package ocaml-base-compiler

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Interface to the Unix system.

To use the labeled version of this module, add module Unix = UnixLabels in your implementation.

Note: all the functions of this module (except error_message and handle_unix_error) are liable to raise the Unix_error exception whenever the underlying system call signals an error.

Error report

type error =
  1. | E2BIG
    (*

    Argument list too long

    *)
  2. | EACCES
    (*

    Permission denied

    *)
  3. | EAGAIN
    (*

    Resource temporarily unavailable; try again

    *)
  4. | EBADF
    (*

    Bad file descriptor

    *)
  5. | EBUSY
    (*

    Resource unavailable

    *)
  6. | ECHILD
    (*

    No child process

    *)
  7. | EDEADLK
    (*

    Resource deadlock would occur

    *)
  8. | EDOM
    (*

    Domain error for math functions, etc.

    *)
  9. | EEXIST
    (*

    File exists

    *)
  10. | EFAULT
    (*

    Bad address

    *)
  11. | EFBIG
    (*

    File too large

    *)
  12. | EINTR
    (*

    Function interrupted by signal

    *)
  13. | EINVAL
    (*

    Invalid argument

    *)
  14. | EIO
    (*

    Hardware I/O error

    *)
  15. | EISDIR
    (*

    Is a directory

    *)
  16. | EMFILE
    (*

    Too many open files by the process

    *)
  17. | ENAMETOOLONG
    (*

    Filename too long

    *)
  18. | ENFILE
    (*

    Too many open files in the system

    *)
  19. | ENODEV
    (*

    No such device

    *)
  20. | ENOENT
    (*

    No such file or directory

    *)
  21. | ENOEXEC
    (*

    Not an executable file

    *)
  22. | ENOLCK
    (*

    No locks available

    *)
  23. | ENOMEM
    (*

    Not enough memory

    *)
  24. | ENOSPC
    (*

    No space left on device

    *)
  25. | ENOSYS
    (*

    Function not supported

    *)
  26. | ENOTDIR
    (*

    Not a directory

    *)
  27. | ENOTEMPTY
    (*

    Directory not empty

    *)
  28. | ENOTTY
    (*

    Inappropriate I/O control operation

    *)
  29. | ENXIO
    (*

    No such device or address

    *)
  30. | EPERM
    (*

    Operation not permitted

    *)
  31. | EPIPE
    (*

    Broken pipe

    *)
  32. | ERANGE
    (*

    Result too large

    *)
  33. | EROFS
    (*

    Read-only file system

    *)
  34. | ESPIPE
    (*

    Invalid seek e.g. on a pipe

    *)
  35. | ESRCH
    (*

    No such process

    *)
  36. | EXDEV
    (*

    Invalid link

    *)
  37. | EWOULDBLOCK
    (*

    Operation would block

    *)
  38. | EINPROGRESS
    (*

    Operation now in progress

    *)
  39. | EALREADY
    (*

    Operation already in progress

    *)
  40. | ENOTSOCK
    (*

    Socket operation on non-socket

    *)
  41. | EDESTADDRREQ
    (*

    Destination address required

    *)
  42. | EMSGSIZE
    (*

    Message too long

    *)
  43. | EPROTOTYPE
    (*

    Protocol wrong type for socket

    *)
  44. | ENOPROTOOPT
    (*

    Protocol not available

    *)
  45. | EPROTONOSUPPORT
    (*

    Protocol not supported

    *)
  46. | ESOCKTNOSUPPORT
    (*

    Socket type not supported

    *)
  47. | EOPNOTSUPP
    (*

    Operation not supported on socket

    *)
  48. | EPFNOSUPPORT
    (*

    Protocol family not supported

    *)
  49. | EAFNOSUPPORT
    (*

    Address family not supported by protocol family

    *)
  50. | EADDRINUSE
    (*

    Address already in use

    *)
  51. | EADDRNOTAVAIL
    (*

    Can't assign requested address

    *)
  52. | ENETDOWN
    (*

    Network is down

    *)
  53. | ENETUNREACH
    (*

    Network is unreachable

    *)
  54. | ENETRESET
    (*

    Network dropped connection on reset

    *)
  55. | ECONNABORTED
    (*

    Software caused connection abort

    *)
  56. | ECONNRESET
    (*

    Connection reset by peer

    *)
  57. | ENOBUFS
    (*

    No buffer space available

    *)
  58. | EISCONN
    (*

    Socket is already connected

    *)
  59. | ENOTCONN
    (*

    Socket is not connected

    *)
  60. | ESHUTDOWN
    (*

    Can't send after socket shutdown

    *)
  61. | ETOOMANYREFS
    (*

    Too many references: can't splice

    *)
  62. | ETIMEDOUT
    (*

    Connection timed out

    *)
  63. | ECONNREFUSED
    (*

    Connection refused

    *)
  64. | EHOSTDOWN
    (*

    Host is down

    *)
  65. | EHOSTUNREACH
    (*

    No route to host

    *)
  66. | ELOOP
    (*

    Too many levels of symbolic links

    *)
  67. | EOVERFLOW
    (*

    File size or position not representable

    *)
  68. | EUNKNOWNERR of int
    (*

    Unknown error

    *)

The type of error codes. Errors defined in the POSIX standard and additional errors from UNIX98 and BSD. All other errors are mapped to EUNKNOWNERR.

exception Unix_error of error * string * string

Raised by the system calls below when an error is encountered. The first component is the error code; the second component is the function name; the third component is the string parameter to the function, if it has one, or the empty string otherwise.

UnixLabels.Unix_error and Unix.Unix_error are the same, and catching one will catch the other.

val error_message : error -> string

Return a string describing the given error code.

val handle_unix_error : ('a -> 'b) -> 'a -> 'b

handle_unix_error f x applies f to x and returns the result. If the exception Unix_error is raised, it prints a message describing the error and exits with code 2.

Access to the process environment

val environment : unit -> string array

Return the process environment, as an array of strings with the format ``variable=value''. The returned array is empty if the process has special privileges.

val unsafe_environment : unit -> string array

Return the process environment, as an array of strings with the format ``variable=value''. Unlike environment, this function returns a populated array even if the process has special privileges. See the documentation for unsafe_getenv for more details.

  • since 4.06.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val getenv : string -> string

Return the value associated to a variable in the process environment, unless the process has special privileges.

  • raises Not_found

    if the variable is unbound or the process has special privileges.

    This function is identical to Sys.getenv.

val unsafe_getenv : string -> string

Return the value associated to a variable in the process environment.

Unlike getenv, this function returns the value even if the process has special privileges. It is considered unsafe because the programmer of a setuid or setgid program must be careful to avoid using maliciously crafted environment variables in the search path for executables, the locations for temporary files or logs, and the like.

  • since 4.06.0
val putenv : string -> string -> unit

putenv name value sets the value associated to a variable in the process environment. name is the name of the environment variable, and value its new associated value.

Process handling

type process_status =
  1. | WEXITED of int
    (*

    The process terminated normally by exit; the argument is the return code.

    *)
  2. | WSIGNALED of int
    (*

    The process was killed by a signal; the argument is the signal number.

    *)
  3. | WSTOPPED of int
    (*

    The process was stopped by a signal; the argument is the signal number.

    *)

The termination status of a process. See module Sys for the definitions of the standard signal numbers. Note that they are not the numbers used by the OS.

type wait_flag =
  1. | WNOHANG
    (*

    Do not block if no child has died yet, but immediately return with a pid equal to 0.

