rpcgen(1) USER COMMANDS rpcgen(1)
NAME
rpcgen - an RPC protocol compiler
SYNOPSIS
rpcgen infile
rpcgen [-Dname[=value]] [-T] [-K secs] infile
rpcgen -c|-h|-l|-m|-t [-o outfile ] infile
rpcgen -s nettype [-o outfile] infile
rpcgen -n netid [-o outfile] infile
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).
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 protoxdr.c,
server-side stubs in protosvc.c, and client-side stubs in
protoclnt.c. With the -T option, it will also generate the
RPC dispatch table in prototbl.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 environmental variable
PMTRANSPORT. When the server generated by rpcgen is exe-
cuted, it creates server handles for all the transports
specified in NETPATH environment variable, or if it is
unset, it creates server handles for all the visible tran-
sports 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 spe-
cial define symbol RPCSVCFG can be used to run the server
process in foreground. The second synopsis provides special
features which allow for the creation of more sophisticated
RPC servers. These features include support for user pro-
vided #defines and RPC dispatch tables. The entries in the
RPC dispatch table contain:
⊕ pointers to the service routine corresponding to
that procedure,
⊕ a pointer to the input and output arguments
⊕ 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
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rpcgen(1) USER COMMANDS rpcgen(1)
the -n option, it creates a server for the transport speci-
fied 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 program-
mer:
RPCHDR defined when compiling into header files
RPCXDR defined when compiling into XDR routines
RPCSVC defined when compiling into server-side stubs
RPCCLNT defined when compiling into client-side stubs
RPCTBL 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. Pro-
viding an undefined data type allows customiza-
tion of XDR routines.
The following options are available:
-c Compile into XDR routines.
-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.
-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 immedi-
ately 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 comple-
tion. For such servers, rpcgen should be used
with -K -1.
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rpcgen(1) USER COMMANDS rpcgen(1)
-l Compile into client-side stubs.
-m Compile into server-side stubs, but do not gen-
erate a main routine. This option is useful for
doing callback-routines and for users who need
to write their own main routine to do initiali-
zation.
-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 tran-
sports.
-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 tran-
sports belonging to the class nettype. The sup-
ported classes are netpath, visible, circuitn,
circuitv, datagramn, datagramv, 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.
-t Compile into RPC dispatch table.
-T Generate the code to support RPC dispatch
tables. 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.
NOTES
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.
EXAMPLE
The following example:
$ rpcgen -T prot.x generates all the five files:
prot.h, protclnt.c, protsvc.c, protxdr.c and
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rpcgen(1) USER COMMANDS rpcgen(1)
prottbl.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 belong-
ing to the class datagramn to standard output, use:
$ rpcgen -s datagramn -DTEST prot.x To create the
server side stubs for the transport indicated by netid
tcp, use:
$ rpcgen -n tcp -o protsvc.c prot.x
SEE ALSO
cc(1).
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