Previous section.

Networking Services (XNS) Issue 5
Copyright © 1997 The Open Group

NAME

t_optmgmt - manage options for a transport endpoint

SYNOPSIS

#include <xti.h>

int t_optmgmt(
    int fd,
    const struct t_optmgmt *req,
    struct t_optmgmt *ret)

DESCRIPTION


Parameters Before call After call
fd x /
req->opt.maxlen = =
req->opt.len x =
req->opt.buf x (x) =
req->flags x =
ret->opt.maxlen x =
ret->opt.len / x
ret->opt.buf ? (?)
ret->flags / x




The t_optmgmt() function enables a transport user to retrieve, verify or negotiate protocol options with the transport provider. The argument fd identifies a transport endpoint.

The req and ret arguments point to a t_optmgmt structure containing the following members:

struct netbuf opt; t_scalar_t flags;

The opt field identifies protocol options and the flags field is used to specify the action to take with those options.

The options are represented by a netbuf structure in a manner similar to the address in t_bind(). The argument req is used to request a specific action of the provider and to send options to the provider. The argument len specifies the number of bytes in the options, buf points to the options buffer, and maxlen has no meaning for the req argument. The transport provider may return options and flag values to the user through ret. For ret, maxlen specifies the maximum size of the options buffer and buf points to the buffer where the options are to be placed. If maxlen in ret is set to zero, no options values are returned. On return, len specifies the number of bytes of options returned. The value in maxlen has no meaning for the req argument, but must be set in the ret argument to specify the maximum number of bytes the options buffer can hold.

Each option in the options buffer is of the form struct t_opthdr possibly followed by an option value.

The level field of struct t_opthdr identifies the XTI level or a protocol of the transport provider. The name field identifies the option within the level, and len contains its total length; that is, the length of the option header t_opthdr plus the length of the option value. If t_optmgmt() is called with the action T_NEGOTIATE set, the status field of the returned options contains information about the success or failure of a negotiation.

Several options can be concatenated. The option user has, however to ensure that each options header and value part starts at a boundary appropriate for the architecture-specific alignment rules. The macros T_OPT_FIRSTHDR(nbp), T_OPT_NXTHDR(nbp, tohp), T_OPT_DATA(tohp) are provided for that purpose.

T_OPT_DATA
If argument is a pointer to a t_opthdr structure, this macro returns an unsigned character pointer to the data associated with the t_opthdr.

T_OPT_NXTHDR
If the first argument is a pointer to a netbuf structure associated with an option buffer and second argument is a pointer to a t_opthdr structure within that option buffer, this macro returns a pointer to the next t_opthdr structure or a null pointer if this t_opthdr is the last t_opthdr in the option buffer.

T_OPT_FIRSTHDR
If the argument is a pointer to a netbuf structure associated with an option buffer, this macro returns the pointer to the first t_opthdr structure in the associated option buffer, or a null pointer if there is no option buffer associated with this netbuf or if it is not possible or the associated option buffer is too small to accommodate even the first aligned option header.

T_OPT_FIRSTHDR is useful for finding an appropriately aligned start of the option buffer. T_OPT_NEXTHDR is useful for moving to the start of the next appropriately aligned option in the option buffer. Note that OPT_NEXTHDR is also available for backward compatibility requirements. T_OPT_DATA is useful for finding the start of the data part in the option buffer where the contents of its values start on an appropriately aligned boundary.

If the transport user specifies several options on input, all options must address the same level.

If any option in the options buffer does not indicate the same level as the first option, or the level specified is unsupported, then the t_optmgmt() request will fail with [TBADOPT]. If the error is detected, some options have possibly been successfully negotiated. The transport user can check the current status by calling t_optmgmt() with the T_CURRENT flag set.

The Use of Options in XTI contains a detailed description about the use of options and should be read before using this function.

The flags field of req must specify one of the following actions:

T_NEGOTIATE
This action enables the transport user to negotiate option values.

The user specifies the options of interest and their values in the buffer specified by req->opt.buf and req->opt.len. The negotiated option values are returned in the buffer pointed to by ret->opt.buf. The status field of each returned option is set to indicate the result of the negotiation. The value is T_SUCCESS if the proposed value was negotiated, T_PARTSUCCESS if a degraded value was negotiated, T_FAILURE if the negotiation failed (according to the negotiation rules), T_NOTSUPPORT if the transport provider does not support this option or illegally requests negotiation of a privileged option, and T_READONLY if modification of a read-only option was requested. If the status is T_SUCCESS, T_FAILURE, T_NOTSUPPORT or T_READONLY, the returned option value is the same as the one requested on input.

The overall result of the negotiation is returned in ret->flags.