    *)
  2. | WUNTRACED
    (*

    Report also the children that receive stop signals.

    *)

Flags for waitpid.

val execv : string -> string array -> 'a

execv prog args execute the program in file prog, with the arguments args, and the current process environment. These execv* functions never return: on success, the current program is replaced by the new one.

val execve : string -> string array -> string array -> 'a

Same as execv, except that the third argument provides the environment to the program executed.

val execvp : string -> string array -> 'a

Same as execv, except that the program is searched in the path.

val execvpe : string -> string array -> string array -> 'a

Same as execve, except that the program is searched in the path.

val fork : unit -> int

Fork a new process. The returned integer is 0 for the child process, the pid of the child process for the parent process.

val wait : unit -> int * process_status

Wait until one of the children processes die, and return its pid and termination status.

val waitpid : wait_flag list -> int -> int * process_status

Same as wait, but waits for the child process whose pid is given. A pid of -1 means wait for any child. A pid of 0 means wait for any child in the same process group as the current process. Negative pid arguments represent process groups. The list of options indicates whether waitpid should return immediately without waiting, and whether it should report stopped children.

On Windows: can only wait for a given PID, not any child process.

val system : string -> process_status

Execute the given command, wait until it terminates, and return its termination status. The string is interpreted by the shell /bin/sh (or the command interpreter cmd.exe on Windows) and therefore can contain redirections, quotes, variables, etc. To properly quote whitespace and shell special characters occurring in file names or command arguments, the use of Filename.quote_command is recommended. The result WEXITED 127 indicates that the shell couldn't be executed.

val _exit : int -> 'a

Terminate the calling process immediately, returning the given status code to the operating system: usually 0 to indicate no errors, and a small positive integer to indicate failure. Unlike Stdlib.exit, Unix._exit performs no finalization whatsoever: functions registered with Stdlib.at_exit are not called, input/output channels are not flushed, and the C run-time system is not finalized either.

The typical use of Unix._exit is after a Unix.fork operation, when the child process runs into a fatal error and must exit. In this case, it is preferable to not perform any finalization action in the child process, as these actions could interfere with similar actions performed by the parent process. For example, output channels should not be flushed by the child process, as the parent process may flush them again later, resulting in duplicate output.

  • since 4.12.0
val getpid : unit -> int

Return the pid of the process.

val getppid : unit -> int

Return the pid of the parent process.

val nice : int -> int

Change the process priority. The integer argument is added to the ``nice'' value. (Higher values of the ``nice'' value mean lower priorities.) Return the new nice value.

Basic file input/output

type file_descr

The abstract type of file descriptors.

val stdin : file_descr

File descriptor for standard input.

val stdout : file_descr

File descriptor for standard output.

val stderr : file_descr

File descriptor for standard error.

type open_flag =
  1. | O_RDONLY
    (*

    Open for reading

    *)
  2. | O_WRONLY
    (*

    Open for writing

    *)
  3. | O_RDWR
    (*

    Open for reading and writing

    *)
  4. | O_NONBLOCK
    (*

    Open in non-blocking mode

    *)
  5. | O_APPEND
    (*

    Open for append

    *)
  6. | O_CREAT
    (*

    Create if nonexistent

    *)
  7. | O_TRUNC
    (*

    Truncate to 0 length if existing

    *)
  8. | O_EXCL
    (*

    Fail if existing

    *)
  9. | O_NOCTTY
    (*

    Don't make this dev a controlling tty

    *)
  10. | O_DSYNC
    (*

    Writes complete as `Synchronised I/O data integrity completion'

    *)
  11. | O_SYNC
    (*

    Writes complete as `Synchronised I/O file integrity completion'

    *)
  12. | O_RSYNC
    (*

    Reads complete as writes (depending on O_SYNC/O_DSYNC)

    *)
  13. | O_SHARE_DELETE
    (*

    Windows only: allow the file to be deleted while still open

    *)
  14. | O_CLOEXEC
    (*

    Set the close-on-exec flag on the descriptor returned by openfile. See set_close_on_exec for more information.

    *)
  15. | O_KEEPEXEC
    (*

    Clear the close-on-exec flag. This is currently the default.

    *)

The flags to openfile.

type file_perm = int

The type of file access rights, e.g. 0o640 is read and write for user, read for group, none for others

val openfile : string -> open_flag list -> file_perm -> file_descr

Open the named file with the given flags. Third argument is the permissions to give to the file if it is created (see umask). Return a file descriptor on the named file.

val close : file_descr -> unit

Close a file descriptor.

val fsync : file_descr -> unit

Flush file buffers to disk.

  • since 4.08.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val read : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> int

read fd buf pos len reads len bytes from descriptor fd, storing them in byte sequence buf, starting at position pos in buf. Return the number of bytes actually read.

val write : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> int

write fd buf pos len writes len bytes to descriptor fd, taking them from byte sequence buf, starting at position pos in buff. Return the number of bytes actually written. write repeats the writing operation until all bytes have been written or an error occurs.

val single_write : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> int

Same as write, but attempts to write only once. Thus, if an error occurs, single_write guarantees that no data has been written.

val write_substring : file_descr -> string -> int -> int -> int

Same as write, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

  • since 4.02.0
val single_write_substring : file_descr -> string -> int -> int -> int

Same as single_write, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

  • since 4.02.0

Interfacing with the standard input/output library

val in_channel_of_descr : file_descr -> in_channel

Create an input channel reading from the given descriptor. The channel is initially in binary mode; use set_binary_mode_in ic false if text mode is desired. Text mode is supported only if the descriptor refers to a file or pipe, but is not supported if it refers to a socket.

On Windows: Stdlib.set_binary_mode_in always fails on channels created with this function.

Beware that input channels are buffered, so more characters may have been read from the descriptor than those accessed using channel functions. Channels also keep a copy of the current position in the file.

Closing the channel ic returned by in_channel_of_descr fd using close_in ic also closes the underlying descriptor fd. It is incorrect to close both the channel ic and the descriptor fd.

If several channels are created on the same descriptor, one of the channels must be closed, but not the others. Consider for example a descriptor s connected to a socket and two channels ic = in_channel_of_descr s and oc = out_channel_of_descr s. The recommended closing protocol is to perform close_out oc, which flushes buffered output to the socket then closes the socket. The ic channel must not be closed and will be collected by the GC eventually.

val out_channel_of_descr : file_descr -> out_channel

Create an output channel writing on the given descriptor. The channel is initially in binary mode; use set_binary_mode_out oc false if text mode is desired. Text mode is supported only if the descriptor refers to a file or pipe, but is not supported if it refers to a socket.

On Windows: Stdlib.set_binary_mode_out always fails on channels created with this function.

Beware that output channels are buffered, so you may have to call Stdlib.flush to ensure that all data has been sent to the descriptor. Channels also keep a copy of the current position in the file.

Closing the channel oc returned by out_channel_of_descr fd using close_out oc also closes the underlying descriptor fd. It is incorrect to close both the channel ic and the descriptor fd.

See Unix.in_channel_of_descr for a discussion of the closing protocol when several channels are created on the same descriptor.

val descr_of_in_channel : in_channel -> file_descr

Return the descriptor corresponding to an input channel.

val descr_of_out_channel : out_channel -> file_descr

Return the descriptor corresponding to an output channel.

