recvmmsg(2) - Linux manual page (original) (raw)


recvmmsg(2) System Calls Manual recvmmsg(2)

NAME top

   recvmmsg - receive multiple messages on a socket

LIBRARY top

   Standard C library (_libc_, _-lc_)

SYNOPSIS top

   **#define _GNU_SOURCE** /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
   **#include <sys/socket.h>**

   **int recvmmsg(int** _sockfd_**, struct mmsghdr** _msgvec_**[.**_n_**], unsigned int** _n_**,**
                **int** _flags_**, struct timespec ***_timeout_**);**

DESCRIPTION top

   The **recvmmsg**() system call is an extension of [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html) that
   allows the caller to receive multiple messages from a socket using
   a single system call.  (This has performance benefits for some
   applications.)  A further extension over [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html) is support for
   a timeout on the receive operation.

   The _sockfd_ argument is the file descriptor of the socket to
   receive data from.

   The _msgvec_ argument is a pointer to an array of _mmsghdr_
   structures.  The size of this array is specified in _n_.

   The _mmsghdr_ structure is defined in _<sys/socket.h>_ as:

       struct mmsghdr {
           struct msghdr msg_hdr;  /* Message header */
           unsigned int  msg_len;  /* Number of received bytes for header */
       };

   The _msghdr_ field is a _msghdr_ structure, as described in
   [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html).  The _msglen_ field is the number of bytes returned for
   the message in the entry.  This field has the same value as the
   return value of a single [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html) on the header.

   The _flags_ argument contains flags ORed together.  The flags are
   the same as documented for [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html), with the following
   addition:

   **MSG_WAITFORONE** (since Linux 2.6.34)
          Turns on **MSG_DONTWAIT** after the first message has been
          received.

   The _timeout_ argument points to a _struct timespec_ (see
   [clock_gettime(2)](../man2/clock%5Fgettime.2.html)) defining a timeout (seconds plus nanoseconds)
   for the receive operation (_but see BUGS!_).  (This interval will be
   rounded up to the system clock granularity, and kernel scheduling
   delays mean that the blocking interval may overrun by a small
   amount.)  If _timeout_ is NULL, then the operation blocks
   indefinitely.

   A blocking **recvmmsg**() call blocks until _n_ messages have been
   received or until the timeout expires.  A nonblocking call reads
   as many messages as are available (up to the limit specified by _n_)
   and returns immediately.

   On return from **recvmmsg**(), successive elements of _msgvec_ are
   updated to contain information about each received message:
   _msglen_ contains the size of the received message; the subfields
   of _msghdr_ are updated as described in [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html).  The return
   value of the call indicates the number of elements of _msgvec_ that
   have been updated.

RETURN VALUE top

   On success, **recvmmsg**() returns the number of messages received in
   _msgvec_; on error, -1 is returned, and _[errno](../man3/errno.3.html)_ is set to indicate the
   error.

ERRORS top

   Errors are as for [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html).  In addition, the following error
   can occur:

   **EINVAL** _timeout_ is invalid.

   See also BUGS.

STANDARDS top

   Linux.

HISTORY top

   Linux 2.6.33, glibc 2.12.

BUGS top

   The _timeout_ argument does not work as intended.  The timeout is
   checked only after the receipt of each datagram, so that if up to
   _n-1_ datagrams are received before the timeout expires, but then no
   further datagrams are received, the call will block forever.

   If an error occurs after at least one message has been received,
   the call succeeds, and returns the number of messages received.
   The error code is expected to be returned on a subsequent call to
   **recvmmsg**().  In the current implementation, however, the error
   code can be overwritten in the meantime by an unrelated network
   event on a socket, for example an incoming ICMP packet.

EXAMPLES top

   The following program uses **recvmmsg**() to receive multiple messages
   on a socket and stores them in multiple buffers.  The call returns
   if all buffers are filled or if the timeout specified has expired.

   The following snippet periodically generates UDP datagrams
   containing a random number:

       $ **while true; do echo $RANDOM > /dev/udp/127.0.0.1/1234;**
             **sleep 0.25; done**

   These datagrams are read by the example application, which can
   give the following output:

       $ **./a.out**
       5 messages received
       1 11782
       2 11345
       3 304
       4 13514
       5 28421

Program source

   #define _GNU_SOURCE
   #include <arpa/inet.h>
   #include <netinet/in.h>
   #include <stdio.h>
   #include <stdlib.h>
   #include <string.h>
   #include <sys/socket.h>
   #include <time.h>

   int
   main(void)
   {
   #define VLEN 10
   #define BUFSIZE 200
   #define TIMEOUT 1
       int                 sockfd, retval;
       char                bufs[VLEN][BUFSIZE+1];
       struct iovec        iovecs[VLEN];
       struct mmsghdr      msgs[VLEN];
       struct timespec     timeout;
       struct sockaddr_in  addr;

       sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
       if (sockfd == -1) {
           perror("socket()");
           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
       }

       addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
       addr.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_LOOPBACK);
       addr.sin_port = htons(1234);
       if (bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(addr)) == -1) {
           perror("bind()");
           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
       }

       memset(msgs, 0, sizeof(msgs));
       for (size_t i = 0; i < VLEN; i++) {
           iovecs[i].iov_base         = bufs[i];
           iovecs[i].iov_len          = BUFSIZE;
           msgs[i].msg_hdr.msg_iov    = &iovecs[i];
           msgs[i].msg_hdr.msg_iovlen = 1;
       }

       timeout.tv_sec = TIMEOUT;
       timeout.tv_nsec = 0;

       retval = recvmmsg(sockfd, msgs, VLEN, 0, &timeout);
       if (retval == -1) {
           perror("recvmmsg()");
           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
       }

       printf("%d messages received\n", retval);
       for (size_t i = 0; i < retval; i++) {
           bufs[i][msgs[i].msg_len] = 0;
           printf("%zu %s", i+1, bufs[i]);
       }
       exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
   }

SEE ALSO top

   [clock_gettime(2)](../man2/clock%5Fgettime.2.html), [recvmsg(2)](../man2/recvmsg.2.html), [sendmmsg(2)](../man2/sendmmsg.2.html), [sendmsg(2)](../man2/sendmsg.2.html), [socket(2)](../man2/socket.2.html),
   [socket(7)](../man7/socket.7.html)

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Linux man-pages 6.10 2024-11-17 recvmmsg(2)


Pages that refer to this page:recv(2), sendmmsg(2), syscalls(2), signal(7)