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## Name

sd_listen_fds, SD_LISTEN_FDS_START — Check for file descriptors passed by the system manager

## Synopsis

    #include <systemd/sd-daemon.h>

    #define SD_LISTEN_FDS_START 3

`int sd_listen_fds(` | int unset_environment`)`;

## Description

`sd_listen_fds()` shall be called by a daemon to check for file descriptors passed by the init system as part of the socket-based activation logic.

If the `unset_environment` parameter is non-zero, `sd_listen_fds()` will unset the `$LISTEN_FDS`/`$LISTEN_PID` environment variables before returning (regardless whether the function call itself succeeded or not). Further calls to `sd_listen_fds()` will then fail, but the variables are no longer inherited by child processes.

If a daemon receives more than one file descriptor, they will be passed in the same order as configured in the systemd socket definition file. Nonetheless, it is recommended to verify the correct socket types before using them. To simplify this checking, the functions sd_is_fifo(3), sd_is_socket(3), sd_is_socket_inet(3), sd_is_socket_unix(3) are provided. In order to maximize flexibility, it is recommended to make these checks as loose as possible without allowing incorrect setups. i.e. often, the actual port number a socket is bound to matters little for the service to work, hence it should not be verified. On the other hand, whether a socket is a datagram or stream socket matters a lot for the most common program logics and should be checked.

This function call will set the FD_CLOEXEC flag for all passed file descriptors to avoid further inheritance to children of the calling process.

## Return Value

On failure, this call returns a negative errno-style error code. If `$LISTEN_FDS`/`$LISTEN_PID` was not set or was not correctly set for this daemon and hence no file descriptors were received, 0 is returned. Otherwise, the number of file descriptors passed is returned. The application may find them starting with file descriptor SD_LISTEN_FDS_START, i.e. file descriptor 3.

## Notes

This function is provided by the reference implementation of APIs for new-style daemons and distributed with the systemd package. The algorithm it implements is simple, and can easily be reimplemented in daemons if it is important to support this interface without using the reference implementation.

Internally, this function checks whether the `$LISTEN_PID` environment variable equals the daemon PID. If not, it returns immediately. Otherwise, it parses the number passed in the `$LISTEN_FDS` environment variable, then sets the FD_CLOEXEC flag for the parsed number of file descriptors starting from SD_LISTEN_FDS_START. Finally, it returns the parsed number.

For details about the algorithm check the liberally licensed reference implementation sources: http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/plain/src/libsystemd-daemon/sd-daemon.c and http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/plain/src/systemd/sd-daemon.h

`sd_listen_fds()` is implemented in the reference implementation's `sd-daemon.c` and `sd-daemon.h` files. These interfaces are available as shared library, which can be compiled and linked to with the `libsystemd-daemon` pkg-config(1) file. Alternatively, applications consuming these APIs may copy the implementation into their source tree. For more details about the reference implementation see sd-daemon(3).

If the reference implementation is used as drop-in files and -DDISABLE_SYSTEMD is set during compilation, this function will always return 0 and otherwise become a NOP.

## Environment

`$LISTEN_PID`, `$LISTEN_FDS`

  Set by the init system for supervised processes that use socket-based activation. This environment variable specifies the data `sd_listen_fds()` parses. See above for details.

## See Also

systemd(1), sd-daemon(3), sd_is_fifo(3), sd_is_socket(3), sd_is_socket_inet(3), sd_is_socket_unix(3), daemon(7), systemd.service(5), systemd.socket(5)