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13 .TH GETLOGIN 3C "Mar 15, 2014"
15 getlogin, getlogin_r \- get login name
21 \fBchar *\fR\fBgetlogin\fR(\fBvoid\fR);
26 \fBchar *\fR\fBgetlogin_r\fR(\fBchar *\fR\fIname\fR, \fBint\fR \fInamelen\fR);
29 .SS "Standard conforming"
32 cc [ \fIflag \fR... ] \fIfile\fR... \fB-D_POSIX_PTHREAD_SEMANTICS\fR [ \fIlibrary \fR... ]
34 \fBint\fR \fBgetlogin_r\fR(\fBchar *\fR\fIname\fR, \fBsize_t\fR \fInamesize\fR);
40 The \fBgetlogin()\fR function returns a pointer to the login name as found in
41 \fB/var/adm/utmpx\fR. It can be used in conjunction with \fBgetpwnam\fR(3C) to
42 locate the correct password file entry when the same user \fBID\fR is shared by
46 The login name plus the terminating null byte can be up to 33 characters
48 Newly-compiled programs should use the \fBLOGIN_NAME_MAX\fR symbol,
49 defined in <\fBlimits.h\fR>, to size the buffer.
50 Older programs that call \fBgetlogin()\fR expect only the legacy
52 These automatically link to a version of the \fBgetlogin()\fR functions that
53 truncates longer login names.
54 It's also possible to compile new programs that link to truncating versions
55 of these functions by defining \fB__USE_LEGACY_LOGNAME__\fR in the
59 Some older programs will correctly handle long login names returned
60 by the \fBgetlogin()\fR function.
61 For this case, the user compatibility library
62 \fB/usr/lib/getloginx.so.1\fR redirects to a version of the \fBgetlogin()\fR
63 function that returns the long name.
64 This library should be added to such an application
65 at runtime using \fBLD_PRELOAD\fR.
68 If \fBgetlogin()\fR is called within a process that is not attached to a
69 terminal, it returns a null pointer. The correct procedure for determining the
70 login name is to call \fBcuserid\fR(3C), or to call \fBgetlogin()\fR and if it
71 fails to call \fBgetpwuid\fR(3C).
75 The \fBgetlogin_r()\fR function has the same functionality as \fBgetlogin()\fR
76 except that the caller must supply a buffer \fIname\fR with length \fInamelen\fR
77 to store the result. The \fIname\fR buffer should be at least
78 \fBLOGIN_NAME_MAX\fR bytes in size (defined in <\fBlimits.h\fR>). The POSIX
79 version (see \fBstandards\fR(5)) of \fBgetlogin_r()\fR takes a \fInamesize\fR
80 parameter of type \fBsize_t\fR. If the size of the supplied buffer is less than
81 the size of \fBLOGIN_NAME_MAX\fR and the name, including the null
82 terminator, does not fit inside the buffer, than an error will be generated.
83 Otherwise, the buffer \fIname\fR will be updated with the login name.
88 Upon successful completion, \fBgetlogin()\fR returns a pointer to the login
89 name or a null pointer if the user's login name cannot be found. Otherwise it
90 returns a null pointer and sets \fBerrno\fR to indicate the error.
93 The standard-conforming \fBgetlogin_r()\fR returns \fB0\fR if successful, or
94 the error number upon failure.
98 The \fBgetlogin_r()\fR function will fail if:
105 The size of the buffer is smaller than the result to be returned.
114 And entry for the current user was not found in the \fB/var/adm/utmpx\fR file.
119 The \fBgetlogin()\fR and \fBgetlogin_r()\fR functions may fail if:
126 There are {\fBOPEN_MAX\fR} file descriptors currently open in the calling
136 The maximum allowable number of files is currently open in the system.
145 The calling process has no controlling terminal.
150 The \fBgetlogin_r()\fR function may fail if:
157 The size of the buffer is smaller than the result to be returned.
163 The return value of \fBgetlogin()\fR points to thread-specific data whose
164 content is overwritten on each call by the same thread.
167 Three names associated with the current process can be determined:
168 \fBgetpwuid(\fR\fBgeteuid()\fR\fB)\fR returns the name associated with the
169 effective user ID of the process; \fBgetlogin()\fR returns the name associated
170 with the current login activity; and \fBgetpwuid(\fR\fBgetuid()\fR\fB)\fR
171 returns the name associated with the real user ID of the process.
176 \fB\fB/var/adm/utmpx\fR\fR
179 user access and administration information
185 \fB\fB/usr/lib/getloginx.so.1\fR\fR
188 A compatibility library that returns long login names to older applications.
194 \fB\fB/usr/lib/64/getloginx.so.1\fR\fR
197 A 64-bit compatibility library to return long login names.
203 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
211 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
213 Interface Stability Standard
221 \fBgeteuid\fR(2), \fBgetuid\fR(2), \fBcuserid\fR(3C), \fBgetgrnam\fR(3C),
222 \fBgetpwnam\fR(3C), \fBgetpwuid\fR(3C), \fButmpx\fR(4), \fBattributes\fR(5),
227 When compiling multithreaded programs, see \fBIntro\fR(3).
230 The \fBgetlogin()\fR function is safe to use in multithreaded applications, but
231 is discouraged. The \fBgetlogin_r()\fR function should be used instead.
234 Solaris 2.4 and earlier releases provided a \fBgetlogin_r()\fR as specified in
235 POSIX.1c Draft 6. The final POSIX.1c standard changed the interface as
236 described above. Support for the Draft 6 interface is provided for
237 compatibility only and may not be supported in future releases. New
238 applications and libraries should use the standard-conforming interface.