rpcgen(1) rpcgen(1)
NAME
rpcgen - an RPC protocol compiler
SYNOPSIS
rpcgen infile
rpcgen [-Dname[=value]] [-T] [-K secs] infile
rpcgen -a|-b|-c|-C|-h|-I|-l|-L|-m|-N|-Sc|-Ss|-Sm|-t [-o outfile] infile
rpcgen -s nettype [-o outfile] infile
rpcgen -n netid [-o outfile] infile
rpcgen -i size
rpcgen -Y path
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).
USAGE
rpcgen is normally used as in the first synopsis 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.
The server created can be started both by the port monitors
(for example, inetd or listen) 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
environment variable PM_TRANSPORT. When the server generated
by rpcgen is executed, it creates server handles for all the
transports specified in NETPATH environment variable, or if it
is not set, 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
symbol, RPC_SVC_FG, can be defined at compilation time to make
the server process run in foreground.
The second synopsis provides special features which allow for
the creation 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:
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o pointers to the service routine corresponding to that
procedure,
o a pointer to the input and output arguments
o 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 EXAMPLE 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, cc -E [see cc(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.
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Options
rpcgen takes the following options:
-a Generate all files, including samples.
-b Backward compatibility mode (generates code for SunOS
4.1).
-c Compile into XDR routines.
-C ANSI C mode.
-Dname[=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). -T
option can be used in conjunction to produce a header
file which supports RPC dispatch tables.
-i size
Generate inline code of size size.
-I Generate code for inetd support in server (for SunOS
4.1).
-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 portmonitors, like
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 Compile into client-side stubs.
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-L Print server errors to syslog.
-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 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.
-N Support multiple arguments and call-by-value.
-o outfile
Specify the name of the output file. If none is
specified, standard output is used (-c, -h, -l, -m, -n,
-s and -t modes only).
-s nettype
Compile into server-side stubs for all the transports
belonging to the class nettype. The supported classes
are netpath, visible, circuit_n, circuit_v, datagram_n,
datagram_v, tcp, and udp [see rpc(3N) for the meanings
associated with these 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 client code that uses remote procedures.
-Sm Generate makefile template.
-Ss Generate sample client code that defines remote
procedures.
-t Compile into RPC dispatch table.
-T Generate the code to support RPC dispatch tables.
-Y path
Find cpp at path path.
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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.
Examples
The following example:
$ rpcgen -T prot.x
generates all 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 the standard 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
Warnings
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 indicated by netid and hence is very site specific.
REFERENCES
cc(1)
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