Seeking and truncating

type seek_command =
  1. | SEEK_SET
    (*

    indicates positions relative to the beginning of the file

    *)
  2. | SEEK_CUR
    (*

    indicates positions relative to the current position

    *)
  3. | SEEK_END
    (*

    indicates positions relative to the end of the file

    *)

Positioning modes for lseek.

val lseek : file_descr -> int -> seek_command -> int

Set the current position for a file descriptor, and return the resulting offset (from the beginning of the file).

val truncate : string -> int -> unit

Truncates the named file to the given size.

val ftruncate : file_descr -> int -> unit

Truncates the file corresponding to the given descriptor to the given size.

File status

type file_kind =
  1. | S_REG
    (*

    Regular file

    *)
  2. | S_DIR
    (*

    Directory

    *)
  3. | S_CHR
    (*

    Character device

    *)
  4. | S_BLK
    (*

    Block device

    *)
  5. | S_LNK
    (*

    Symbolic link

    *)
  6. | S_FIFO
    (*

    Named pipe

    *)
  7. | S_SOCK
    (*

    Socket

    *)
type stats = {
  1. st_dev : int;
    (*

    Device number

    *)
  2. st_ino : int;
    (*

    Inode number

    *)
  3. st_kind : file_kind;
    (*

    Kind of the file

    *)
  4. st_perm : file_perm;
    (*

    Access rights

    *)
  5. st_uid : int;
    (*

    User id of the owner

    *)
  6. st_gid : int;
    (*

    Group ID of the file's group

    *)
  7. st_rdev : int;
    (*

    Device ID (if special file)

    *)
  8. st_size : int;
    (*

    Size in bytes

    *)
  9. st_atime : float;
    (*

    Last access time

    *)
  10. st_mtime : float;
    (*

    Last modification time

    *)
  11. st_ctime : float;
    (*

    Last status change time

    *)
}

The information returned by the stat calls.

val stat : string -> stats

Return the information for the named file.

val lstat : string -> stats

Same as stat, but in case the file is a symbolic link, return the information for the link itself.

val fstat : file_descr -> stats

Return the information for the file associated with the given descriptor.

val isatty : file_descr -> bool

Return true if the given file descriptor refers to a terminal or console window, false otherwise.

File operations on large files

module LargeFile : sig ... end

File operations on large files. This sub-module provides 64-bit variants of the functions lseek (for positioning a file descriptor), truncate and ftruncate (for changing the size of a file), and stat, lstat and fstat (for obtaining information on files). These alternate functions represent positions and sizes by 64-bit integers (type int64) instead of regular integers (type int), thus allowing operating on files whose sizes are greater than max_int.

Mapping files into memory

val map_file : file_descr -> ?pos:int64 -> ('a, 'b) Bigarray.kind -> 'c Bigarray.layout -> bool -> int array -> ('a, 'b, 'c) Bigarray.Genarray.t

Memory mapping of a file as a Bigarray. map_file fd kind layout shared dims returns a Bigarray of kind kind, layout layout, and dimensions as specified in dims. The data contained in this Bigarray are the contents of the file referred to by the file descriptor fd (as opened previously with openfile, for example). The optional pos parameter is the byte offset in the file of the data being mapped; it defaults to 0 (map from the beginning of the file).

If shared is true, all modifications performed on the array are reflected in the file. This requires that fd be opened with write permissions. If shared is false, modifications performed on the array are done in memory only, using copy-on-write of the modified pages; the underlying file is not affected.

map_file is much more efficient than reading the whole file in a Bigarray, modifying that Bigarray, and writing it afterwards.

To adjust automatically the dimensions of the Bigarray to the actual size of the file, the major dimension (that is, the first dimension for an array with C layout, and the last dimension for an array with Fortran layout) can be given as -1. map_file then determines the major dimension from the size of the file. The file must contain an integral number of sub-arrays as determined by the non-major dimensions, otherwise Failure is raised.

If all dimensions of the Bigarray are given, the file size is matched against the size of the Bigarray. If the file is larger than the Bigarray, only the initial portion of the file is mapped to the Bigarray. If the file is smaller than the big array, the file is automatically grown to the size of the Bigarray. This requires write permissions on fd.

Array accesses are bounds-checked, but the bounds are determined by the initial call to map_file. Therefore, you should make sure no other process modifies the mapped file while you're accessing it, or a SIGBUS signal may be raised. This happens, for instance, if the file is shrunk.

Invalid_argument or Failure may be raised in cases where argument validation fails.

  • since 4.06.0

Operations on file names

Removes the named file.

If the named file is a directory, raises:

  • EPERM on POSIX compliant system
  • EISDIR on Linux >= 2.1.132
  • EACCESS on Windows
val rename : string -> string -> unit

rename src dst changes the name of a file from src to dst, moving it between directories if needed. If dst already exists, its contents will be replaced with those of src. Depending on the operating system, the metadata (permissions, owner, etc) of dst can either be preserved or be replaced by those of src.

link ?follow src dst creates a hard link named dst to the file named src.

  • parameter follow

    indicates whether a src symlink is followed or a hardlink to src itself will be created. On Unix systems this is done using the linkat(2) function. If ?follow is not provided, then the link(2) function is used whose behaviour is OS-dependent, but more widely available.

  • raises ENOSYS

    On Unix if ~follow:_ is requested, but linkat is unavailable.

  • raises ENOSYS

    On Windows if ~follow:false is requested.

val realpath : string -> string

realpath p is an absolute pathname for p obtained by resolving all extra / characters, relative path segments and symbolic links.

  • since 4.13.0

File permissions and ownership

type access_permission =
  1. | R_OK
    (*

    Read permission

    *)
  2. | W_OK
    (*

    Write permission

    *)
  3. | X_OK
    (*

    Execution permission

    *)
  4. | F_OK
    (*

    File exists

    *)

Flags for the access call.

val chmod : string -> file_perm -> unit

Change the permissions of the named file.

val fchmod : file_descr -> file_perm -> unit

Change the permissions of an opened file.

val chown : string -> int -> int -> unit

Change the owner uid and owner gid of the named file.

val fchown : file_descr -> int -> int -> unit

Change the owner uid and owner gid of an opened file.

val umask : int -> int

Set the process's file mode creation mask, and return the previous mask.

val access : string -> access_permission list -> unit

Check that the process has the given permissions over the named file.

On Windows: execute permission X_OK cannot be tested, just tests for read permission instead.

Operations on file descriptors

val dup : ?cloexec:bool -> file_descr -> file_descr

Return a new file descriptor referencing the same file as the given descriptor. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val dup2 : ?cloexec:bool -> file_descr -> file_descr -> unit

dup2 src dst duplicates src to dst, closing dst if already opened. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val set_nonblock : file_descr -> unit

Set the ``non-blocking'' flag on the given descriptor. When the non-blocking flag is set, reading on a descriptor on which there is temporarily no data available raises the EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK error instead of blocking; writing on a descriptor on which there is temporarily no room for writing also raises EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK.

val clear_nonblock : file_descr -> unit

Clear the ``non-blocking'' flag on the given descriptor. See set_nonblock.

val set_close_on_exec : file_descr -> unit

Set the ``close-on-exec'' flag on the given descriptor. A descriptor with the close-on-exec flag is automatically closed when the current process starts another program with one of the exec, create_process and open_process functions.

