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From: "Günther Noack" <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
To: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
Cc: linux-man@vger.kernel.org, "Günther Noack" <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH 14/24] man/man7/unix.7: Several items of the same type may be sent in one message
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:31:29 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261016173139.13076-15-gnoack3000@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20261016173139.13076-1-gnoack3000@gmail.com>

__scm_send() in linux.git net/core/scm.c walks all control messages.
Each SCM_RIGHTS item is passed to scm_fp_copy(), which appends the file
descriptors to the existing scm_fp_list, and fails with EINVAL only if
the combined count exceeds SCM_MAX_FD.  On the receiving side,
scm_detach_fds() emits a single SCM_RIGHTS control message.  Each
SCM_CREDENTIALS item is validated, and overwrites the credentials of the
previous one.

Keep the recommendation as portability advice, and describe the Linux
behavior.

Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Günther Noack <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
---

Notes:
    The factual analysis in the commit message is correct.
    
    I kept the LLM phrasing; it did not seem overly wordy to me and the
    style is in line with the paragraph after it, which also documents
    Linux-only vs. portable APIs that way.

 man/man7/unix.7 | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/man/man7/unix.7 b/man/man7/unix.7
index 4d431ec6deaf..480a565f7d04 100644
--- a/man/man7/unix.7
+++ b/man/man7/unix.7
@@ -528,7 +528,24 @@ option must be enabled on the socket (see above).
 .P
 When sending ancillary data with
 .BR sendmsg (2),
-only one item of each of the above types may be included in the sent message.
+portable applications should include
+only one item of each of the above types in the sent message.
+On Linux,
+if several
+.B SCM_RIGHTS
+items are included,
+their file descriptors are combined into a single list,
+to which the
+.B SCM_MAX_FD
+limit applies as a whole,
+and the receiver gets them in a single
+.B SCM_RIGHTS
+item;
+if several
+.B SCM_CREDENTIALS
+items are included,
+each of them is checked,
+and the last one takes effect.
 .P
 At least one byte of real data should be sent when sending ancillary data.
 On Linux, this is required to successfully send ancillary data over
-- 
2.56.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-10-16 17:33 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 25+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-10-16 17:31 [PATCH 00/24] Documentation fixes in unix(7) Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 01/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: EINVAL: The address field is sun_family, not sun_type Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 02/24] man/man7/unix.7: Socket options: SOL_SOCKET is a level, not a family Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 03/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PASSCRED: ffix Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 04/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: Fix member order of struct unix_diag_vfs Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 05/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: udiag_wqueue: This is memory in use, not memory available Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 06/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: EPROTONOSUPPORT: Protocol 0 is also accepted Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 07/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: ETOOMANYREFS: Fix the conditions Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 08/24] man/man7/socket.7: SO_PEEK_OFF: This option is no longer specific to unix(7) Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 09/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PEERCRED: Also works for SOCK_SEQPACKET Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 10/24] man/man7/unix.7: SIOCINQ: Document behavior " Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 11/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: udiag_states: Document TCP_CLOSE Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 12/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: UNIX_DIAG_NAME: The payload is not always a pathname Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 13/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: Document UDIAG_SHOW_UID Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` Günther Noack [this message]
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 15/24] man/man2/bind.2: ERRORS: EACCES: Write permission on the directory is required Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 16/24] man/man7/unix.7: Autobind: Fix when it happens, and mention SO_PASSPIDFD Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 17/24] man/man7/unix.7: SOCK_RAW is accepted as an alias for SOCK_DGRAM Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 18/24] man/man7/unix.7: SCM_SECURITY: This is not specific to SELinux Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 19/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PASSSEC: wfix Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 20/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: Document EACCES, EAGAIN, EMSGSIZE, ENOSPC, and EPERM Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 21/24] man/man7/unix.7: Abstract sockets are scoped to a network namespace Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 22/24] man/man7/unix.7: Remove mentions of unsupported out-of-band messaging Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 23/24] man/man7/unix.7: Document SO_PASSPIDFD, SO_PEERPIDFD, and SCM_PIDFD Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 24/24] man/man7/unix.7: Document SO_PASSRIGHTS Günther Noack

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