1rpcgen(1) General Commands Manual rpcgen(1)
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6 rpcgen - an RPC protocol compiler
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9 rpcgen infile
10 rpcgen [-Dname[=value]] [-T] [-K secs] infile
11 rpcgen -c|-h|-l|-m|-t [-o outfile ] infile
12 rpcgen [-I] -s nettype [-o outfile] infile
13 rpcgen -n netid [-o outfile] infile
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16 rpcgen is a tool that generates C code to implement an RPC protocol.
17 The input to rpcgen is a language similar to C known as RPC Language
18 (Remote Procedure Call Language).
19 rpcgen is normally used as in the first synopsis where it takes an
21 input file and generates up to four output files. If the infile is
22 named proto.x, then rpcgen will generate a header file in proto.h, XDR
23 routines in proto_xdr.c, server-side stubs in proto_svc.c, and client-
24 side stubs in proto_clnt.c. With the -T option, it will also generate
25 the RPC dispatch table in proto_tbl.i. With the -Sc option, it will
26 also generate sample code which would illustrate how to use the remote
27 procedures on the client side. This code would be created in
28 proto_client.c. With the -Ss option, it will also generate a sample
29 server code which would illustrate how to write the remote procedures.
30 This code would be created in proto_server.c.
31 The server created can be started both by the port monitors (for exam‐
33 ple, inetd or listen) or by itself. When it is started by a port moni‐
34 tor, it creates servers only for the transport for which the file
35 descriptor 0 was passed. The name of the transport must be specified
36 by setting up the environmental variable PM_TRANSPORT. When the server
37 generated by rpcgen is executed, it creates server handles for all the
38 transports specified in NETPATH environment variable, or if it is
39 unset, it creates server handles for all the visible transports from
40 /etc/netconfig file. Note: the transports are chosen at run time and
41 not at compile time. When the server is self-started, it backgrounds
42 itself by default. A special define symbol RPC_SVC_FG can be used to
43 run the server process in foreground.
44 The second synopsis provides special features which allow for the cre‐
46 ation of more sophisticated RPC servers. These features include sup‐
47 port for user provided #defines and RPC dispatch tables. The entries
48 in the RPC dispatch table contain:
49 · pointers to the service routine corresponding to that proce‐
50 dure,
51 · a pointer to the input and output arguments
52 · the size of these routines
53 A server can use the dispatch table to check authorization and then to
54 execute the service routine; a client library may use it to deal with
55 the details of storage management and XDR data conversion.
56 The other three synopses shown above are used when one does not want to
58 generate all the output files, but only a particular one. Some exam‐
59 ples of their usage is described in the EXAMPLE section below. When
60 rpcgen is executed with the -s option, it creates servers for that par‐
61 ticular class of transports. When executed with the -n option, it cre‐
62 ates a server for the transport specified by netid. If infile is not
63 specified, rpcgen accepts the standard input.
64 The C preprocessor, cc -E [see cc[24m(1)], is run on the input file before
66 it is actually interpreted by rpcgen. For each type of output file,
67 rpcgen defines a special preprocessor symbol for use by the rpcgen pro‐
68 grammer:
69 RPC_HDR defined when compiling into header files
71 RPC_XDR defined when compiling into XDR routines
72 RPC_SVC defined when compiling into server-side stubs
73 RPC_CLNT defined when compiling into client-side stubs
74 RPC_TBL defined when compiling into RPC dispatch tables
75 Any line beginning with `%' is passed directly into the output file,
77 uninterpreted by rpcgen.
78 For every data type referred to in infile, rpcgen assumes that there
80 exists a routine with the string xdr_ prepended to the name of the data
81 type. If this routine does not exist in the RPC/XDR library, it must
82 be provided. Providing an undefined data type allows customization of
83 XDR routines.
84 The following options are available:
86 -a Generate all the files including sample code for client and
88 server side.
89 -b This generates code for the SunOS4.1 style of rpc. It is for
91 backward compatibilty. This is the default.
92 -5 This generates code for the SysVr4 style of rpc. It is used by
94 the Transport Independent RPC that is in Svr4 systems. By
95 default rpcgen generates code for SunOS4.1 stype of rpc.
96 -c Compile into XDR routines.
