESCRIPTION
     getsockopt() and setsockopt() manipulate the options associated with a
     socket.  Options may exist at multiple protocol levels; they are always
     present at the uppermost ``socket'' level.

     When manipulating socket options the level at which the option resides
     and the name of the option must be specified.  To manipulate options at
     the socket level, level is specified as SOL_SOCKET.  To manipulate
     options at any other level the protocol number of the appropriate proto-
     col controlling the option is supplied.  For example, to indicate that an
     option is to be interpreted by the TCP protocol, level should be set to
     the protocol number of TCP; see getprotoent(3).

     The parameters option_value and option_len are used to access option val-
     ues for setsockopt().  For getsockopt() they identify a buffer in which
     the value for the requested option(s) are to be returned.  For
     getsockopt(), option_len is a value-result parameter, initially contain-
     ing the size of the buffer pointed to by option_value, and modified on
     return to indicate the actual size of the value returned.  If no option
     value is to be supplied or returned, option_value may be NULL.

     option_name and any specified options are passed uninterpreted to the
     appropriate protocol module for interpretation.  The include file
     <sys/socket.h> contains definitions for socket level options, described
     below.  Options at other protocol levels vary in format and name; consult
     the appropriate entries in section 4 of the manual.

     Most socket-level options utilize an int parameter for option_value.  For
     setsockopt(), the parameter should be non-zero to enable a boolean
     option, or zero if the option is to be disabled.  SO_LINGER uses a struct
     linger parameter, defined in <sys/socket.h>, which specifies the desired
     state of the option and the linger interval (see below).  SO_SNDTIMEO and
     SO_RCVTIMEO use a struct timeval parameter, defined in <sys/time.h>.

     The following options are recognized at the socket level.  Except as
     noted, each may be examined with getsockopt() and set with setsockopt().

           SO_DEBUG        enables recording of debugging information
           SO_REUSEADDR    enables local address reuse
           SO_REUSEPORT    enables duplicate address and port bindings
           SO_KEEPALIVE    enables keep connections alive
           SO_DONTROUTE    enables routing bypass for outgoing messages
           SO_LINGER       linger on close if data present
           SO_BROADCAST    enables permission to transmit broadcast messages
           SO_OOBINLINE    enables reception of out-of-band data in band
           SO_SNDBUF       set buffer size for output
           SO_RCVBUF       set buffer size for input
           SO_SNDLOWAT     set minimum count for output
           SO_RCVLOWAT     set minimum count for input
           SO_SNDTIMEO     set timeout value for output
           SO_RCVTIMEO     set timeout value for input
           SO_TYPE         get the type of the socket (get only)
           SO_ERROR        get and clear error on the socket (get only)
           SO_NOSIGPIPE    do not generate SIGPIPE, instead return EPIPE
           SO_NREAD        number of bytes to be read (get only)
           SO_NWRITE       number of bytes written not yet sent by the
                           protocol (get only)
           SO_LINGER_SEC   linger on close if data present with timeout in
                           seconds

     SO_DEBUG enables debugging in the underlying protocol modules.

     SO_REUSEADDR indicates that the rules used in validating addresses sup-
     plied in a bind(2) call should allow reuse of local addresses.

     SO_REUSEPORT allows completely duplicate bindings by multiple processes
     if they all set SO_REUSEPORT before binding the port.  This option per-
     mits multiple instances of a program to each receive UDP/IP multicast or
     broadcast datagrams destined for the bound port.

     SO_KEEPALIVE enables the periodic transmission of messages on a connected
     socket.  Should the connected party fail to respond to these messages,
     the connection is considered broken and processes using the socket are
     notified via a SIGPIPE signal when attempting to send data.

     SO_DONTROUTE indicates that outgoing messages should bypass the standard
     routing facilities.  Instead, messages are directed to the appropriate
     network interface according to the network portion of the destination
     address.

     SO_LINGER controls the action taken when unsent messages are queued on
     socket and a close(2) is performed.  If the socket promises reliable
     delivery of data and SO_LINGER is set, the system will block the process
     on the close attempt until it is able to transmit the data or until it
     decides it is unable to deliver the information (a timeout period, termed
     the linger interval, is specified in the setsockopt() call when SO_LINGER
     is requested).  If SO_LINGER is disabled and a close is issued, the sys-
     tem will process the close in a manner that allows the process to con-
     tinue as quickly as possible.

     SO_LINGER_SEC is the same option as SO_LINGER except the linger time is
     in seconds for SO_LINGER_SEC.

     The option SO_BROADCAST requests permission to send broadcast datagrams
     on the socket.  Broadcast was a privileged operation in earlier versions
     of the system.

     With protocols that support out-of-band data, the SO_OOBINLINE option
     requests that out-of-band data be placed in the normal data input queue
     as received; it will then be accessible with recv or read calls without
     the MSG_OOB flag.  Some protocols always behave as if this option is set.