It is often a security hole to leak file descriptors opened on, say, a private file to an external program: the program, then, gets access to the private file and can do bad things with it. Hence, it is highly recommended to set all file descriptors ``close-on-exec'', except in the very few cases where a file descriptor actually needs to be transmitted to another program.

The best way to set a file descriptor ``close-on-exec'' is to create it in this state. To this end, the openfile function has O_CLOEXEC and O_KEEPEXEC flags to enforce ``close-on-exec'' mode or ``keep-on-exec'' mode, respectively. All other operations in the Unix module that create file descriptors have an optional argument ?cloexec:bool to indicate whether the file descriptor should be created in ``close-on-exec'' mode (by writing ~cloexec:true) or in ``keep-on-exec'' mode (by writing ~cloexec:false). For historical reasons, the default file descriptor creation mode is ``keep-on-exec'', if no cloexec optional argument is given. This is not a safe default, hence it is highly recommended to pass explicit cloexec arguments to operations that create file descriptors.

The cloexec optional arguments and the O_KEEPEXEC flag were introduced in OCaml 4.05. Earlier, the common practice was to create file descriptors in the default, ``keep-on-exec'' mode, then call set_close_on_exec on those freshly-created file descriptors. This is not as safe as creating the file descriptor in ``close-on-exec'' mode because, in multithreaded programs, a window of vulnerability exists between the time when the file descriptor is created and the time set_close_on_exec completes. If another thread spawns another program during this window, the descriptor will leak, as it is still in the ``keep-on-exec'' mode.

Regarding the atomicity guarantees given by ~cloexec:true or by the use of the O_CLOEXEC flag: on all platforms it is guaranteed that a concurrently-executing Caml thread cannot leak the descriptor by starting a new process. On Linux, this guarantee extends to concurrently-executing C threads. As of Feb 2017, other operating systems lack the necessary system calls and still expose a window of vulnerability during which a C thread can see the newly-created file descriptor in ``keep-on-exec'' mode.

val clear_close_on_exec : file_descr -> unit

Clear the ``close-on-exec'' flag on the given descriptor. See set_close_on_exec.

Directories

val mkdir : string -> file_perm -> unit

Create a directory with the given permissions (see umask).

val rmdir : string -> unit

Remove an empty directory.

val chdir : string -> unit

Change the process working directory.

val getcwd : unit -> string

Return the name of the current working directory.

val chroot : string -> unit

Change the process root directory.

type dir_handle

The type of descriptors over opened directories.

val opendir : string -> dir_handle

Open a descriptor on a directory

val readdir : dir_handle -> string

Return the next entry in a directory.

  • raises End_of_file

    when the end of the directory has been reached.

val rewinddir : dir_handle -> unit

Reposition the descriptor to the beginning of the directory

val closedir : dir_handle -> unit

Close a directory descriptor.

Pipes and redirections

val pipe : ?cloexec:bool -> unit -> file_descr * file_descr

Create a pipe. The first component of the result is opened for reading, that's the exit to the pipe. The second component is opened for writing, that's the entrance to the pipe. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val mkfifo : string -> file_perm -> unit

Create a named pipe with the given permissions (see umask).

High-level process and redirection management

val create_process : string -> string array -> file_descr -> file_descr -> file_descr -> int

create_process prog args stdin stdout stderr forks a new process that executes the program in file prog, with arguments args. The pid of the new process is returned immediately; the new process executes concurrently with the current process. The standard input and outputs of the new process are connected to the descriptors stdin, stdout and stderr. Passing e.g. Unix.stdout for stdout prevents the redirection and causes the new process to have the same standard output as the current process. The executable file prog is searched in the path. The new process has the same environment as the current process.

val create_process_env : string -> string array -> string array -> file_descr -> file_descr -> file_descr -> int

create_process_env prog args env stdin stdout stderr works as create_process, except that the extra argument env specifies the environment passed to the program.

val open_process_in : string -> in_channel

High-level pipe and process management. This function runs the given command in parallel with the program. The standard output of the command is redirected to a pipe, which can be read via the returned input channel. The command is interpreted by the shell /bin/sh (or cmd.exe on Windows), cf. system. The Filename.quote_command function can be used to quote the command and its arguments as appropriate for the shell being used. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, open_process_args_in can be used as a more robust and more efficient alternative to open_process_in.

val open_process_out : string -> out_channel

Same as open_process_in, but redirect the standard input of the command to a pipe. Data written to the returned output channel is sent to the standard input of the command. Warning: writes on output channels are buffered, hence be careful to call Stdlib.flush at the right times to ensure correct synchronization. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, open_process_args_out can be used instead of open_process_out.

val open_process : string -> in_channel * out_channel

Same as open_process_out, but redirects both the standard input and standard output of the command to pipes connected to the two returned channels. The input channel is connected to the output of the command, and the output channel to the input of the command. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, open_process_args can be used instead of open_process.

val open_process_full : string -> string array -> in_channel * out_channel * in_channel

Similar to open_process, but the second argument specifies the environment passed to the command. The result is a triple of channels connected respectively to the standard output, standard input, and standard error of the command. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, open_process_args_full can be used instead of open_process_full.

val open_process_args_in : string -> string array -> in_channel

open_process_args_in prog args runs the program prog with arguments args. The new process executes concurrently with the current process. The standard output of the new process is redirected to a pipe, which can be read via the returned input channel.

The executable file prog is searched in the path. This behaviour changed in 4.12; previously prog was looked up only in the current directory.

The new process has the same environment as the current process.

  • since 4.08.0
val open_process_args_out : string -> string array -> out_channel

Same as open_process_args_in, but redirect the standard input of the new process to a pipe. Data written to the returned output channel is sent to the standard input of the program. Warning: writes on output channels are buffered, hence be careful to call Stdlib.flush at the right times to ensure correct synchronization.

  • since 4.08.0
val open_process_args : string -> string array -> in_channel * out_channel

Same as open_process_args_out, but redirects both the standard input and standard output of the new process to pipes connected to the two returned channels. The input channel is connected to the output of the program, and the output channel to the input of the program.

  • since 4.08.0
val open_process_args_full : string -> string array -> string array -> in_channel * out_channel * in_channel

Similar to open_process_args, but the third argument specifies the environment passed to the new process. The result is a triple of channels connected respectively to the standard output, standard input, and standard error of the program.

  • since 4.08.0
val process_in_pid : in_channel -> int

Return the pid of a process opened via open_process_in or open_process_args_in.

  • since 4.08.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val process_out_pid : out_channel -> int

Return the pid of a process opened via open_process_out or open_process_args_out.

  • since 4.08.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val process_pid : (in_channel * out_channel) -> int

Return the pid of a process opened via open_process or open_process_args.

  • since 4.08.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val process_full_pid : (in_channel * out_channel * in_channel) -> int

Return the pid of a process opened via open_process_full or open_process_args_full.

  • since 4.08.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val close_process_in : in_channel -> process_status

Close channels opened by open_process_in, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

val close_process_out : out_channel -> process_status

Close channels opened by open_process_out, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

val close_process : (in_channel * out_channel) -> process_status

Close channels opened by open_process, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

val close_process_full : (in_channel * out_channel * in_channel) -> process_status

Close channels opened by open_process_full, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

symlink ?to_dir src dst creates the file dst as a symbolic link to the file src. On Windows, ~to_dir indicates if the symbolic link points to a directory or a file; if omitted, symlink examines src using stat and picks appropriately, if src does not exist then false is assumed (for this reason, it is recommended that the ~to_dir parameter be specified in new code). On Unix, ~to_dir is ignored.