98 -C Generate code in ANSI C. This option also generates code that
100 could be compiled with the C++ compiler. This is the default.
101 -k Generate code in K&R C. The default is ANSI C.
103 -Dname[=value]
105 Define a symbol name. Equivalent to the #define directive in
106 the source. If no value is given, value is defined as 1. This
107 option may be specified more than once.
108 -h Compile into C data-definitions (a header file). -T option can
110 be used in conjunction to produce a header file which supports
111 RPC dispatch tables.
112 -I Generate a service that can be started from inetd. The default
114 is to generate a static service that handles transports selected
115 with -s. Using -I allows starting a service by either method.
116 -K secs
118 By default, services created using rpcgen wait 120 seconds after
119 servicing a request before exiting. That interval can be
120 changed using the -K flag. To create a server that exits imme‐
121 diately upon servicing a request, -K 0 can be used. To create a
122 server that never exits, the appropriate argument is -K -1.
123 When monitoring for a server, some portmonitors, like lis‐
125 ten[24m(1M), always spawn a new process in response to a service
126 request. If it is known that a server will be used with such a
127 monitor, the server should exit immediately on completion. For
128 such servers, rpcgen should be used with -K -1.
129 -l Compile into client-side stubs.
131 -m Compile into server-side stubs, but do not generate a “main”
133 routine. This option is useful for doing callback-routines and
134 for users who need to write their own “main” routine to do ini‐
135 tialization.
136 -n netid
138 Compile into server-side stubs for the transport specified by
139 netid. There should be an entry for netid in the netconfig
140 database. This option may be specified more than once, so as to
141 compile a server that serves multiple transports.
142 -N Use the newstyle of rpcgen. This allows procedures to have mul‐
144 tiple arguments. It also uses the style of parameter passing
145 that closely resembles C. So, when passing an argument to a
146 remote procedure you do not have to pass a pointer to the argu‐
147 ment but the argument itself. This behaviour is different from
148 the oldstyle of rpcgen generated code. The newstyle is not the
149 default case because of backward compatibility.
150 -o outfile
152 Specify the name of the output file. If none is specified,
153 standard output is used (-c, -h, -l, -m, -n, -s, -s -sand -t
154 modes only).
155 -s nettype
157 Compile into server-side stubs for all the transports belonging
158 to the class nettype. The supported classes are netpath, visi‐
159 ble, circuit_n, circuit_v, datagram_n, datagram_v, tcp, and udp
160 [see rpc[24m(3N) for the meanings associated with these classes].
161 This option may be specified more than once. Note: the trans‐
162 ports are chosen at run time and not at compile time.
163 -Sc Generate sample code to show the use of remote procedure and how
165 to bind to the server before calling the client side stubs gen‐
166 erated by rpcgen.
167 -Ss Generate skeleton code for the remote procedures on the server
169 side. You would need to fill in the actual code for the remote
170 procedures.
171 -t Compile into RPC dispatch table.
173 -T Generate the code to support RPC dispatch tables.
175 The options -c, -h, -l, -m, -s and -t are used exclusively to generate
177 a particular type of file, while the options -D and -T are global and
178 can be used with the other options.
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181 The RPC Language does not support nesting of structures. As a work-
182 around, structures can be declared at the top-level, and their name
183 used inside other structures in order to achieve the same effect.
184 Name clashes can occur when using program definitions, since the appar‐
186 ent scoping does not really apply. Most of these can be avoided by
187 giving unique names for programs, versions, procedures and types.
188 The server code generated with -n option refers to the transport indi‐
190 cated by netid and hence is very site specific.
191
193 The following example:
194 $ rpcgen -T prot.x
196 generates the five files: prot.h, prot_clnt.c, prot_svc.c, prot_xdr.c
198 and prot_tbl.i.
199 The following example sends the C data-definitions (header file) to the
201 standard output.
202 $ rpcgen -h prot.x
204 To send the test version of the -DTEST, server side stubs for all the
206 transport belonging to the class datagram_n to standard output, use:
207 $ rpcgen -s datagram_n -DTEST prot.x
209 To create the server side stubs for the transport indicated by netid
211 tcp, use:
212 $ rpcgen -n tcp -o prot_svc.c prot.x
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216 gcc[24m(1).
217 0a