rpcgen(1)
- NetBSD Manual Pages
RPCGEN(1) NetBSD General Commands Manual RPCGEN(1)
NAME
rpcgen -- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol compiler
SYNOPSIS
rpcgen infile
rpcgen [-AaBbILMNTv] [-D name[=value]] [-i size] [-K secs] [-Y pathname]
infile
rpcgen -c | -h | -l | -m | -t | -Sc | -Ss [-o outfile] [infile]
rpcgen [-s nettype] [-o outfile] [infile]
rpcgen [-n netid] [-o outfile] [infile]
DESCRIPTION
rpcgen is a tool that generates C code to implement an RPC protocol. The
input to rpcgen is a language similar to C known as RPC Language (Remote
Procedure Call Language). rpcgen is normally used as in the first synop-
sis where it takes an input file and generates up to four output files.
If the infile is named proto.x, then rpcgen will generate a header file
in proto.h, XDR routines in proto_xdr.c, server-side stubs in
proto_svc.c, and client-side stubs in proto_clnt.c. With the -T option,
it will also generate the RPC dispatch table in proto_tbl.i. With the
-Sc option, it will also generate sample code which would illustrate how
to use the remote procedures on the client side. This code would be cre-
ated in proto_client.c. With the -Ss option, it will also generate a
sample server code which would illustrate how to write the remote proce-
dures. This code would be created in proto_server.c.
The server created can be started both by the port monitors (for example,
inetd(8) or listen(1M )) or by itself. When it is started by a port
monitor, it creates servers only for the transport for which the file
descriptor 0 was passed. The name of the transport must be specified by
setting up the environmental variable PM_TRANSPORT. When the server gen-
erated by rpcgen is executed, it creates server handles for all the
transports specified in NETPATH environment variable, or if it is unset,
it creates server handles for all the visible transports from
/etc/netconfig file.
Note: the transports are chosen at run time and not at compile time.
When the server is self-started, it backgrounds itself by default. A
special preprocessor symbol RPC_SVC_FG can be used to run the server
process in foreground.
The second synopsis provides special features which allow for the cre-
ation of more sophisticated RPC servers. These features include support
for user provided #defines and RPC dispatch tables. The entries in the
RPC dispatch table contain:
- pointers to the service routine corresponding to that procedure,
- a pointer to the input and output arguments,
- the size of these routines
A server can use the dispatch table to check authorization and then to
execute the service routine; a client library may use it to deal with the
details of storage management and XDR data conversion.
The other three synopses shown above are used when one does not want to
generate all the output files, but only a particular one. Some examples
of their usage is described in the EXAMPLES section below. When rpcgen
is executed with the -s option, it creates servers for that particular
class of transports. When executed with the -n option, it creates a
server for the transport specified by netid. If infile is not specified,
rpcgen accepts the standard input.
The C preprocessor, cpp(1) is run on the input file before it is actually
interpreted by rpcgen. For each type of output file, rpcgen defines a
special preprocessor symbol for use by the rpcgen programmer:
RPC_HDR defined when compiling into header files
RPC_XDR defined when compiling into XDR routines
RPC_SVC defined when compiling into server-side stubs
RPC_CLNT defined when compiling into client-side stubs
RPC_TBL defined when compiling into RPC dispatch tables
Any line beginning with `%' is passed directly into the output file,
uninterpreted by rpcgen.
For every data type referred to in infile rpcgen assumes that there
exists a routine with the string `xdr_' prepended to the name of the data
type. If this routine does not exist in the RPC/XDR library, it must be
provided. Providing an undefined data type allows customization of XDR
routines.
OPTIONS
-A Generate an svc_caller() function.
-a Generate all the files including sample code for client and
server side.
-B Generate BSD cplusplus macros (__BEGIN_DECLS, __END_DECLS).
-b Compile stubs in ``backwards compatible'' mode, disabling
support for transport-independent RPC.
Note: The -b should always be specified when generating
files for NetBSD, since there is no transport-indepen-
dent RPC support in NetBSD.
-c Compile into XDR routines.
-D name[=value]
Define a symbol name. Equivalent to the #define directive in
the source. If no value is given, value is defined as 1.
This option may be specified more than once.
-h Compile into C data-definitions (a header file). The -T
option can be used in conjunction to produce a header file
which supports RPC dispatch tables.