Windows symbolic links are available in Windows Vista onwards. There are some important differences between Windows symlinks and their POSIX counterparts.

Windows symbolic links come in two flavours: directory and regular, which designate whether the symbolic link points to a directory or a file. The type must be correct - a directory symlink which actually points to a file cannot be selected with chdir and a file symlink which actually points to a directory cannot be read or written (note that Cygwin's emulation layer ignores this distinction).

When symbolic links are created to existing targets, this distinction doesn't matter and symlink will automatically create the correct kind of symbolic link. The distinction matters when a symbolic link is created to a non-existent target.

The other caveat is that by default symbolic links are a privileged operation. Administrators will always need to be running elevated (or with UAC disabled) and by default normal user accounts need to be granted the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege via Local Security Policy (secpol.msc) or via Active Directory.

has_symlink can be used to check that a process is able to create symbolic links.

Returns true if the user is able to create symbolic links. On Windows, this indicates that the user not only has the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege but is also running elevated, if necessary. On other platforms, this is simply indicates that the symlink system call is available.

  • since 4.03.0

Read the contents of a symbolic link.

Polling

val select : file_descr list -> file_descr list -> file_descr list -> float -> file_descr list * file_descr list * file_descr list

Wait until some input/output operations become possible on some channels. The three list arguments are, respectively, a set of descriptors to check for reading (first argument), for writing (second argument), or for exceptional conditions (third argument). The fourth argument is the maximal timeout, in seconds; a negative fourth argument means no timeout (unbounded wait). The result is composed of three sets of descriptors: those ready for reading (first component), ready for writing (second component), and over which an exceptional condition is pending (third component).

Locking

type lock_command =
  1. | F_ULOCK
    (*

    Unlock a region

    *)
  2. | F_LOCK
    (*

    Lock a region for writing, and block if already locked

    *)
  3. | F_TLOCK
    (*

    Lock a region for writing, or fail if already locked

    *)
  4. | F_TEST
    (*

    Test a region for other process locks

    *)
  5. | F_RLOCK
    (*

    Lock a region for reading, and block if already locked

    *)
  6. | F_TRLOCK
    (*

    Lock a region for reading, or fail if already locked

    *)

Commands for lockf.

val lockf : file_descr -> lock_command -> int -> unit

lockf fd mode len puts a lock on a region of the file opened as fd. The region starts at the current read/write position for fd (as set by lseek), and extends len bytes forward if len is positive, len bytes backwards if len is negative, or to the end of the file if len is zero. A write lock prevents any other process from acquiring a read or write lock on the region. A read lock prevents any other process from acquiring a write lock on the region, but lets other processes acquire read locks on it.

The F_LOCK and F_TLOCK commands attempts to put a write lock on the specified region. The F_RLOCK and F_TRLOCK commands attempts to put a read lock on the specified region. If one or several locks put by another process prevent the current process from acquiring the lock, F_LOCK and F_RLOCK block until these locks are removed, while F_TLOCK and F_TRLOCK fail immediately with an exception. The F_ULOCK removes whatever locks the current process has on the specified region. Finally, the F_TEST command tests whether a write lock can be acquired on the specified region, without actually putting a lock. It returns immediately if successful, or fails otherwise.

What happens when a process tries to lock a region of a file that is already locked by the same process depends on the OS. On POSIX-compliant systems, the second lock operation succeeds and may "promote" the older lock from read lock to write lock. On Windows, the second lock operation will block or fail.

Signals

Note: installation of signal handlers is performed via the functions Sys.signal and Sys.set_signal.

val kill : int -> int -> unit

kill pid signal sends signal number signal to the process with id pid.

On Windows: only the Sys.sigkill signal is emulated.

type sigprocmask_command =
  1. | SIG_SETMASK
  2. | SIG_BLOCK
  3. | SIG_UNBLOCK
val sigprocmask : sigprocmask_command -> int list -> int list

sigprocmask mode sigs changes the set of blocked signals. If mode is SIG_SETMASK, blocked signals are set to those in the list sigs. If mode is SIG_BLOCK, the signals in sigs are added to the set of blocked signals. If mode is SIG_UNBLOCK, the signals in sigs are removed from the set of blocked signals. sigprocmask returns the set of previously blocked signals.

When the systhreads version of the Thread module is loaded, this function redirects to Thread.sigmask. I.e., sigprocmask only changes the mask of the current thread.

val sigpending : unit -> int list

Return the set of blocked signals that are currently pending.

val sigsuspend : int list -> unit

sigsuspend sigs atomically sets the blocked signals to sigs and waits for a non-ignored, non-blocked signal to be delivered. On return, the blocked signals are reset to their initial value.

val pause : unit -> unit

Wait until a non-ignored, non-blocked signal is delivered.

Time functions

type process_times = {
  1. tms_utime : float;
    (*

    User time for the process

    *)
  2. tms_stime : float;
    (*

    System time for the process

    *)
  3. tms_cutime : float;
    (*

    User time for the children processes

    *)
  4. tms_cstime : float;
    (*

    System time for the children processes

    *)
}

The execution times (CPU times) of a process.

type tm = {
  1. tm_sec : int;
    (*

    Seconds 0..60

    *)
  2. tm_min : int;
    (*

    Minutes 0..59

    *)
  3. tm_hour : int;
    (*

    Hours 0..23

    *)
  4. tm_mday : int;
    (*

    Day of month 1..31

    *)
  5. tm_mon : int;
    (*

    Month of year 0..11

    *)
  6. tm_year : int;
    (*

    Year - 1900

    *)
  7. tm_wday : int;
    (*

    Day of week (Sunday is 0)

    *)
  8. tm_yday : int;
    (*

    Day of year 0..365

    *)
  9. tm_isdst : bool;
    (*

    Daylight time savings in effect

    *)
}

The type representing wallclock time and calendar date.

val time : unit -> float

Return the current time since 00:00:00 GMT, Jan. 1, 1970, in seconds.

val gettimeofday : unit -> float

Same as time, but with resolution better than 1 second.

val gmtime : float -> tm

Convert a time in seconds, as returned by time, into a date and a time. Assumes UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), also known as GMT. To perform the inverse conversion, set the TZ environment variable to "UTC", use mktime, and then restore the original value of TZ.

val localtime : float -> tm

Convert a time in seconds, as returned by time, into a date and a time. Assumes the local time zone. The function performing the inverse conversion is mktime.

val mktime : tm -> float * tm

Convert a date and time, specified by the tm argument, into a time in seconds, as returned by time. The tm_isdst, tm_wday and tm_yday fields of tm are ignored. Also return a normalized copy of the given tm record, with the tm_wday, tm_yday, and tm_isdst fields recomputed from the other fields, and the other fields normalized (so that, e.g., 40 October is changed into 9 November). The tm argument is interpreted in the local time zone.

val alarm : int -> int

Schedule a SIGALRM signal after the given number of seconds.

val sleep : int -> unit

Stop execution for the given number of seconds.

val sleepf : float -> unit

Stop execution for the given number of seconds. Like sleep, but fractions of seconds are supported.

  • since 4.03.0 (4.12.0 in UnixLabels)
val times : unit -> process_times

Return the execution times of the process.