This field contains the worst single result, whereby the rating is done according to the order T_NOTSUPPORT, T_READONLY, T_FAILURE, T_PARTSUCCESS, T_SUCCESS. The value T_NOTSUPPORT is the worst result and T_SUCCESS is the best.

For each level, the option T_ALLOPT (see below) can be requested on input. No value is given with this option; only the t_opthdr part is specified. This input requests to negotiate all supported options of this level to their default values. The result is returned option by option in ret->opt.buf. (Note that depending on the state of the transport endpoint, not all requests to negotiate the default value may be successful.)

T_CHECK
This action enables the user to verify whether the options specified in req are supported by the transport provider.

If an option is specified with no option value (it consists only of a t_opthdr structure), the option is returned with its status field set to T_SUCCESS if it is supported, T_NOTSUPPORT if it is not or needs additional user privileges, and T_READONLY if it is read-only (in the current XTI state). No option value is returned.

If an option is specified with an option value, the status field of the returned option has the same value, as if the user had tried to negotiate this value with T_NEGOTIATE. If the status is T_SUCCESS, T_FAILURE, T_NOTSUPPORT or T_READONLY, the returned option value is the same as the one requested on input.

The overall result of the option checks is returned in ret->flags. This field contains the worst single result of the option checks, whereby the rating is the same as for T_NEGOTIATE.

Note that no negotiation takes place. All currently effective option values remain unchanged.

T_DEFAULT
This action enables the transport user to retrieve the default option values. The user specifies the options of interest in req->opt.buf. The option values are irrelevant and will be ignored; it is sufficient to specify the t_opthdr part of an option only. The default values are then returned in ret->opt.buf.

The status field returned is T_NOTSUPPORT if the protocol level does not support this option or the transport user illegally requested a privileged option, T_READONLY if the option is read-only, and set to T_SUCCESS in all other cases. The overall result of the request is returned in ret->flags. This field contains the worst single result, whereby the rating is the same as for T_NEGOTIATE.

For each level, the option T_ALLOPT (see below) can be requested on input. All supported options of this level with their default values are then returned. In this case, ret->opt.maxlen must be given at least the value info->options (see t_getinfo(), t_open()) before the call.

T_CURRENT
This action enables the transport user to retrieve the currently effective option values. The user specifies the options of interest in req->opt.buf. The option values are irrelevant and will be ignored; it is sufficient to specify the t_opthdr part of an option only. The currently effective values are then returned in ret->opt.buf.

The status field returned is T_NOTSUPPORT if the protocol level does not support this option or the transport user illegally requested a privileged option, T_READONLY if the option is read-only, and set to T_SUCCESS in all other cases. The overall result of the request is returned in ret->flags. This field contains the worst single result, whereby the rating is the same as for T_NEGOTIATE.

For each level, the option T_ALLOPT (see below) can be requested on input. All supported options of this level with their currently effective values are then returned.

The option T_ALLOPT can only be used with t_optmgmt() and the actions T_NEGOTIATE, T_DEFAULT and T_CURRENT. It can be used with any supported level and addresses all supported options of this level. The option has no value; it consists of a t_opthdr only. Since in a t_optmgmt() call only options of one level may be addressed, this option should not be requested together with other options. The function returns as soon as this option has been processed.

Options are independently processed in the order they appear in the input option buffer. If an option is multiply input, it depends on the implementation whether it is multiply output or whether it is returned only once.

Transport providers may not be able to provide an interface capable of supporting T_NEGOTIATE and/or T_CHECK functionalities. When this is the case, the error [TNOTSUPPORT] is returned.

The function t_optmgmt() may block under various circumstances and depending on the implementation. The function will block, for instance, if the protocol addressed by the call resides on a separate controller. It may also block due to flow control constraints; that is, if data sent previously across this transport endpoint has not yet been fully processed. If the function is interrupted by a signal, the option negotiations that have been done so far may remain valid. The behaviour of the function is not changed if O_NONBLOCK is set.

XTI-LEVEL OPTIONS

XTI-level options are not specific for a particular transport provider. An XTI implementation supports none, all or any subset of the options defined below. An implementation may restrict the use of any of these options by offering them only in the privileged or read-only mode, or if fd relates to specific transport providers.

The subsequent options do not have end-to-end significance (see The Use of Options in XTI ). They may be negotiated in all XTI states except T_UNINIT.