-I Support inetd(8) in the server side stubs. Servers generated
using this flag can either be standalone or started from
inetd(8). If a server is started as standalone, then it
places itself in the background, unless RCP_SVC_FG is
defined, or the server is compiled without -I.
-i size Size to decide when to start generating inline code. The
default size is 3.
-K secs By default, services created using rpcgen wait 120 seconds
after servicing a request before exiting. That interval can
be changed using the -K flag. To create a server that exits
immediately upon servicing a request, -K 0 can be used. To
create a server that never exits, the appropriate argument is
-K -1.
When monitoring for a server, some port monitors, like the
AT&T System V.4 UNIX utility listen(1M), always spawn a new
process in response to a service request. If it is known
that a server will be used with such a monitor, the server
should exit immediately on completion. For such servers,
rpcgen should be used with -K -1.
-L Server errors will be sent to syslog(3) instead of stderr.
-l Compile into client-side stubs. inetd(8).
-M Generate thread-safe stubs. This alters the calling pattern
of client and server stubs so that storage for results is
allocated by the caller. Note that all components for a par-
ticular service (stubs, client and service wrappers, etc.)
must be built either with or without the -M flag.
-m Compile into server-side stubs, but do not generate a main()
routine. This option is useful for doing callback-routines
and for users who need to write their own main() routine to
do initialization.
-N Use the newstyle of rpcgen. This allows procedures to have
multiple arguments. It also uses the style of parameter
passing that closely resembles C. So, when passing an argu-
ment to a remote procedure you do not have to pass a pointer
to the argument but the argument itself. This behaviour is
different from the oldstyle of rpcgen generated code. The
newstyle is not the default case because of backward compati-
bility.
-n netid Compile into server-side stubs for the transport specified by
netid. There should be an entry for netid in the netconfig
database. This option may be specified more than once, so as
to compile a server that serves multiple transports.
-o outfile Specify the name of the output file. If none is specified,
standard output is used (-c, -h, -l, -m, -n, -s modes only)
-s nettype Compile into server-side stubs for all the transports belong-
ing to the class nettype. The supported classes are netpath,
visible, circuit_n, circuit_v, datagram_n, datagram_v, tcp,
and udp See rpc(3) for the meanings associated with these
classes.
Note: NetBSD currently supports only the tcp and udp
classes
This option may be specified more than once.
Note: the transports are chosen at run time and not at
compile time.
-Sc Generate sample code to show the use of remote procedure and
how to bind to the server before calling the client side
stubs generated by rpcgen.
-Ss Generate skeleton code for the remote procedures on the
server side. You would need to fill in the actual code for
the remote procedures.
-T Generate the code to support RPC dispatch tables.
-t Compile into RPC dispatch table.
-v Display the version number.
-Y pathname
Specify the directory where rpcgen looks for the C preproces-
sor.
The options -c, -h, -l, -m, -s, and -t are used exclusively to generate a
particular type of file, while the options -D and -T are global and can
be used with the other options.
ENVIRONMENT
If the RPCGEN_CPP environment variable is set, its value is used as the
pathname of the C preprocessor to be run on the input file.
NOTES
The RPC Language does not support nesting of structures. As a work-
around, structures can be declared at the top-level, and their name used
inside other structures in order to achieve the same effect.
Name clashes can occur when using program definitions, since the apparent
scoping does not really apply. Most of these can be avoided by giving
unique names for programs, versions, procedures and types.
The server code generated with -n option refers to the transport indi-
cated by netid and hence is very site specific.
EXAMPLES
The command
$ rpcgen -T prot.x
generates the five files: prot.h, prot_clnt.c, prot_svc.c, prot_xdr.c and
prot_tbl.i.
The following example sends the C data-definitions (header file) to stan-
dard output.
$ rpcgen -h prot.x
To send the test version of the `-DTEST', server side stubs for all the
transport belonging to the class datagram_n to standard output, use:
$ rpcgen -s datagram_n -DTEST prot.x
To create the server side stubs for the transport indicated by netid tcp,
use:
$ rpcgen -n tcp -o prot_svc.c prot.x
SEE ALSO
cpp(1), inetd(8)
HISTORY
The -M option was first implemented in RedHat Linux, and was reimple-
mented by Charles M. Hannum in NetBSD 1.6.
NetBSD 10.99 December 14, 2013 NetBSD 10.99
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