SP_MULTICAST(3) User Manuals SP_MULTICAST(3)NAME
SP_multicast, SP_scat_multicast, SP_multigroup_multicast, SP_multi‐
group_scat_multicast - Multicast message to groups
SYNOPSIS
#include <sp.h>
int SP_multicast( mailbox mbox, service service_type, const char
*group, int16 mess_type, int mess_len, const char *mess);
int SP_scat_multicast( mailbox mbox, service service_type, const char
*group, int16 mess_type, const scatter scat_mess);
int SP_multigroup_multicast( mailbox mbox, service service_type, int
num_groups, const char groups[][MAX_GROUP_NAME], int16 mess_type, int
mess_len, const char *mess);
int SP_multigroup_scat_multicast( mailbox mbox, service service_type,
int num_groups, const char groups[][MAX_GROUP_NAME], int16 mess_type,
const scatter scat_mess);
DESCRIPTIONSP_multicast and its variants all can multicast send a message to one
or more groups. The message is sent on a particular connection and is
marked as having come from the connection who sent it. The ser‐
vice_type is a type field that should be set to the service this mes‐
sage requires. The valid flags for messages are:
UNRELIABLE_MESS
RELIABLE_MESS
FIFO_MESS
CAUSAL_MESS
AGREED_MESS
SAFE_MESS
This type can be bit ORed with other flags like SELF_DISCARD if
desired. Currently SELF_DISCARD is the only additional flag.
If the SP_multicast or SP_scat_multicast versions are being used then
only one group can be sent to. So the group string should include the
name of the group to send to. If a multigroup varient is being used
then the groups are specified by the num_groups integer and the array
of group names called groups representing all the groups the message
should be sent to. Each group has a string name of no more then
MAX_GROUP_NAME chars. The array should have at least as many group
names as the 'num_groups' parameter indicates. The Spread system will
only send the message once but will deliver it to all connections which
have joined at least one of the groups listed.
The mess_type This is a SHORT int (16 bits) which can be used by the
application arbitrarily. The intent is that it could be used to NAME
different kinds of data messages so they can be differentiated without
looking into the body of the message. This value will be endian cor‐
rected before receiving.
If the non-scatter varients are being used then a single buffer is
passed to the multicast call specifying the full message to be sent.
The mess_len field gives the length in bytes of the message. While the
mess field is a pointer to the buffer containing the message. For a
scatter call both of these are replaced with one pointer, scat_mess, to
a scatter structure, which is just like an iovec. This allows messages
made up of several parts to be sent without an extra copy on systems
which support scatter-gather.
RETURN VALUES
Returns the number of bytes sent on success or one of the following
errors ( < 0 ):
ILLEGAL_SESSION
The mbox given to multicast on was illegal.
ILLEGAL_MESSAGE
The message had an illegal structure, like a scatter not filled
out correctly.
CONNECTION_CLOSED
During communication to send the message errors occured and the
send could not be completed.
BUGS
None.
AUTHOR
Yair Amir <yairamir@cnds.jhu.edu>
Jonathan Stanton <jonathan@cnds.jhu.edu>
SEE ALSOlibspread(3)SPREAD JULY 1998 SP_MULTICAST(3)
