GETHOSTNAME(3) BSD Programmer's Manual GETHOSTNAME(3)NAME
gethostname, sethostname - get/set name of current host
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int
gethostname(char *name, size_t namelen);
int
sethostname(const char *name, size_t namelen);
DESCRIPTION
The gethostname() function returns the standard host name for the current
processor, as previously set by sethostname(). The parameter namelen
specifies the size of the name array. If insufficient space is provided,
the returned name is truncated. The returned name is always NUL terminat-
ed.
sethostname() sets the name of the host machine to be name, which has
length namelen. This call is restricted to the superuser and is normally
used only when the system is bootstrapped.
RETURN VALUES
If the call succeeds a value of 0 is returned. If the call fails, a value
of -1 is returned and an error code is placed in the global variable
errno.
ERRORS
The following errors may be returned by these calls:
[EFAULT] The name parameter gave an invalid address.
[EPERM] The caller tried to set the hostname and was not the su-
peruser.
SEE ALSOhostname(1), getdomainname(3), gethostid(3), sysctl(3), sysctl(8), yp(8)STANDARDS
The gethostname() function call conforms to X/Open Portability Guide
Issue 4.2 ("XPG4.2").
HISTORY
The gethostname() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.
BUGS
Host names are limited to MAXHOSTNAMELEN (from <sys/param.h>) characters,
currently 256. This includes the terminating NUL character.
If the buffer passed to gethostname() is smaller than MAXHOSTNAMELEN,
other operating systems may not guarantee termination with NUL.
MirOS BSD #10-current June 4, 1993 1