accept()--Wait for Connection Request and Make Connection



Syntax

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>

int accept(int socket_descriptor,
           struct sockaddr *address,
           int *address_length)


Threadsafe: Yes

The accept() function is used to wait for connection requests. accept() takes the first connection request on the queue of pending connection requests and creates a new socket to service the connection request.

accept() is used with connection-oriented socket types, such as SOCK_STREAM.

Parameters

socket_descriptor
(Input) The descriptor of the socket on which to wait.

address
(Output) A pointer to a buffer of type struct sockaddr in which the address from which the connection request was received is stored. The structure sockaddr is defined in <sys/socket.h>.
      struct sockaddr {
         u_short sa_family;
         char    sa_data[14];
      };

The sa_family field identifies the address family to which the address belongs, and sa_data is the address whose format is dependent on the address family.

address_length
(Input/output) This parameter is a value-result field. The caller passes a pointer to the length of the address parameter. On return from the call, address_length contains the actual length of the address from which the connection request was received.

Return Value

accept() returns an integer. Possible values are:

Error Conditions

When accept() fails, errno can be set to one of the following:

[EACCES]
Permission denied.

A connection indication request was received on the socket referenced by the socket_descriptor parameter, but the process that issued the accept() did not have the appropriate privileges required to handle the request. The connection indication request is reset by the system.

[EBADF]
Descriptor not valid.
[ECONNABORTED]
Connection ended abnormally.

An accept() was issued on a socket for which receives have been disallowed (due to a shutdown() call).

This could also be encountered if time elapsed since a successful Rbind() is greater than the margin allowed by the associated SOCKS server.

[EFAULT]
Bad address.

System detected an address which was not valid while attempting to access the address or address_length parameters.

[EINTR]
Interrupted function call.
[EINVAL]
Parameter not valid.

This error code indicates one of the following:

[EIO]
Input/output error.
[EMFILE]
Too many descriptions for this process.
[ENFILE]
Too many descriptions in system.
[ENOBUFS]
There is not enough buffer space for the requested operation.
[ENOTSOCK]
The specified descriptor does not reference a socket.
[EOPNOTSUPP]
Operation not supported.

The socket_descriptor parameter references a socket that does not support the accept(). The accept() is only valid on sockets that are connection-oriented (for example, type of SOCK_STREAM).

[EUNATCH]
The protocol required to support the specified address family is not available at this time.
[EUNKNOWN]
Unknown system state.
[EWOULDBLOCK]
Operation would have caused the thread to be suspended.

Error Messages

CPE3418 E
Possible APAR condition or hardware failure.
CPF9872 E
Program or service program &1 in library &2 ended. Reason code &3.
CPFA081 E
Unable to set return value or error code.

Usage Notes

  1. If the address parameter is set to a NULL pointer or the address_length parameter points to an integer which has a value that is equal to zero, the address from which the connection request was received is not returned.

  2. If the length of the address to be returned exceeds the length of the address parameter, the returned address is truncated.

  3. The following are inherited by the descriptor returned by the accept() call:

  4. Closing a socket causes any queued but unaccepted connection requests to be reset.

  5. If the socket is using an address family of AF_UNIX, the address (which is a path name) is returned in the default coded character set identifier (CCSID) currently in effect for the job.

  6. If a successful Rbind() has been performed on the listening socket, then a new connection is not returned, but rather an inbound connection occurs on the same listening socket. The descriptor number returned is different, but it actually refers to the same connection referred to by the listening socket.

Related Information


Top | Sockets APIs | APIs by category


[Information Center Home Page | Feedback ] [Legal | AS/400 Glossary]