rpcgen(1) User Commands rpcgen(1)NAMErpcgen - an RPC protocol compiler
SYNOPSISrpcgen infile
rpcgen [-a] [-A] [-b] [-C] [-D name [= value]] [-i size]
[-I [-K seconds]] [-L] [-M] [-N] [- T] [-v]
[-Y pathname] infile
rpcgen [-c | -h | -l | -m | -t | -Sc | -Ss | -Sm]
[-o outfile] [infile]
rpcgen [-s nettype] [-o outfile] [infile]
rpcgen [-n netid] [-o outfile] [infile]
DESCRIPTION
The rpcgen utility 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).
The rpcgen utility is normally used as in the first synopsis where it
takes an input file and generates three output files. If the infile is
named proto.x, then rpcgen generates a header 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 also generates the RPC dispatch
table in proto_tbl.i.
rpcgen can also generate sample client and server files that can be
customized to suit a particular application. The -Sc, -Ss, and -Sm
options generate sample client, server and makefile, respectively. The
-a option generates all files, including sample files. If the infile is
proto.x, then the client side sample file is written to proto_client.c,
the server side sample file to proto_server.c and the sample makefile
to makefile.proto.
The server created can be started both by the port monitors (for exam‐
ple, inetd or listen) or by itself. When it is started by a port moni‐
tor, 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 gen‐
erated by rpcgen is executed, it creates server handles for all the
transports specified in the NETPATH environment variable, or if it is
unset, it creates server handles for all the visible transports from
the /etc/netconfig file. Note: the transports are chosen at run time
and not at compile time. When the server is self-started, it back‐
grounds itself by default. A special define 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:
o pointers to the service routine corresponding to that proce‐
dure
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 can use the dispatch ta‐
ble to deal with the details of storage management and XDR data conver‐
sion.
The other three synopses shown above are used when one does not want to
generate all the output files, but only a particular one. See the EXAM‐
PLES section below for examples of rpcgen usage. When rpcgen is exe‐
cuted 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, rpc‐
gen accepts the standard input.
All the options mentioned in the second synopsis can be used with the
other three synopses, but the changes are made only to the specified
output file.
The C preprocessor cc -E 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 headers
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, except that the leading ``%" is stripped off.
To specify the path name of the C preprocessor, use the -Y flag.
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.
Server Error Reporting
By default, errors detected by proto_svc.c is reported to standard
error and/or the system log.
This behavior can be overridden by compiling the file with a definition
of RPC_MSGOUT, for example, -DRPC_MSGOUT=mymsgfunc. The function speci‐
fied is called to report errors. It must conform to the following
printf-like signature:
extern void RPC_MSGOUT(const char *fmt, ...);
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a Generates all files, including sample files.
-A Enables the Automatic MT mode in the server main pro‐
gram. In this mode, the RPC library automatically
creates threads to service client requests. This
option generates multithread-safe stubs by implicitly
turning on the -M option. Server multithreading modes
and parameters can be set using the rpc_control(3NSL)
call. rpcgen generated code does not change the
default values for the Automatic MT mode.
-b Backward compatibility mode. Generates transport-spe‐
cific RPC code for older versions of the operating
system.
-c Compiles into XDR routines.
-C Generates header and stub files which can be used
with ANSI C compilers. Headers generated with this
flag can also be used with C++ programs.
-Dname[=value] Defines a symbol name. Equivalent to the #define
directive in the source. If no value is given, value
is defined as 1. This option can be specified more
than once.
-h Compiles into C data-definitions (a header). The -T
option can be used in conjunction to produce a header
which supports RPC dispatch tables.
-i size Size at which to start generating inline code. This
option is useful for optimization. The default size
is 5.
-I Compiles support for inetd(1M) in the server side
stubs. Such servers can be self-started or can be
started by inetd. When the server is self-started, it
backgrounds itself by default. A special define sym‐
bol RPC_SVC_FG can be used to run the server process
in foreground, or the user can simply compile without
the -I option.
If there are no pending client requests, the inetd
servers exit after 120 seconds (default). The default
can be changed with the -K option. All of the error
messages for inetd servers are always logged with
syslog(3C).
Note: This option is supported for backward compati‐
bility only. It should always be used in conjunction
with the -b option which generates backward compati‐
bility code. By default (that is, when -b is not
specified), rpcgen generates servers that can be
invoked through portmonitors.
-K seconds By default, services created using rpcgen and invoked
through port monitors wait 120 seconds after servic‐
ing a request before exiting. That interval can be
changed using the -K flag. To create a server that
exits immediately upon servicing a request, use -K 0.
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 are
used with such a monitor, the server should exit
immediately on completion. For such servers, rpcgen
should be used with -K 0.
-l Compiles into client-side stubs.
-L When the servers are started in foreground, uses sys‐
log(3C) to log the server errors instead of printing
them on the standard error.
-m Compiles 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.
-M Generates multithread-safe stubs for passing argu‐
ments and results between rpcgen-generated code and
user written code. This option is useful for users
who want to use threads in their code.
-N This option allows procedures to have multiple argu‐
ments. 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 can pass the argument
itself. This behavior is different from the old style
of rpcgen-generated code. To maintain backward com‐
patibility, this option is not the default.
-n netid Compiles into server-side stubs for the transport
specified by netid. There should be an entry for
netid in the netconfig database. This option can be
specified more than once, so as to compile a server
that serves multiple transports.
-o outfile Specifies the name of the output file. If none is
specified, standard output is used (-c, -h, -l, -m,
-n, -s, -Sc, -Sm, -Ss, and -t modes only).
-s nettype Compiles into server-side stubs for all the trans‐
ports belonging to the class nettype. The supported
classes are netpath, visible, circuit_n, circuit_v,
datagram_n, datagram_v, tcp, and udp (see rpc(3NSL)
for the meanings associated with these classes). This
option can be specified more than once. Note: The
transports are chosen at run time and not at compile
time.
-Sc Generates sample client code that uses remote proce‐
dure calls.
-Sm Generates a sample Makefile which can be used for
compiling the application.
-Ss Generates sample server code that uses remote proce‐
dure calls.
-t Compiles into RPC dispatch table.
-T Generates the code to support RPC dispatch tables.
The options -c, -h, -l, -m, -s, -Sc, -Sm, -Ss, 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.
-v Displays the version number.
-Y pathname Gives the name of the directory where rpcgen starts
looking for the C preprocessor.
OPERANDS
The following operand is supported:
infile input file
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Generating the output files and dispatch table
The following entry
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.
Example 2 Sending headers to standard output
The following example sends the C data-definitions (header) to the
standard output:
example% rpcgen-h prot.x
Example 3 Sending a test version
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:
example% rpcgen-s datagram_n -DTEST prot.x
Example 4 Creating server side stubs
To create the server side stubs for the transport indicated by netid
tcp, use:
example% rpcgen-n tcp -o prot_svc.c prot.x
EXIT STATUS
0 Successful operation.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │developer/object-file │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOinetd(1M), listen(1M), rpc(3NSL), rpc_control(3NSL),
rpc_svc_calls(3NSL), syslog(3C), netconfig(4), attributes(5)
The rpcgen chapter in the ONC+ Developer's Guide manual.
SunOS 5.11 24 Aug 2009 rpcgen(1)
