NAME
liboping - Library to send ICMPv4/ICMPv6 echo packets to multiple hosts
DESCRIPTION
This is an overview of liboping, a C library to send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST
packets to remote hosts and measure the time it takes for replies to be
received. This method, often simply called "ping", is a common way to
measure network latency and/or host reachability.
The goals of this library are to provide the above functionality in a
platform and protocol independent manner. The interface is simple,
object oriented and (hopefully) ANSI-C compliant.
GENERAL USAGE
There are two main types that are used by applications. Both are
"opaque types", meaning they are structures that are not completely
defined in the header file, so you cannot access the structures’
members. You don’t need to, don’t do it. These structures are subject
to change without notice.
"pingobj_t"
A ping-object. You can set specific options for this object, add
and remove hosts to/from it and send ICMP packets to all associated
hosts. This is often called a "handle".
"pingobj_iter_t"
An iterator over the hosts associated with a "pingobj_t" object.
This iterator can be used to query more information about a host,
for example the hostname, the measured latency or the current ICMP
sequence.
Upon startup you usually create one or more "pingobj_t" objects and add
hosts to it using the "ping_host_add" method (see below). You
periodically send "echo requests" using the "ping_send" method, iterate
over all hosts using "ping_iterator_get" and "ping_iterator_next". For
each host you call "ping_iterator_get_info" to read the current latency
and do something with it.
If an error occurs you can use "ping_get_error" so get information on
what failed.
LINKING WITH LIBOPING
Depending on you platform you don’t need any extra libraries (e.g.
GNU/Linux) or "libsocket" (using "-lsocket") if the "socket" function
is not in the C-library. The latter is the case for the Solaris
operating system.
SYMBOL NAMES
All "official" function or method names are prefixed with "ping_".
Don’t use any other functions or methods. Although no such functions
should exist.
THREAD SAFETY
liboping has been designed to be as thread safe a possible. However,
this has not been tested and may need some additional work. Use at your
own risk and please report back any problems or success messages. Thank
you :)
SEE ALSO
ping_construct(3), ping_setopt(3), ping_host_add(3), ping_send(3),
ping_get_error(3), ping_iterator_get(3), ping_iterator_get_info(3),
ping_iterator_get_context(3)
LICENSE
liboping is licensed under the GPLv2. No other version of the license
is applicable.
AUTHOR
liboping is written by Florian octo Forster <octo at verplant.org>.
Its homepage can be found at <http://verplant.org/liboping/>.
(c) 2005-2009 by Florian octo Forster.