ADDRESS_FAMILIES(7)



ADDRESS_FAMILIES(7)        Linux Programmer's Manual       ADDRESS_FAMILIES(7)

NAME
       address_families - socket address families (domains)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/types.h>          /* See NOTES */
       #include <sys/socket.h>

       int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);

DESCRIPTION
       The  domain argument of the socket(2) specifies a communication domain;
       this selects the protocol family which will be used for  communication.
       These  families  are  defined in <sys/socket.h>.  The formats currently
       understood by the Linux kernel include:

       AF_UNIX, AF_LOCAL
              Local communication For further information, see unix(7).

       AF_INET
              IPv4 Internet protocols.  For further information, see ip(7).

       AF_AX25
              Amateur radio AX.25  protocol.   For  further  information,  see
              ax25(4).

       AF_IPX IPX - Novell protocols.

       AF_APPLETALK
              AppleTalk For further information, see ddp(7).

       AF_NETROM
              AX.25  packet  layer  protocol.   For  further  information, see
              netrom(4),   The    Packet    Radio    Protocols    and    Linux
              <https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/AX25-HOWTO/x61.html>  and the AX.25,
              NET/ROM, and ROSE network  programming  chapters  of  the  Linux
              Amateur              Radio              AX.25              HOWTO
              <https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/AX25-HOWTO/x2107.html>.

       AF_BRIDGE
              Can't be used for creating sockets; mostly used for bridge links
              in rtnetlink(7) protocol commands.

       AF_ATMPVC
              Access  to  raw ATM Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs).  For fur-
              ther   information,    see    the    ATM    on    Linux    HOWTO
              <https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/text/ATM-Linux-HOWTO>.

       AF_X25 ITU-T  X.25  /  ISO-8208 protocol.  For further information, see
              x25(7).

       AF_INET6
              IPv6 Internet protocols.  For further information, see ipv6(7).

       AF_ROSE
              RATS (Radio Amateur Telecommunications Society) Open Systems en-
              vironment  (ROSE)  AX.25 packet layer protocol.  For further in-
              formation, see the resources listed for AF_NETROM.

       AF_DECnet
              DECet protocol sockets.  See Documentation/networking/decnet.txt
              in the Linux kernel source tree for details.

       AF_NETBEUI
              Reserved for "802.2LLC project"; never used.

       AF_SECURITY
              This  was  a  short-lived  (between Linux 2.1.30 and 2.1.99pre2)
              protocol family for firewall upcalls.

       AF_KEY Key management protocol, originally  developed  for  usage  with
              IPsec  (since  Linux 2.1.38).  This has no relation to keyctl(2)
              and the in-kernel key storage facility.  See RFC 2367 PF_KEY Key
              Management  API, Version 2 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2367>
              for details.

       AF_NETLINK
              Kernel  user  interface  device  For  further  information,  see
              netlink(7).

       AF_PACKET
              Low-level   packet  interface.   For  further  information,  see
              packet(7).

       AF_ECONET
              Acorn Econet protocol (removed in Linux 3.5).   See  the  Econet
              documentation <http://www.8bs.com/othrdnld/manuals/econet.shtml>
              for details.

       AF_ATMSVC
              Access to ATM Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs) See  the  ATM  on
              Linux   HOWTO  <https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/text/ATM-Linux-HOWTO>
              for details.

       AF_RDS Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol (since  Linux  2.6.30).
              RDS  over RDMA has no relation to AF_SMC or AF_XDP.  For further
              information see rds(7), rds-rdma(7), and  Documentation/network-
              ing/rds.txt in the Linux kernel source tree.

       AF_IRDA
              Socket  interface over IrDA (moved to staging in Linux 4.14, re-
              moved in Linux 4.17).  For further information see irda(7).

       AF_PPPOX
              Generic PPP transport layer, for setting up L2 tunnels (L2TP and
              PPPoE).  See Documentation/networking/l2tp.txt in the Linux ker-
              nel source tree for details.

       AF_WANPIPE
              Legacy protocol for wide area network  (WAN)  connectivity  that
              was  used  by  Sangoma  WAN cards (called "WANPIPE"); removed in
              Linux 2.6.21.

       AF_LLC Logical link control (IEEE 802.2 LLC) protocol,  upper  part  of
              data  link  layer  of  ISO/OSI  networking protocol stack (since
              Linux 2.4); has no relation to AF_PACKET.  See  chapter  13.5.3.
              Logical  Link  Control  in  Understanding Linux Kernel Internals
              (O'Reilly Media, 2006) and IEEE Standards for  Local  Area  Net-
              works:  Logical  Link  Control (The Institute of Electronics and
              Electronics Engineers, Inc., New York, New York, 1985)  for  de-
              tails.        See      also      some      historical      notes
              <https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/networking/llc> regarding  its
              development.