The protocol level is XTI_GENERIC. For this level, the following options are defined:

option name type of option legal meaning
  value option value  
XTI_DEBUG array of t_uscalar_t see text enable debugging
XTI_LINGER struct t_linger see text linger on close if data is present
XTI_RCVBUF t_uscalar_t size in octets receive buffer size
XTI_RCVLOWAT t_uscalar_t size in octets receive low-water mark
XTI_SNDBUF t_uscalar_t size in octets send buffer size
XTI_SNDLOWAT t_uscalar_t size in octets send low-water mark

Table: XTI-level Options

A request for XTI_DEBUG is an absolute requirement. A request to activate XTI_LINGER is an absolute requirement; the timeout value to this option is not. XTI_RCVBUF, XTI_RCVLOWAT, XTI_SNDBUF and XTI_SNDLOWAT are not absolute requirements.

XTI_DEBUG
This option enables debugging. The values of this option are implementation-defined. Debugging is disabled if the option is specified with "no value"; that is, with an option header only.

The system supplies utilities to process the traces. Note that an implementation may also provide other means for debugging.

XTI_LINGER
This option is used to linger the execution of a t_close() or close() if send data is still queued in the send buffer. The option value specifies the linger period. If a close() or t_close() is issued and the send buffer is not empty, the system attempts to send the pending data within the linger period before closing the endpoint. Data still pending after the linger period has elapsed is discarded.

Depending on the implementation, t_close() or close() either block for at maximum the linger period, or immediately return, whereupon the system holds the connection in existence for at most the linger period.

The option value consists of a structure t_linger declared as:

struct t_linger { t_scalar_t l_onoff; /* switch option on/off */ t_scalar_t l_linger; /* linger period in seconds */ }

Legal values for the field l_onoff are:

T_NO switch option off T_YES activate option

The value l_onoff is an absolute requirement.

The field l_linger determines the linger period in seconds. The transport user can request the default value by setting the field to T_UNSPEC. The default timeout value depends on the underlying transport provider (it is often T_INFINITE). Legal values for this field are T_UNSPEC, T_INFINITE and all non-negative numbers.

The l_linger value is not an absolute requirement. The implementation may place upper and lower limits to this value. Requests that fall short of the lower limit are negotiated to the lower limit.

Note that this option does not linger the execution of t_snddis().

XTI_RCVBUF
This option is used to adjust the internal buffer size allocated for the receive buffer. The buffer size may be increased for high-volume connections, or decreased to limit the possible backlog of incoming data.

This request is not an absolute requirement. The implementation may place upper and lower limits on the option value. Requests that fall short of the lower limit are negotiated to the lower limit.

Legal values are all positive numbers.

XTI_RCVLOWAT
This option is used to set a low-water mark in the receive buffer. The option value gives the minimal number of bytes that must have accumulated in the receive buffer before they become visible to the transport user. If and when the amount of accumulated receive data exceeds the low-water mark, a T_DATA event is created, an event mechanism (for example, poll() or select()) indicates the data, and the data can be read by t_rcv() or t_rcvudata().

This request is not an absolute requirement. The implementation may place upper and lower limits on the option value. Requests that fall short of the lower limit are negotiated to the lower limit.

Legal values are all positive numbers.

XTI_SNDBUF
This option is used to adjust the internal buffer size allocated for the send buffer.

This request is not an absolute requirement. The implementation may place upper and lower limits on the option value. Requests that fall short of the lower limit are negotiated to the lower limit.

Legal values are all positive numbers.

XTI_SNDLOWAT
This option is used to set a low-water mark in the send buffer. The option value gives the minimal number of bytes that must have accumulated in the send buffer before they are sent.

This request is not an absolute requirement. The implementation may place upper and lower limits on the option value. Requests that fall short of the lower limit are negotiated to the lower limit.

Legal values are all positive numbers.

VALID STATES

ALL - apart from T_UNINIT

ERRORS

On failure, t_errno is set to one of the following:

[TBADF]
The specified file descriptor does not refer to a transport endpoint.

[TBADFLAG]
An invalid flag was specified.

[TBADOPT]
The specified options were in an incorrect format or contained illegal information.

[TBUFOVFLW]
The number of bytes allowed for an incoming argument (maxlen) is greater than 0 but not sufficient to store the value of that argument. The information to be returned in ret will be discarded.

[TNOTSUPPORT]
This action is not supported by the transport provider.

[TOUTSTATE]
The communications endpoint referenced by fd is not in one of the states in which a call to this function is valid.

[TPROTO]
This error indicates that a communication problem has been detected between XTI and the transport provider for which there is no other suitable XTI error (t_errno).

[TSYSERR]
A system error has occurred during execution of this function.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and t_errno is set to indicate an error.

SEE ALSO

t_accept(), t_alloc(), t_connect(), t_getinfo(), t_listen(), t_open(), t_rcvconnect(), The Use of Options in XTI .

CHANGE HISTORY

Issue 4

The SYNOPSIS section is placed in the form of a standard C function prototype.

Why not acquire a nicely bound hard copy?
Click here to return to the publication details or order a copy of this publication.

Contents Next section Index