Socket...icast6(3pm)

✨ Socket::Multicast6 — bestie edition ✨

okay so this is Socket::Multicast6, a lil Perl module from the User Contributed Perl Documentation section (it lives in the 3pm manpage zone 💅). Think of it as your little toolbox for ✨multicast socket operations✨ on both IPv4 and IPv6. Constants? Got 'em. Constructor helpers? Got those too. Let's get into it 🦋

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🌸 NAME 🌸

Socket::Multicast6 — Constructors and constants for IPv4 and IPv6 multicast socket operations.

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

use Socket::Multicast6 qw(:all);

my $ip = getprotobyname( 'ip' );

my $ip_mreq = pack_ip_mreq( inet_aton( $mcast_addr ), inet_aton( $if_addr ) );

my $ipv6_mreq = pack_ipv6_mreq( inet_pton( AF_INET6, $mcast6_addr ), $if_index );

setsockopt( $sock, $ip, IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP, $ip_mreq )
  or die( "setsockopt IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP failed: $!" );

setsockopt( $sock, $ip, IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP, $ip_mreq )
  or die( "setsockopt IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP failed: $!" );

setsockopt( $sock, $ip, IP_MULTICAST_LOOP, pack( 'C', $loop ) )
  or die( "setsockopt IP_MULTICAST_LOOP failed: $!" );

setsockopt( $sock, $ip, IP_MULTICAST_TTL, pack( 'C', $ttl ) )
  or die( "setsockopt IP_MULTICAST_TTL failed: $!" );

like… look at that. setsockopt with or die(...) every single time because we do NOT ignore errors in this house 😤✨

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So what's the deal with this module? It's your all-access pass 🎟️ — it gives you the constants and utility functions you need when you're messing with multicast socket attributes. That's it. That's the whole vibe.

And here's the tea ☕ — if you want a simple, object-oriented way of doing the exact same thing, go peek at IO::Socket::Multicast6 or IO::Socket::Multicast. They're giving convenience. They're giving main character energy. iykyk 💅

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🫶 EXPORTS 🫶

By default? Nothing. Zero. Nada. 🙈

But bestie, you have options:

• use 'ipv4' to export a specific protocol family
• use 'ipv6' to export a specific protocol family
• use 'independent' to export a specific protocol family
• use 'all' to export all the symbols 🎉

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🧚 FUNCTIONS 🧚

• $ip_mreq = pack_ip_mreq(MCAST_ADDR, IF_ADDR) — packs up an ip_mreq struct for you, from the multicast address and the interface address 💌
• $ip_mreq_source = pack_ip_mreq_source(MCAST_ADDR, SOURCE_ADDR, IF_ADDR) — same energy but with a source address in the mix (three args, no skimping) ✨
• $ipv6_mreq = pack_ipv6_mreq(MCAST6_ADDR, IF_INDEX) — the IPv6 version, takes the multicast address plus an interface index (yes, an index, not an address, don't come for me) 🦋

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👑 CONSTANTS 👑

Here's the full roster, no one left behind, periodt:

• IP_MULTICAST_IF
• IP_MULTICAST_TTL
• IP_MULTICAST_LOOP
• IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP
• IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP
• IP_ADD_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP
• IP_DROP_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP
• IPV6_MULTICAST_IF
• IPV6_MULTICAST_HOPS
• IPV6_MULTICAST_LOOP
• IPV6_JOIN_GROUP
• IPV6_LEAVE_GROUP
• MCAST_JOIN_GROUP
• MCAST_BLOCK_SOURCE
• MCAST_UNBLOCK_SOURCE
• MCAST_LEAVE_GROUP
• MCAST_JOIN_SOURCE_GROUP
• MCAST_LEAVE_SOURCE_GROUP

eighteen icons, all accounted for 💖

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• IO::Socket::Multicast6 — (The easier, object-oriented way) 🫶 genuinely, if you want the chill route, this is it

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Based on Socket::Multicast by Jonathan Steinert, <hachi@cpan.org>

Socket::Multicast6 by Nicholas J Humfrey, <njh@cpan.org>

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📜 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE 📜

Copyright (C) 2006 Nicholas J Humfrey Copyright (C) 2006 Jonathan Steinert

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.6.1 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this lil gem dropped as perl v5.42.3 and it's dated 2026-08-20 — so go forth, join your multicast groups, pack your mreqs, and slay 💅✨🦋