       AF_IB  InfiniBand native addressing (since Linux 3.11).

       AF_MPLS
              Multiprotocol Label Switching (since Linux 4.1); mostly used for
              configuring MPLS routing via netlink(7), as  it  doesn't  expose
              ability to create sockets to user space.

       AF_CAN Controller  Area  Network  automotive  bus protocol (since Linux
              2.6.25).  See Documentation/networking/can.rst in the Linux ker-
              nel source tree for details.

       AF_TIPC
              TIPC,  "cluster  domain  sockets" protocol (since Linux 2.6.16).
              See TIPC  Programmer's  Guide  <http://tipc.io/programming.html>
              and  the protocol description <http://tipc.io/protocol.html> for
              details.

       AF_BLUETOOTH
              Bluetooth low-level socket protocol  (since  Linux  3.11).   See
              Bluetooth   Management   API   overview  <https://git.kernel.org
              /pub/scm/bluetooth/bluez.git/tree/doc/mgmt-api.txt>    and    An
              Introduction   to   Bluetooth   Programming   by   Albert  Huang
              <https://people.csail.mit.edu/albert/bluez-intro/> for details.

       AF_IUCV
              IUCV (inter-user communication vehicle) z/VM protocol for hyper-
              visor-guest interaction (since Linux 2.6.21); has no relation to
              AF_VSOCK   and/or   AF_SMC   See    IUCV    protocol    overview
              <https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSB27U_6.4.0
              /com.ibm.zvm.v640.hcpb4/iucv.htm> for details.
       AF_RXRPC
              Rx, Andrew File System remote  procedure  call  protocol  (since
              Linux  2.6.22).   See  Documentation/networking/rxrpc.txt in the
              Linux kernel source tree for details.

       AF_ISDN
              New  "modular  ISDN"  driver  interface  protocol  (since  Linux
              2.6.27).           See          the          mISDN          wiki
              <http://www.misdn.eu/wiki/Main_Page/> for details.

       AF_PHONET
              Nokia cellular modem IPC/RPC  interface  (since  Linux  2.6.31).
              See  Documentation/networking/phonet.txt  in  the  Linux  kernel
              source tree for details.

       AF_IEEE802154
              IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN (wireless personal area network)  raw  packet
              protocol   (since  Linux  2.6.31).   See  Documentation/network-
              ing/ieee802154.txt in the Linux kernel source tree for details.

       AF_CAIF
              Ericsson's Communication CPU to Application CPU interface (CAIF)
              protocol   (since  Linux  2.6.36).   See  Documentation/network-
              ing/caif/Linux-CAIF.txt in the Linux kernel source tree for  de-
              tails.

       AF_ALG Interface  to kernel crypto API (since Linux 2.6.38).  See Docu-
              mentation/crypto/userspace-if.rst in  the  Linux  kernel  source
              tree for details.

       AF_VSOCK
              VMWare VSockets protocol for hypervisor-guest interaction (since
              Linux 3.9); has no relation to AF_IUCV and AF_SMC.  For  further
              information, see vsock(7).

       AF_KCM KCM (kernel connection multiplexor) interface (since Linux 4.6).
              See Documentation/networking/kcm.txt in the Linux kernel  source
              tree for details.

       AF_QIPCRTR
              Qualcomm IPC router interface protocol (since Linux 4.7).

       AF_SMC SMC-R  (shared  memory communications over RDMA) protocol (since
              Linux 4.11), and SMC-D  (shared  memory  communications,  direct
              memory  access)  protocol  for intra-node z/VM quest interaction
              (since Linux 4.19);  has  no  relation  to  AF_RDS,  AF_IUCV  or
              AF_VSOCK.   See RFC 7609 IBM's Shared Memory Communications over
              RDMA (SMC-R) Protocol <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7609>  for
              details   regarding  SMC-R.   See  SMC-D  Reference  Information
              <https://www-01.ibm.com/software/network/commserver/SMC-
              D/index.html> for details regarding SMC-D.

       AF_XDP XDP (express data path) interface (since Linux 4.18).  See Docu-
              mentation/networking/af_xdp.rst in the Linux kernel source  tree
              for details.

SEE ALSO
       socket(2), socket(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 5.07 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
       latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                             2018-10-16               ADDRESS_FAMILIES(7)

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