Name

socket — create an endpoint for communication

Synopsis

#include <sys/types.h>           /* See NOTES */
#include <sys/socket.h>
int socket( int   domain,
  int   type,
  int   protocol);

DESCRIPTION

socket() creates an endpoint for communication and returns a descriptor.

The domain parameter specifies a communication domain; this selects the protocol family which will be used for communication. These families are defined in <sys/socket.h> The currently understood formats include:

Name Purpose Man page
PF_UNIX, PF_LOCAL Local communication unix(7)
PF_INET IPv4 Internet protocols ip(7)
PF_INET6 IPv6 Internet protocols ipv6(7)
PF_IPX IPX − Novell protocols  
PF_NETLINK Kernel user interface device netlink(7)
PF_X25 ITU-T X.25 / ISO-8208 protocol x25(7)
PF_AX25 Amateur radio AX.25 protocol  
PF_ATMPVC Access to raw ATM PVCs  
PF_APPLETALK Appletalk ddp(7)
PF_PACKET Low level packet interface packet(7)

The socket has the indicated type, which specifies the communication semantics. Currently defined types are:

SOCK_STREAM

Provides sequenced, reliable, two-way, connection-based byte streams. An out-of-band data transmission mechanism may be supported.

SOCK_DGRAM

Supports datagrams (connectionless, unreliable messages of a fixed maximum length).

SOCK_SEQPACKET

Provides a sequenced, reliable, two-way connection-based data transmission path for datagrams of fixed maximum length; a consumer is required to read an entire packet with each input system call.

SOCK_RAW

Provides raw network protocol access.

SOCK_RDM

Provides a reliable datagram layer that does not guarantee ordering.

SOCK_PACKET

Obsolete and should not be used in new programs; see packet(7).

Some socket types may not be implemented by all protocol families; for example, SOCK_SEQPACKET is not implemented for AF_INET.

The protocol specifies a particular protocol to be used with the socket. Normally only a single protocol exists to support a particular socket type within a given protocol family, in which case protocol can be specified as 0. However, it is possible that many protocols may exist, in which case a particular protocol must be specified in this manner. The protocol number to use is specific to the “communication domain” in which communication is to take place; see protocols(5). See getprotoent(3) on how to map protocol name strings to protocol numbers.

Sockets of type SOCK_STREAM are full-duplex byte streams, similar to pipes. They do not preserve record boundaries. A stream socket must be in a connected state before any data may be sent or received on it. A connection to another socket is created with a connect(2) call. Once connected, data may be transferred using read(2) and write(2) calls or some variant of the send(2) and recv(2) calls. When a session has been completed a close(2) may be performed. Out-of-band data may also be transmitted as described in send(2) and received as described in recv(2).

The communications protocols which implement a SOCK_STREAM ensure that data is not lost or duplicated. If a piece of data for which the peer protocol has buffer space cannot be successfully transmitted within a reasonable length of time, then the connection is considered to be dead. When SO_KEEPALIVE is enabled on the socket the protocol checks in a protocol-specific manner if the other end is still alive. A SIGPIPE signal is raised if a process sends or receives on a broken stream; this causes naive processes, which do not handle the signal, to exit. SOCK_SEQPACKET sockets employ the same system calls as SOCK_STREAM sockets. The only difference is that read(2) calls will return only the amount of data requested, and any data remaining in the arriving packet will be discarded. Also all message boundaries in incoming datagrams are preserved.

SOCK_DGRAM and SOCK_RAW sockets allow sending of datagrams to correspondents named in sendto(2) calls. Datagrams are generally received with recvfrom(2), which returns the next datagram along with the address of its sender.

SOCK_PACKET is an obsolete socket type to receive raw packets directly from the device driver. Use packet(7) instead.

An fcntl(2) F_SETOWN operation can be used to specify a process or process group to receive a SIGURG signal when the out-of-band data arrives or SIGPIPE signal when a SOCK_STREAM connection breaks unexpectedly. This operation may also be used to set the process or process group that receives the I/O and asynchronous notification of I/O events via SIGIO. Using F_SETOWN is equivalent to an ioctl(2) call with the FIOSETOWN or SIOCSPGRP argument.

When the network signals an error condition to the protocol module (e.g., using a ICMP message for IP) the pending error flag is set for the socket. The next operation on this socket will return the error code of the pending error. For some protocols it is possible to enable a per-socket error queue to retrieve detailed information about the error; see IP_RECVERR in ip(7).

The operation of sockets is controlled by socket level options. These options are defined in <sys/socket.h> The functions setsockopt(2) and getsockopt(2) are used to set and get options, respectively.

RETURN VALUE

On success, a file descriptor for the new socket is returned. On error, −1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

EACCES

Permission to create a socket of the specified type and/or protocol is denied.

EAFNOSUPPORT

The implementation does not support the specified address family.

EINVAL

Unknown protocol, or protocol family not available.

EMFILE

Process file table overflow.

ENFILE

The system limit on the total number of open files has been reached.

ENOBUFS or ENOMEM

Insufficient memory is available. The socket cannot be created until sufficient resources are freed.

EPROTONOSUPPORT

The protocol type or the specified protocol is not supported within this domain.

Other errors may be generated by the underlying protocol modules.

CONFORMING TO

4.4BSD, POSIX.1-2001. socket() appeared in 4.2BSD. It is generally portable to/from non-BSD systems supporting clones of the BSD socket layer (including System V variants).

NOTES

POSIX.1-2001 does not require the inclusion of <sys/types.h> and this header file is not required on Linux. However, some historical (BSD) implementations required this header file, and portable applications are probably wise to include it.

The manifest constants used under 4.x BSD for protocol families are PF_UNIX, PF_INET, etc., while AF_UNIX etc. are used for address families. However, already the BSD man page promises: "The protocol family generally is the same as the address family", and subsequent standards use AF_* everywhere.

BUGS

SOCK_UUCP is not implemented yet.

EXAMPLE

An example of the use of socket() is shown in getaddrinfo(3).

SEE ALSO

accept(2), bind(2), connect(2), fcntl(2), getpeername(2), getsockname(2), getsockopt(2), ioctl(2), listen(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), shutdown(2), socketpair(2), write(2), getprotoent(3), ip(7), socket(7), tcp(7), udp(7), unix(7)

An Introductory 4.3BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial” is reprinted in UNIX Programmer's Supplementary Documents Volume 1.

BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial” is reprinted in UNIX Programmer's Supplementary Documents Volume 1.

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 2.79 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.


  t
Copyright (c) 1983, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
   must display the following acknowledgement:
This product includes software developed by the University of
California, Berkeley and its contributors.
4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
   may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
   without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

    $Id: socket.2,v 1.4 1999/05/13 11:33:42 freitag Exp $

Modified 1993-07-24 by Rik Faith <faithcs.unc.edu>
Modified 1996-10-22 by Eric S. Raymond <esrthyrsus.com>
Modified 1998, 1999 by Andi Kleen <akmuc.de>
Modified 2002-07-17 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com>
Modified 2004-06-17 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com>