NAME

Net::UNIX::Server - UNIX-domain sockets interface module for listeners

SYNOPSIS

    use Net::Gen;               # optional
    use Net::UNIX;              # optional
    use Net::UNIX::Server;

DESCRIPTION

The "Net::UNIX::Server" module provides additional services for UNIX-domain socket communication. It is layered atop the "Net::UNIX" and "Net::Gen" modules, which are part of the same distribution.

Public Methods

The following methods are provided by the "Net::UNIX::Server" module itself, rather than just being inherited from "Net::UNIX" or "Net::Gen".

new

Usage:

    $obj = new Net::UNIX::Server;
    $obj = new Net::UNIX::Server $pathname;
    $obj = new Net::UNIX::Server $pathname, \%parameters;
    $obj = 'Net::UNIX::Server'->new();
    $obj = 'Net::UNIX::Server'->new($pathname);
    $obj = 'Net::UNIX::Server'->new($pathname, \%parameters);

Returns a newly-initialised object of the given class. This is much like the regular "new" methods of other modules in this distribution, except that it does a "bind" rather than a "connect", and it does a "listen". Unless specified otherwise with a "type" object parameter, the underlying socket will be a datagram socket ("SOCK_DGRAM").

The examples above show the indirect object syntax which many prefer, as well as the guaranteed-to-be-safe static method call. There are occasional problems with the indirect object syntax, which tend to be rather obscure when encountered. See http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/1998-01/msg01674.html for details.

See Net::TCP::Server for an example of running a server. The differences are only in the module names and the fact that UNIX-domain sockets bind to a pathname rather than to a port number. Of course, that example is for stream ("type = SOCK_STREAM") sockets rather than for datagrams. UNIX-domain datagram sockets don't need to do an accept() (and can't where I've tested this code), and can't answer back to their clients unless those clients have also bound to a specific path name.

init

Usage:

    return undef unless $self = $self->init;
    return undef unless $self = $self->init(\%parameters);
    return undef unless $self = $self->init($pathname);
    return undef unless $self = $self->init($pathname, \%parameters);

Verifies that all previous parameter assignments are valid (via "checkparams"). Returns the incoming object on success, and "undef" on failure. Usually called only via a derived class's "init" method or its own "new" call.

Protected Methods

[See the description in "Protected Methods" in Net::Gen for my definition of protected methods in Perl.]

None.

Known Socket Options

There are no socket options known to the "Net::UNIX::Server" module itself.

Known Object Parameters

There are no object parameters registered by the "Net::UNIX::Server" module itself.

Exports

default: None.
exportable: None.
tags: The following :tags are available for grouping exportable items:

:ALL: All of the above exportable items.

THREADING STATUS

This module has been tested with threaded perls, and should be as thread-safe as perl itself. (As of 5.005_03 and 5.005_57, that's not all that safe just yet.) It also works with interpreter-based threads ('ithreads') in more recent perl releases.

AUTHOR

Spider Boardman <spidb@cpan.org>