GETDIRENTRIES(2)

NAME
getdirentries - gets directory entries in a filesystem independent format

SYNOPSIS

int getdirentries(fd, buf, nbytes, basep)
int fd;
char *buf;
int nbytes;
long *basep;

DESCRIPTION

This system call is now obsolete. It is superseded by the getdents(2) system call, which returns directory entries in a new format specified in <sys/dirent.h>. The file, <sys/dir.h>, has also been modified to use the new directory entry format. Programs which currently call getdirentries() should be modified to use the new system call and the new include file <sys/dirent.h> or, preferably, to use the directory(3) library routines. The getdirentries() system call is retained in the current release only for purposes of backwards binary compatibility and will be removed in a future major release.

getdirentries() attempts to put directory entries from the directory referenced by the file descriptor fd into the buffer pointed to by buf, in a filesystem independent format. Up to nbytes bytes of data will be transferred. nbytes must be greater than or equal to the block size associated with the file, see stat(2). Sizes less than this may cause errors on certain filesystems.

The data in the buffer is a series of structures each containing the following entries:

    unsigned long	d_fileno;
    unsigned short	d_reclen;
    unsigned short	d_namlen;
    char    	d_name[MAXNAMELEN + 1];	/* see below */

The d_fileno entry is a number which is unique for each distinct file in the filesystem. Files that are linked by hard links (see link(2)) have the same d_fileno. The d_reclen entry is the length, in bytes, of the directory record. The d_name entry contains a null terminated file name. The d_namlen entry specifies the length of the file name. Thus the actual size of d_name may vary from 2 to MAXNAMELEN+1.

The structures are not necessarily tightly packed. The d_reclen entry may be used as an offset from the beginning of a direct structure to the next structure, if any.

Upon return, the actual number of bytes transferred is returned. The current position pointer associated with fd is set to point to the next block of entries. The pointer is not necessarily incremented by the number of bytes returned by getdirentries. If the value returned is zero, the end of the directory has been reached. The current position pointer may be set and retrieved by lseek(2). getdirentries() writes the position of the block read into the location pointed to by basep. It is not safe to set the current position pointer to any value other than a value previously returned by lseek(2) or a value previously returned in the location pointed to by basep or zero.

RETURN VALUE
If successful, the number of bytes actually transferred is returned. Otherwise, a -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
getdirentries() will fail if one or more of the following are true:

EBADF
    fd is not a valid file descriptor open for reading.

EFAULT
    Either buf or basep point outside the allocated address space.

EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.

EINTR
    A read from a slow device was interrupted before any data arrived by the delivery of a signal.

SEE ALSO
getdents(2), link(2), lseek(2), open(2V), stat(2), directory(3)