The library routines described on this page provide the application access to the system network
configuration database, /etc/netconfig. The getnetconfig() function returns a pointer to the current
entry in the netconfig database, formatted as a structnetconfig. Successive calls will return
successive netconfig entries in the netconfig database. The getnetconfig() function can be used to
search the entire netconfig file. The getnetconfig() function returns NULL at the end of the file. The
handlep argument is the handle obtained through setnetconfig().
A call to setnetconfig() has the effect of “binding” to or “rewinding” the netconfig database. The
setnetconfig() function must be called before the first call to getnetconfig() and may be called at any
other time. The setnetconfig() function need not be called before a call to getnetconfigent(). The
setnetconfig() function returns a unique handle to be used by getnetconfig().
The endnetconfig() function should be called when processing is complete to release resources for reuse.
The handlep argument is the handle obtained through setnetconfig(). Programmers should be aware,
however, that the last call to endnetconfig() frees all memory allocated by getnetconfig() for the structnetconfig data structure. The endnetconfig() function may not be called before setnetconfig().
The getnetconfigent() function returns a pointer to the netconfig structure corresponding to netid. It
returns NULL if netid is invalid (that is, does not name an entry in the netconfig database).
The freenetconfigent() function frees the netconfig structure pointed to by netconfigp (previously
returned by getnetconfigent()).
The nc_perror() function prints a message to the standard error indicating why any of the above routines
failed. The message is prepended with the string msg and a colon. A newline character is appended at
the end of the message.
The nc_sperror() function is similar to nc_perror() but instead of sending the message to the standard
error, will return a pointer to a string that contains the error message.
The nc_perror() and nc_sperror() functions can also be used with the NETPATH access routines defined in
getnetpath(3).