On Windows: partially implemented, will not report timings for child processes.

val utimes : string -> float -> float -> unit

Set the last access time (second arg) and last modification time (third arg) for a file. Times are expressed in seconds from 00:00:00 GMT, Jan. 1, 1970. If both times are 0.0, the access and last modification times are both set to the current time.

type interval_timer =
  1. | ITIMER_REAL
    (*

    decrements in real time, and sends the signal SIGALRM when expired.

    *)
  2. | ITIMER_VIRTUAL
    (*

    decrements in process virtual time, and sends SIGVTALRM when expired.

    *)
  3. | ITIMER_PROF
    (*

    (for profiling) decrements both when the process is running and when the system is running on behalf of the process; it sends SIGPROF when expired.

    *)

The three kinds of interval timers.

type interval_timer_status = {
  1. it_interval : float;
    (*

    Period

    *)
  2. it_value : float;
    (*

    Current value of the timer

    *)
}

The type describing the status of an interval timer

Return the current status of the given interval timer.

setitimer t s sets the interval timer t and returns its previous status. The s argument is interpreted as follows: s.it_value, if nonzero, is the time to the next timer expiration; s.it_interval, if nonzero, specifies a value to be used in reloading it_value when the timer expires. Setting s.it_value to zero disables the timer. Setting s.it_interval to zero causes the timer to be disabled after its next expiration.

User id, group id

val getuid : unit -> int

Return the user id of the user executing the process.

On Windows: always returns 1.

val geteuid : unit -> int

Return the effective user id under which the process runs.

On Windows: always returns 1.

val setuid : int -> unit

Set the real user id and effective user id for the process.

val getgid : unit -> int

Return the group id of the user executing the process.

On Windows: always returns 1.

val getegid : unit -> int

Return the effective group id under which the process runs.

On Windows: always returns 1.

val setgid : int -> unit

Set the real group id and effective group id for the process.

val getgroups : unit -> int array

Return the list of groups to which the user executing the process belongs.

On Windows: always returns [|1|].

val setgroups : int array -> unit

setgroups groups sets the supplementary group IDs for the calling process. Appropriate privileges are required.

val initgroups : string -> int -> unit

initgroups user group initializes the group access list by reading the group database /etc/group and using all groups of which user is a member. The additional group group is also added to the list.

type passwd_entry = {
  1. pw_name : string;
  2. pw_passwd : string;
  3. pw_uid : int;
  4. pw_gid : int;
  5. pw_gecos : string;
  6. pw_dir : string;
  7. pw_shell : string;
}

Structure of entries in the passwd database.

type group_entry = {
  1. gr_name : string;
  2. gr_passwd : string;
  3. gr_gid : int;
  4. gr_mem : string array;
}

Structure of entries in the groups database.

val getlogin : unit -> string

Return the login name of the user executing the process.

val getpwnam : string -> passwd_entry

Find an entry in passwd with the given name.

  • raises Not_found

    if no such entry exists, or always on Windows.

val getgrnam : string -> group_entry

Find an entry in group with the given name.

  • raises Not_found

    if no such entry exists, or always on Windows.

val getpwuid : int -> passwd_entry

Find an entry in passwd with the given user id.

  • raises Not_found

    if no such entry exists, or always on Windows.

val getgrgid : int -> group_entry

Find an entry in group with the given group id.

  • raises Not_found

    if no such entry exists, or always on Windows.

Internet addresses

type inet_addr

The abstract type of Internet addresses.

val inet_addr_of_string : string -> inet_addr

Conversion from the printable representation of an Internet address to its internal representation. The argument string consists of 4 numbers separated by periods (XXX.YYY.ZZZ.TTT) for IPv4 addresses, and up to 8 numbers separated by colons for IPv6 addresses.

  • raises Failure

    when given a string that does not match these formats.

val string_of_inet_addr : inet_addr -> string

Return the printable representation of the given Internet address. See inet_addr_of_string for a description of the printable representation.

val inet_addr_any : inet_addr

A special IPv4 address, for use only with bind, representing all the Internet addresses that the host machine possesses.

val inet_addr_loopback : inet_addr

A special IPv4 address representing the host machine (127.0.0.1).

val inet6_addr_any : inet_addr

A special IPv6 address, for use only with bind, representing all the Internet addresses that the host machine possesses.

val inet6_addr_loopback : inet_addr

A special IPv6 address representing the host machine (::1).

val is_inet6_addr : inet_addr -> bool

Whether the given inet_addr is an IPv6 address.

  • since 4.12.0

Sockets

type socket_domain =
  1. | PF_UNIX
    (*

    Unix domain

    *)
  2. | PF_INET
    (*

    Internet domain (IPv4)

    *)
  3. | PF_INET6
    (*

    Internet domain (IPv6)

    *)

The type of socket domains. Not all platforms support IPv6 sockets (type PF_INET6).

On Windows: PF_UNIX supported since 4.14.0 on Windows 10 1803 and later.

type socket_type =
  1. | SOCK_STREAM
    (*

    Stream socket

    *)
  2. | SOCK_DGRAM
    (*

    Datagram socket

    *)
  3. | SOCK_RAW
    (*

    Raw socket

    *)
  4. | SOCK_SEQPACKET
    (*

    Sequenced packets socket

    *)

The type of socket kinds, specifying the semantics of communications. SOCK_SEQPACKET is included for completeness, but is rarely supported by the OS, and needs system calls that are not available in this library.

type sockaddr =
  1. | ADDR_UNIX of string
  2. | ADDR_INET of inet_addr * int

The type of socket addresses. ADDR_UNIX name is a socket address in the Unix domain; name is a file name in the file system. ADDR_INET(addr,port) is a socket address in the Internet domain; addr is the Internet address of the machine, and port is the port number.

val socket : ?cloexec:bool -> socket_domain -> socket_type -> int -> file_descr

Create a new socket in the given domain, and with the given kind. The third argument is the protocol type; 0 selects the default protocol for that kind of sockets. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val domain_of_sockaddr : sockaddr -> socket_domain

Return the socket domain adequate for the given socket address.

val socketpair : ?cloexec:bool -> socket_domain -> socket_type -> int -> file_descr * file_descr

Create a pair of unnamed sockets, connected together. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val accept : ?cloexec:bool -> file_descr -> file_descr * sockaddr

Accept connections on the given socket. The returned descriptor is a socket connected to the client; the returned address is the address of the connecting client. See set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

val bind : file_descr -> sockaddr -> unit

Bind a socket to an address.

val connect : file_descr -> sockaddr -> unit

Connect a socket to an address.

val listen : file_descr -> int -> unit

Set up a socket for receiving connection requests. The integer argument is the maximal number of pending requests.

type shutdown_command =
  1. | SHUTDOWN_RECEIVE
    (*

    Close for receiving

    *)
  2. | SHUTDOWN_SEND
    (*

    Close for sending

    *)
  3. | SHUTDOWN_ALL
    (*

    Close both

    *)

The type of commands for shutdown.

val shutdown : file_descr -> shutdown_command -> unit

Shutdown a socket connection. SHUTDOWN_SEND as second argument causes reads on the other end of the connection to return an end-of-file condition. SHUTDOWN_RECEIVE causes writes on the other end of the connection to return a closed pipe condition (SIGPIPE signal).

val getsockname : file_descr -> sockaddr

Return the address of the given socket.

val getpeername : file_descr -> sockaddr

Return the address of the host connected to the given socket.

