getlogin#

Synopsis#

#include <unistd.h>

char *getlogin(void);

int getlogin_r(char *name, size_t namesize);

Status#

Declared, not implemented

Conformance#

IEEE Std 1003.1-2017

Description#

The getlogin() function shall return a pointer to a string containing the username associated by the login activity with the controlling terminal of the current process. If getlogin() returns a non-null pointer, then that pointer points to the name that the user logged in under, even if there are several login names with the same user ID.

The getlogin() function need not be thread-safe.

The getlogin_r() function shall put the name associated by the login activity with the controlling terminal of the current process in the character array pointed to by name. The array is namesize characters long and should have space for the_name_ and the terminating null character. The maximum size of the login name is LOGIN_NAME_MAX.

If getlogin_r() is successful, name points to the name the user used at login, even if there are several login names with the same user ID.

The getlogin() and getlogin_r() functions may make use of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 to find the controlling terminal of the current process, examining each in turn until the terminal is found. If in this case none of these three file descriptors is open to the controlling terminal, these functions may fail. The method used to find the terminal associated with a file descriptor may depend on the file descriptor being open to the actual terminal device, not /dev/tty.

Return value#

Upon successful completion, getlogin() shall return a pointer to the login name or a null pointer if the user’s login name cannot be found. Otherwise, it shall return a null pointer and set errno to indicate the error.

The application shall not modify the string returned. The returned pointer might be invalidated, or the string content might be overwritten by a subsequent call to getlogin(). The returned pointer and the string content might also be invalidated if the calling thread is terminated.

If successful, the getlogin_r() function shall return zero; otherwise, an error number shall be returned to indicate the error.

Errors#

These functions may fail if:

  • EMFILE - All file descriptors available to the process are currently open.

  • ENFILE - The maximum allowable number of files is currently open in the system.

  • ENOTTY - None of the file descriptors 0, 1, or 2 is open to the controlling terminal of the current process.

  • ENXIO - The calling process has no controlling terminal.

The getlogin_r() function may fail if:

  • ERANGE - The value of namesize is smaller than the length of the string to be returned including the terminating null character.

Tests#

Untested

Known bugs#

None

See Also#

  1. Standard library functions

  2. Table of Contents