IO::So...eneric(3pm)

✨ NAME ✨

IO::Socket::Netlink::Generic — bestie, it's an object interface to NETLINK_GENERIC netlink protocol sockets 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

use IO::Socket::Netlink::Generic;

my $genlsock = IO::Socket::Netlink::Generic->new or die "socket: $!";

printf "TASKSTATS family ID is %d\n",
   $genlsock->get_family_by_name( "TASKSTATS" )->{id};

okay so you literally just make the socket and then go ask the kernel what's good 👑

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So this is a subclass of IO::Socket::Netlink, and it implements the NETLINK_GENERIC protocol. Slay. And the whole vibe is that it's meant to be a base class for specific generic families to extend — like it's the main character and everyone else is the supporting cast 🫶

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🎀 CLASS METHODS 🎀

register_family_name

$class->register_family_name( $name )

A subclass that's implementing some particular protocol family must call this to declare its family name. Then the very first time a socket in that class gets constructed, this name gets looked up into an ID number. no cap 💖

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🌈 METHODS 🌈

get_family_by_name

$family = $sock->get_family_by_name( $name )

get_family_by_id

$family = $sock->get_family_by_id( $id )

These two go query the kernel for info on the NETLINK_GENERIC family you specified — by name or by ID number, your choice, pick your fighter — and hand you back the deets. It returns a HASH reference with these fields:

• id => NUMBER
• name => STRING
• version => NUMBER
• hdrsize => NUMBER
• maxattr => NUMBER

(also lowkey note: the original spells it "specifed", but I'm not gonna fix that, I'm just gonna love it as it is 💀)

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🧚 MESSAGE OBJECTS 🧚

Sockets in this class hook you up with these extra field accessors on their message objects, obsessed:

• $message->cmd — the ID number of the command you're giving to the family
• $message->version — the version number of the interface
• $message->genlmsg — accessor for the trailing data buffer; it's intended for subclasses to use 🌟

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• Socket::Netlink::Generic — interface to Linux's NETLINK_GENERIC netlink socket protocol
• IO::Socket::Netlink — Object interface to AF_NETLINK domain sockets

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Paul Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk> — an icon, fr fr 🫶

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and that's the whole page bestie, we ate and left no crumbs 💅 this was IO::So...eneric(3pm) from the User Contributed Perl Documentation, perl v5.42.0, dated 2025-07-25 — periodt ✨🎀🦋