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|-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.
42 When built for a port monitor (rpcgen -I), and that the server is self-
44 started, it backgrounds itself by default. A special define symbol
45 RPC_SVC_FG can be used to run the server process in foreground.
46 The second synopsis provides special features which allow for the cre‐
48 ation of more sophisticated RPC servers. These features include sup‐
49 port for user provided #defines and RPC dispatch tables. The entries
50 in the RPC dispatch table contain:
51 · pointers to the service routine corresponding to that proce‐
52 dure,
53 · a pointer to the input and output arguments
54 · the size of these routines
55 A server can use the dispatch table to check authorization and then to
56 execute the service routine; a client library may use it to deal with
57 the details of storage management and XDR data conversion.
58 The other three synopses shown above are used when one does not want to
60 generate all the output files, but only a particular one. Some exam‐
61 ples of their usage is described in the EXAMPLE section below. When
62 rpcgen is executed with the -s option, it creates servers for that par‐
63 ticular class of transports. When executed with the -n option, it cre‐
64 ates a server for the transport specified by netid. If infile is not
65 specified, rpcgen accepts the standard input.
66 The C preprocessor, cc -E [see cc[24m(1)], is run on the input file before
68 it is actually interpreted by rpcgen. For each type of output file,
69 rpcgen defines a special preprocessor symbol for use by the rpcgen pro‐
70 grammer:
71 RPC_HDR defined when compiling into header files
73 RPC_XDR defined when compiling into XDR routines
74 RPC_SVC defined when compiling into server-side stubs
75 RPC_CLNT defined when compiling into client-side stubs
76 RPC_TBL defined when compiling into RPC dispatch tables
77 Any line beginning with `%' is passed directly into the output file,
79 uninterpreted by rpcgen.
80 For every data type referred to in infile, rpcgen assumes that there
82 exists a routine with the string xdr_ prepended to the name of the data
83 type. If this routine does not exist in the RPC/XDR library, it must
84 be provided. Providing an undefined data type allows customization of
85 XDR routines.
86 The following options are available:
88 -a Generate all the files including sample code for client and
90 server side.
91 -b This generates code for the SunOS4.1 style of rpc. It is for
93 backward compatibility. This is the default.
94 -5 This generates code for the SysVr4 style of rpc. It is used by
96 the Transport Independent RPC that is in Svr4 systems. By
97 default rpcgen generates code for SunOS4.1 stype of rpc.
98 -c Compile into XDR routines.
100 -C Generate code in ANSI C. This option also generates code that
102 could be compiled with the C++ compiler. This is the default.
103 -k Generate code in K&R C. The default is ANSI C.
105 -Dname[=value]
107 Define a symbol name. Equivalent to the #define directive in
108 the source. If no value is given, value is defined as 1. This
109 option may be specified more than once.
110 -h Compile into C data-definitions (a header file). -T option can
112 be used in conjunction to produce a header file which supports
113 RPC dispatch tables.
114 -I Generate a service that can be started from inetd. The default
116 is to generate a static service that handles transports selected
117 with -s. Using -I allows starting a service by either method.
118 -K secs
120 By default, services created using rpcgen wait 120 seconds after
121 servicing a request before exiting. That interval can be
122 changed using the -K flag. To create a server that exits imme‐
123 diately upon servicing a request, -K 0 can be used. To create a
124 server that never exits, the appropriate argument is -K -1.
125 When monitoring for a server, some portmonitors, like lis‐
127 ten[24m(1M), always spawn a new process in response to a service
128 request. If it is known that a server will be used with such a
129 monitor, the server should exit immediately on completion. For
130 such servers, rpcgen should be used with -K -1.
131 -l Compile into client-side stubs.
133 -m Compile into server-side stubs, but do not generate a “main”
135 routine. This option is useful for doing callback-routines and
136 for users who need to write their own “main” routine to do ini‐
137 tialization.
138 -M Generate multithread-safe stubs for passing arguments and
140 results between rpcgen-generated code and user written code.
141 This option is useful for users who want to use threads in their
142 code.
143 -n netid
145 Compile into server-side stubs for the transport specified by
146 netid. There should be an entry for netid in the netconfig
147 database. This option may be specified more than once, so as to
148 compile a server that serves multiple transports.
149 -N Use the newstyle of rpcgen. This allows procedures to have mul‐
151 tiple arguments. It also uses the style of parameter passing
152 that closely resembles C. So, when passing an argument to a
153 remote procedure you do not have to pass a pointer to the argu‐
154 ment but the argument itself. This behaviour is different from
155 the oldstyle of rpcgen generated code. The newstyle is not the
156 default case because of backward compatibility.
157 -o outfile
159 Specify the name of the output file. If none is specified,
160 standard output is used (-c, -h, -l, -m, -n, -s, -Sc, -Sm, -Ss,
161 and -t modes only).
162 -s nettype
164 Compile into server-side stubs for all the transports belonging
165 to the class nettype. The supported classes are netpath, visi‐
166 ble, circuit_n, circuit_v, datagram_n, datagram_v, tcp, and udp
167 [see rpc[24m(3N) for the meanings associated with these classes].
168 This option may be specified more than once. Note: the trans‐
169 ports are chosen at run time and not at compile time.
170 -Sc Generate sample code to show the use of remote procedure and how
172 to bind to the server before calling the client side stubs gen‐
173 erated by rpcgen.
174 -Sm Generate a sample Makefile which can be used for compiling the
176 application.
177 -Ss Generate skeleton code for the remote procedures on the server
179 side. You would need to fill in the actual code for the remote
180 procedures.
181 -t Compile into RPC dispatch table.
183 -T Generate the code to support RPC dispatch tables.
185 The options -c, -h, -l, -m, -s and -t are used exclusively to generate
187 a particular type of file, while the options -D and -T are global and
188 can be used with the other options.
189
191 The RPC Language does not support nesting of structures. As a work-
192 around, structures can be declared at the top-level, and their name
193 used inside other structures in order to achieve the same effect.
194 Name clashes can occur when using program definitions, since the appar‐
196 ent scoping does not really apply. Most of these can be avoided by
197 giving unique names for programs, versions, procedures and types.
198 The server code generated with -n option refers to the transport indi‐
200 cated by netid and hence is very site specific.
201
203 The following example:
204 $ rpcgen -T prot.x
206 generates the five files: prot.h, prot_clnt.c, prot_svc.c, prot_xdr.c
208 and prot_tbl.i.
209 The following example sends the C data-definitions (header file) to the
211 standard output.
212 $ rpcgen -h prot.x
214 To send the test version of the -DTEST, server side stubs for all the
216 transport belonging to the class datagram_n to standard output, use:
217 $ rpcgen -s datagram_n -DTEST prot.x
219 To create the server side stubs for the transport indicated by netid
221 tcp, use:
222 $ rpcgen -n tcp -o prot_svc.c prot.x
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226 cc[24m(1).
227 0a