1liboping(3) liboping liboping(3)
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6 liboping - Library to send ICMPv4/ICMPv6 echo packets to multiple hosts
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9 This is an overview of liboping, a C library to send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST
10 packets to remote hosts and measure the time it takes for replies to be
11 received. This method, often simply called "ping", is a common way to
12 measure network latency and/or host reachability.
13 The goals of this library are to provide the above functionality in a
15 platform and protocol independent manner. The interface is simple,
16 object oriented and (hopefully) ANSI-C compliant.
17
19 There are two main types that are used by applications. Both are
20 "opaque types", meaning they are structures that are not completely
21 defined in the header file, so you cannot access the structures'
22 members. You don't need to, don't do it. These structures are object to
23 change without notice.
24 "pingobj_t"
26 A ping-object. You can set specific options for this object, add
27 and remove hosts to/from it and send ICMP packets to all associated
28 hosts. This is often called a "handle".
29 "pingobj_iter_t"
31 An iterator over the hosts associated with a "pingobj_t" object.
32 This iterator can be used to query more information about a host,
33 for example the hostname, the measured latency or the current ICMP
34 sequence.
35 Upon startup you usually create one or more "pingobj_t" objects and add
37 hosts to it using the "ping_host_add" method (see below). You
38 periodically send "echo requests" using the "ping_send" method, iterate
39 over all hosts using "ping_iterator_get" and "ping_iterator_next". For
40 each host you call "ping_iterator_get_info" to read the current latency
41 and do something with it.
42 If an error occurs you can use "ping_get_error" so get information on
44 what failed.
45
47 Depending on you platform you don't need any extra libraries (e.g.
48 GNU/Linux) or "libsocket" (using "-lsocket") if the "socket" function
49 is not in the C-library. The latter is the case for the Solaris
50 operating system.
51
53 All "official" function or method names are prefixed with "ping_".
54 Don't use any other functions or methods. Although no such functions
55 should exist.
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58 liboping has been designed to be as thread safe a possible. However,
59 this has not been tested and may need some additional work. Use at your
60 own risk and please report back any problems or success messages. Thank
61 you :)
62
64 ping_construct(3), ping_setopt(3), ping_host_add(3), ping_send(3),
65 ping_get_error(3), ping_iterator_get(3), ping_iterator_get_info(3),
66 ping_iterator_get_context(3)
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69 liboping is licensed under the GPLv2. No other version of the license
70 is applicable.
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73 liboping is written by Florian octo Forster <octo at verplant.org>.
74 It's homepage can be found at <http://verplant.org/liboping/>.
75 (c) 2005-2009 by Florian octo Forster.
771.3.4 2009-12-20 liboping(3)