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GETGRENT(3) Library Functions Manual GETGRENT(3)

getgrent, getgrent_r, getgrgid, getgrgid_r, getgrnam, getgrnam_r, setgroupent, setgrent, endgrent — group database operations

library “libc”

#include <grp.h>

struct group *
getgrent(void);

int
getgrent_r(struct group *grp, char *buffer, size_t buflen, struct group **result);

struct group *
getgrgid(gid_t gid);

int
getgrgid_r(gid_t gid, struct group *grp, char *buffer, size_t buflen, struct group **result);

struct group *
getgrnam(const char *name);

int
getgrnam_r(const char *name, struct group *grp, char *buffer, size_t buflen, struct group **result);

int
setgroupent(int stayopen);

void
setgrent(void);

void
endgrent(void);

These functions operate on the group database which is described in group(5). Each line of the database is defined by the structure group found in the include file <grp.h>: 
struct group {
	char	*gr_name;	/* group name */
	char	*gr_passwd;	/* group password */
	gid_t	gr_gid;		/* group id */
	char	**gr_mem;	/* group members */
};

The functions () and () search the group database for the given group name pointed to by name or the group id pointed to by gid, respectively, returning the first one encountered. Identical group names or group ids may result in undefined behavior.

The () function sequentially reads the group database and is intended for programs that wish to step through the complete list of groups.

All three functions will open the group file for reading, if necessary.

The functions (), (), and () act like their non re-entrant counterparts respectively, updating the contents of grp and storing a pointer to that in result, and returning 0. Storage used by grp is allocated from buffer, which is buflen bytes in size. If the requested entry cannot be found, result will point to NULL and 0 will be returned. If an error occurs, a non-zero error number will be returned and result will point to NULL. Calling getgrent_r() from multiple threads will result in each thread reading a disjoint portion of the group database.

The () function opens the file, or rewinds it if it is already open. If stayopen is non-zero, file descriptors are left open, significantly speeding functions subsequent calls. This functionality is unnecessary for getgrent() as it doesn't close its file descriptors by default. It should also be noted that it is dangerous for long-running programs to use this functionality as the group file may be updated.

The () function is equivalent to setgroupent() with an argument of zero.

The () function closes any open files.

The functions getgrgid(), getgrnam(), and getgrent() return a valid pointer to a group structure on success and a NULL pointer if the entry was not found or an error occurred. If an error occurred, the global variable errno is set to indicate the nature of the failure.

The functions getgrgid_r(), getgrnam_r(), and getgrent_r() return 0 on success or entry not found, and non-zero on failure, setting the global variable errno to indicate the nature of the failure.

The setgroupent() function returns the value 1 if successful, otherwise the value 0 is returned, setting the global variable errno to indicate the nature of the failure.

The endgrent() and setgrent() functions have no return value.

/etc/group
group database file

The historic function setgrfile(), which allowed the specification of alternative group databases, has been deprecated and is no longer available.

The following error codes may be set in errno for getgrent, getgrent_r, getgrnam, getgrnam_r, getgrgid, getgrgid_r, and setgroupent:

[]
A signal was caught during the database search.
[]
An I/O error has occurred.
[]
The limit on open files for this process has been reached.
[]
The system limit on open files has been reached.

The following error code may be set in errno for getgrent_r, getgrnam_r, and getgrgid_r:

[]
The resulting struct group does not fit in the space defined by buffer and buflen

Other errno values may be set depending on the specific database backends.

getpwent(3), group(5), nsswitch.conf(5)

The getgrgid() and getgrnam() functions conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 (“POSIX.1”). The getgrgid_r() and getgrnam_r() functions conform to IEEE Std 1003.1c-1995 (“POSIX.1c”). The endgrent(), getgrent(), and setgrent() functions conform to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 (“XPG4.2”) and IEEE Std 1003.1-2004 (“POSIX.1”) (XSI extension).

The functions endgrent(), getgrent(), getgrgid(), getgrnam(), and setgrent() appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX. The functions setgrfile() and setgroupent() appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno. The functions getgrgid_r() and getgrnam_r() appeared in NetBSD 3.0.

The functions getgrent(), getgrgid(), getgrnam(), setgroupent() and setgrent() leave their results in an internal static object and return a pointer to that object. Subsequent calls to the same function will modify the same object.

The functions getgrent(), endgrent(), setgroupent(), and setgrent() are fairly useless in a networked environment and should be avoided, if possible. getgrent() makes no attempt to suppress duplicate information if multiple sources are specified in nsswitch.conf(5)

February 7, 2018 NetBSD-9.2