Unix ___domain socket: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 22:59, 4 July 2013

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[[named pipe]]s, Unix ___domain sockets may be created as connection‑mode (SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_SEQPACKET) or as connectionless (SOCK_DGRAM), while pipes are streams only. Processes using Unix ___domain sockets do not need to share a common ancestry. The [[API]] for Unix ___domain sockets is similar to that of an [[Internet socket]], but it 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 their address [[Namespace (computer science)|name space]]. They are referenced by processes as [[inodesinode]]s 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.

In addition to sending data, processes may send [[file descriptor]]s across a Unix ___domain socket connection using the <code>sendmsg()</code> and <code>recvmsg()</code> system calls.