Unix ___domain socket: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 07:00, 31 January 2012

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A '''Unix ___domain socket''' or '''IPC socket''' ([[inter-process communication]] socket) is a data communications endpoint for exchanging data between processes executing within the same host operating system. While similar in functionality to

[[named pipe]]s, Unix ___domain sockets may be created as [[byte stream]]s or as [[datagram]] sequences, while pipes are byte streams only. Processes using Unix ___domain sockets do not need to share a common ancestry. The application programmer's application interface (API) for Unix ___domain sockets is similar to that of an [[Internet socket]], but does not use an underlying network protocol for communication. The Unix ___domain socket facility is a standard component of [[POSIX]] [[operating system]]s.

Unix ___domain sockets use the file system as address [[Namespace (computer science)|name space]]. They are referenced by processes as [[inodes]] in the file system. This allows two processes to open the same socket in order to communicate. However, communication occurs entirely within the operating system kernel.