type msg_flag =
  1. | MSG_OOB
  2. | MSG_DONTROUTE
  3. | MSG_PEEK

The flags for recv, recvfrom, send and sendto.

val recv : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> int

Receive data from a connected socket.

val recvfrom : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> int * sockaddr

Receive data from an unconnected socket.

val send : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> int

Send data over a connected socket.

val send_substring : file_descr -> string -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> int

Same as send, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

  • since 4.02.0
val sendto : file_descr -> bytes -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> sockaddr -> int

Send data over an unconnected socket.

val sendto_substring : file_descr -> string -> int -> int -> msg_flag list -> sockaddr -> int

Same as sendto, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

  • since 4.02.0

Socket options

type socket_bool_option =
  1. | SO_DEBUG
    (*

    Record debugging information

    *)
  2. | SO_BROADCAST
    (*

    Permit sending of broadcast messages

    *)
  3. | SO_REUSEADDR
    (*

    Allow reuse of local addresses for bind

    *)
  4. | SO_KEEPALIVE
    (*

    Keep connection active

    *)
  5. | SO_DONTROUTE
    (*

    Bypass the standard routing algorithms

    *)
  6. | SO_OOBINLINE
    (*

    Leave out-of-band data in line

    *)
  7. | SO_ACCEPTCONN
    (*

    Report whether socket listening is enabled

    *)
  8. | TCP_NODELAY
    (*

    Control the Nagle algorithm for TCP sockets

    *)
  9. | IPV6_ONLY
    (*

    Forbid binding an IPv6 socket to an IPv4 address

    *)
  10. | SO_REUSEPORT
    (*

    Allow reuse of address and port bindings

    *)

The socket options that can be consulted with getsockopt and modified with setsockopt. These options have a boolean (true/false) value.

type socket_int_option =
  1. | SO_SNDBUF
    (*

    Size of send buffer

    *)
  2. | SO_RCVBUF
    (*

    Size of received buffer

    *)
  3. | SO_ERROR
    (*

    Deprecated. Use getsockopt_error instead.

    • deprecated Use Unix.getsockopt_error instead.
    *)
  4. | SO_TYPE
    (*

    Report the socket type

    *)
  5. | SO_RCVLOWAT
    (*

    Minimum number of bytes to process for input operations

    *)
  6. | SO_SNDLOWAT
    (*

    Minimum number of bytes to process for output operations

    *)

The socket options that can be consulted with getsockopt_int and modified with setsockopt_int. These options have an integer value.

type socket_optint_option =
  1. | SO_LINGER
    (*

    Whether to linger on closed connections that have data present, and for how long (in seconds)

    *)

The socket options that can be consulted with getsockopt_optint and modified with setsockopt_optint. These options have a value of type int option, with None meaning ``disabled''.

type socket_float_option =
  1. | SO_RCVTIMEO
    (*

    Timeout for input operations

    *)
  2. | SO_SNDTIMEO
    (*

    Timeout for output operations

    *)

The socket options that can be consulted with getsockopt_float and modified with setsockopt_float. These options have a floating-point value representing a time in seconds. The value 0 means infinite timeout.

val getsockopt : file_descr -> socket_bool_option -> bool

Return the current status of a boolean-valued option in the given socket.

val setsockopt : file_descr -> socket_bool_option -> bool -> unit

Set or clear a boolean-valued option in the given socket.

val getsockopt_int : file_descr -> socket_int_option -> int

Same as getsockopt for an integer-valued socket option.

val setsockopt_int : file_descr -> socket_int_option -> int -> unit

Same as setsockopt for an integer-valued socket option.

val getsockopt_optint : file_descr -> socket_optint_option -> int option

Same as getsockopt for a socket option whose value is an int option.

val setsockopt_optint : file_descr -> socket_optint_option -> int option -> unit

Same as setsockopt for a socket option whose value is an int option.

val getsockopt_float : file_descr -> socket_float_option -> float

Same as getsockopt for a socket option whose value is a floating-point number.

val setsockopt_float : file_descr -> socket_float_option -> float -> unit

Same as setsockopt for a socket option whose value is a floating-point number.

val getsockopt_error : file_descr -> error option

Return the error condition associated with the given socket, and clear it.

High-level network connection functions

val open_connection : sockaddr -> in_channel * out_channel

Connect to a server at the given address. Return a pair of buffered channels connected to the server. Remember to call Stdlib.flush on the output channel at the right times to ensure correct synchronization.

The two channels returned by open_connection share a descriptor to a socket. Therefore, when the connection is over, you should call Stdlib.close_out on the output channel, which will also close the underlying socket. Do not call Stdlib.close_in on the input channel; it will be collected by the GC eventually.

val shutdown_connection : in_channel -> unit

``Shut down'' a connection established with open_connection; that is, transmit an end-of-file condition to the server reading on the other side of the connection. This does not close the socket and the channels used by the connection. See Unix.open_connection for how to close them once the connection is over.

val establish_server : (in_channel -> out_channel -> unit) -> sockaddr -> unit

Establish a server on the given address. The function given as first argument is called for each connection with two buffered channels connected to the client. A new process is created for each connection. The function establish_server never returns normally.

The two channels given to the function share a descriptor to a socket. The function does not need to close the channels, since this occurs automatically when the function returns. If the function prefers explicit closing, it should close the output channel using Stdlib.close_out and leave the input channel unclosed, for reasons explained in Unix.in_channel_of_descr.

Host and protocol databases

type host_entry = {
  1. h_name : string;
  2. h_aliases : string array;
  3. h_addrtype : socket_domain;
  4. h_addr_list : inet_addr array;
}

Structure of entries in the hosts database.

type protocol_entry = {
  1. p_name : string;
  2. p_aliases : string array;
  3. p_proto : int;
}

Structure of entries in the protocols database.

type service_entry = {
  1. s_name : string;
  2. s_aliases : string array;
  3. s_port : int;
  4. s_proto : string;
}

Structure of entries in the services database.

val gethostname : unit -> string

Return the name of the local host.

val gethostbyname : string -> host_entry

Find an entry in hosts with the given name.

val gethostbyaddr : inet_addr -> host_entry

Find an entry in hosts with the given address.

val getprotobyname : string -> protocol_entry

Find an entry in protocols with the given name.

val getprotobynumber : int -> protocol_entry

Find an entry in protocols with the given protocol number.

val getservbyname : string -> string -> service_entry

Find an entry in services with the given name.

val getservbyport : int -> string -> service_entry

Find an entry in services with the given service number.

type addr_info = {
  1. ai_family : socket_domain;
    (*

    Socket domain

    *)
  2. ai_socktype : socket_type;
    (*

    Socket type

    *)
  3. ai_protocol : int;
    (*

    Socket protocol number

    *)
  4. ai_addr : sockaddr;
    (*

    Address

    *)
  5. ai_canonname : string;
    (*

    Canonical host name

    *)
}

Address information returned by getaddrinfo.

type getaddrinfo_option =
  1. | AI_FAMILY of socket_domain
    (*

    Impose the given socket domain

    *)
  2. | AI_SOCKTYPE of socket_type
    (*

    Impose the given socket type

    *)
  3. | AI_PROTOCOL of int
    (*

    Impose the given protocol

    *)
  4. | AI_NUMERICHOST
    (*

    Do not call name resolver, expect numeric IP address

    *)
  5. | AI_CANONNAME
    (*

    Fill the ai_canonname field of the result

    *)
  6. | AI_PASSIVE
    (*

    Set address to ``any'' address for use with bind

    *)