     SO_SNDBUF and SO_RCVBUF are options to adjust the normal buffer sizes
     allocated for output and input buffers, respectively.  The buffer size
     may be increased for high-volume connections, or may be decreased to
     limit the possible backlog of incoming data.  The system places an abso-
     lute limit on these values.

     SO_SNDLOWAT is an option to set the minimum count for output operations.
     Most output operations process all of the data supplied by the call,
     delivering data to the protocol for transmission and blocking as neces-
     sary for flow control.  Nonblocking output operations will process as
     much data as permitted (subject to flow control) without blocking, but
     will process no data if flow control does not allow the smaller of the
     low-water mark value or the entire request to be processed.  A select(2)
     operation testing the ability to write to a socket will return true only
     if the low-water mark amount could be processed.  The default value for
     SO_SNDLOWAT is set to a convenient size for network efficiency, often
     2048.

     SO_RCVLOWAT is an option to set the minimum count for input operations.
     In general, receive calls will block until any (non-zero) amount of data
     is received, then return with the smaller of the amount available or the
     amount requested.  The default value for SO_RCVLOWAT is 1.  If
     SO_RCVLOWAT is set to a larger value, blocking receive calls normally
     wait until they have received the smaller of the low-water mark value or
     the requested amount.  Receive calls may still return less than the low-
     water mark if an error occurs, a signal is caught, or the type of data
     next in the receive queue is different than that returned.

     SO_SNDTIMEO is an option to set a timeout value for output operations.
     It accepts a struct timeval parameter with the number of seconds and
     microseconds used to limit waits for output operations to complete.  If a
     send operation has blocked for this much time, it returns with a partial
     count or with the error EWOULDBLOCK if no data were sent.  In the current
     implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional data are
     delivered to the protocol, implying that the limit applies to output por-
     tions ranging in size from the low-water mark to the high-water mark for
     output.

     SO_RCVTIMEO is an option to set a timeout value for input operations.  It
     accepts a struct timeval parameter with the number of seconds and
     microseconds used to limit waits for input operations to complete.  In
     the current implementation, this timer is restarted each time additional
     data are received by the protocol, and thus the limit is in effect an
     inactivity timer.  If a receive operation has been blocked for this much
     time without receiving additional data, it returns with a short count or
     with the error EWOULDBLOCK if no data were received.  The struct timeval
     parameter must represent a positive time interval; otherwise,
     setsockopt() returns with the error EDOM.

     SO_NOSIGPIPE is an option that prevents SIGPIPE from being raised when a
     write fails on a socket to which there is no reader; instead, the write
     to the socket returns with the error EPIPE when there is no reader.

     Finally, SO_TYPE, SO_ERROR, SO_NREAD, and SO_NWRITE are options used only
     with getsockopt().

     SO_TYPE returns the type of the socket, such as SOCK_STREAM; it is useful
     for servers that inherit sockets on startup.

     SO_ERROR returns any pending error on the socket and clears the error
     status.  It may be used to check for asynchronous errors on connected
     datagram sockets or for other asynchronous errors.

     SO_NREAD returns the amount of data in the input buffer that is available
     to be received.  For datagram oriented sockets, SO_NREAD returns the size
     of the first packet -- this differs from the ioctl() command FIONREAD
     that returns the total amount of data available.

     SO_NWRITE returns the amount of data in the output buffer not yet sent by
     the protocol.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion, the value 0 is returned; otherwise the
     value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the
     error.

ERRORS
     The getsockopt() and setsockopt() system calls will succeed unless:

     [EBADF]            The argument socket is not a valid file descriptor.

     [EFAULT]           The address pointed to by option_value is not in a
                        valid part of the process address space.  For
                        getsockopt(), this error may also be returned if
                        option_len is not in a valid part of the process
                        address space.

     [EINVAL]           The option is invalid at the level indicated.

     [ENOBUFS]          Insufficient system resources available for the call
                        to complete.

     [ENOMEM]           Insufficient memory available for the system call to
                        complete.

     [ENOPROTOOPT]      The option is unknown at the level indicated.

     [ENOTSOCK]         The argument socket is not a socket (e.g., a plain
                        file).

     The setsockopt() system call will succeed unless:

     [EDOM]             The argument option_value is out of bounds.

     [EISCONN]          socket is already connected and a specified option
                        cannot be set while this is the case.

     [EINVAL]           The socket has been shut down.

LEGACY SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>

     The include file <sys/types.h> is necessary.

SEE ALSO
     socket(2), bind(2), ioctl(2), getprotoent(3), protocols(5)

BUGS
     Several of the socket options should be handled at lower levels of the
     system.

HISTORY
     The getsockopt() system call appeared in 4.2BSD.

4.3-Reno Berkeley Distribution  April 19, 1994  4.3-Reno Berkeley Distribution