Options to getaddrinfo.

val getaddrinfo : string -> string -> getaddrinfo_option list -> addr_info list

getaddrinfo host service opts returns a list of addr_info records describing socket parameters and addresses suitable for communicating with the given host and service. The empty list is returned if the host or service names are unknown, or the constraints expressed in opts cannot be satisfied.

host is either a host name or the string representation of an IP address. host can be given as the empty string; in this case, the ``any'' address or the ``loopback'' address are used, depending whether opts contains AI_PASSIVE. service is either a service name or the string representation of a port number. service can be given as the empty string; in this case, the port field of the returned addresses is set to 0. opts is a possibly empty list of options that allows the caller to force a particular socket domain (e.g. IPv6 only or IPv4 only) or a particular socket type (e.g. TCP only or UDP only).

type name_info = {
  1. ni_hostname : string;
    (*

    Name or IP address of host

    *)
  2. ni_service : string;
    (*

    Name of service or port number

    *)
}

Host and service information returned by getnameinfo.

type getnameinfo_option =
  1. | NI_NOFQDN
    (*

    Do not qualify local host names

    *)
  2. | NI_NUMERICHOST
    (*

    Always return host as IP address

    *)
  3. | NI_NAMEREQD
    (*

    Fail if host name cannot be determined

    *)
  4. | NI_NUMERICSERV
    (*

    Always return service as port number

    *)
  5. | NI_DGRAM
    (*

    Consider the service as UDP-based instead of the default TCP

    *)

Options to getnameinfo.

val getnameinfo : sockaddr -> getnameinfo_option list -> name_info

getnameinfo addr opts returns the host name and service name corresponding to the socket address addr. opts is a possibly empty list of options that governs how these names are obtained.

Terminal interface

The following functions implement the POSIX standard terminal interface. They provide control over asynchronous communication ports and pseudo-terminals. Refer to the termios man page for a complete description.

type terminal_io = {
  1. mutable c_ignbrk : bool;
    (*

    Ignore the break condition.

    *)
  2. mutable c_brkint : bool;
    (*

    Signal interrupt on break condition.

    *)
  3. mutable c_ignpar : bool;
    (*

    Ignore characters with parity errors.

    *)
  4. mutable c_parmrk : bool;
    (*

    Mark parity errors.

    *)
  5. mutable c_inpck : bool;
    (*

    Enable parity check on input.

    *)
  6. mutable c_istrip : bool;
    (*

    Strip 8th bit on input characters.

    *)
  7. mutable c_inlcr : bool;
    (*

    Map NL to CR on input.

    *)
  8. mutable c_igncr : bool;
    (*

    Ignore CR on input.

    *)
  9. mutable c_icrnl : bool;
    (*

    Map CR to NL on input.

    *)
  10. mutable c_ixon : bool;
    (*

    Recognize XON/XOFF characters on input.

    *)
  11. mutable c_ixoff : bool;
    (*

    Emit XON/XOFF chars to control input flow.

    *)
  12. mutable c_opost : bool;
    (*

    Enable output processing.

    *)
  13. mutable c_obaud : int;
    (*

    Output baud rate (0 means close connection).

    *)
  14. mutable c_ibaud : int;
    (*

    Input baud rate.

    *)
  15. mutable c_csize : int;
    (*

    Number of bits per character (5-8).

    *)
  16. mutable c_cstopb : int;
    (*

    Number of stop bits (1-2).

    *)
  17. mutable c_cread : bool;
    (*

    Reception is enabled.

    *)
  18. mutable c_parenb : bool;
    (*

    Enable parity generation and detection.

    *)
  19. mutable c_parodd : bool;
    (*

    Specify odd parity instead of even.

    *)
  20. mutable c_hupcl : bool;
    (*

    Hang up on last close.

    *)
  21. mutable c_clocal : bool;
    (*

    Ignore modem status lines.

    *)
  22. mutable c_isig : bool;
    (*

    Generate signal on INTR, QUIT, SUSP.

    *)
  23. mutable c_icanon : bool;
    (*

    Enable canonical processing (line buffering and editing)

    *)
  24. mutable c_noflsh : bool;
    (*

    Disable flush after INTR, QUIT, SUSP.

    *)
  25. mutable c_echo : bool;
    (*

    Echo input characters.

    *)
  26. mutable c_echoe : bool;
    (*

    Echo ERASE (to erase previous character).

    *)
  27. mutable c_echok : bool;
    (*

    Echo KILL (to erase the current line).

    *)
  28. mutable c_echonl : bool;
    (*

    Echo NL even if c_echo is not set.

    *)
  29. mutable c_vintr : char;
    (*

    Interrupt character (usually ctrl-C).

    *)
  30. mutable c_vquit : char;
    (*

    Quit character (usually ctrl-\).

    *)
  31. mutable c_verase : char;
    (*

    Erase character (usually DEL or ctrl-H).

    *)
  32. mutable c_vkill : char;
    (*

    Kill line character (usually ctrl-U).

    *)
  33. mutable c_veof : char;
    (*

    End-of-file character (usually ctrl-D).

    *)
  34. mutable c_veol : char;
    (*

    Alternate end-of-line char. (usually none).

    *)
  35. mutable c_vmin : int;
    (*

    Minimum number of characters to read before the read request is satisfied.

    *)
  36. mutable c_vtime : int;
    (*

    Maximum read wait (in 0.1s units).

    *)
  37. mutable c_vstart : char;
    (*

    Start character (usually ctrl-Q).

    *)
  38. mutable c_vstop : char;
    (*

    Stop character (usually ctrl-S).

    *)
}
val tcgetattr : file_descr -> terminal_io

Return the status of the terminal referred to by the given file descriptor.

type setattr_when =
  1. | TCSANOW
  2. | TCSADRAIN
  3. | TCSAFLUSH
val tcsetattr : file_descr -> setattr_when -> terminal_io -> unit

Set the status of the terminal referred to by the given file descriptor. The second argument indicates when the status change takes place: immediately (TCSANOW), when all pending output has been transmitted (TCSADRAIN), or after flushing all input that has been received but not read (TCSAFLUSH). TCSADRAIN is recommended when changing the output parameters; TCSAFLUSH, when changing the input parameters.

val tcsendbreak : file_descr -> int -> unit

Send a break condition on the given file descriptor. The second argument is the duration of the break, in 0.1s units; 0 means standard duration (0.25s).

val tcdrain : file_descr -> unit

Waits until all output written on the given file descriptor has been transmitted.

type flush_queue =
  1. | TCIFLUSH
  2. | TCOFLUSH
  3. | TCIOFLUSH
val tcflush : file_descr -> flush_queue -> unit

Discard data written on the given file descriptor but not yet transmitted, or data received but not yet read, depending on the second argument: TCIFLUSH flushes data received but not read, TCOFLUSH flushes data written but not transmitted, and TCIOFLUSH flushes both.

type flow_action =
  1. | TCOOFF
  2. | TCOON
  3. | TCIOFF
  4. | TCION
val tcflow : file_descr -> flow_action -> unit

Suspend or restart reception or transmission of data on the given file descriptor, depending on the second argument: TCOOFF suspends output, TCOON restarts output, TCIOFF transmits a STOP character to suspend input, and TCION transmits a START character to restart input.

val setsid : unit -> int

Put the calling process in a new session and detach it from its controlling terminal.

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