xpamethod(7)

💖 XPAMethod — XPA Communication Methods 💖

ok so this is the xpamethod(7) page from the SAORD docs and bestie it's literally just about how XPA talks to other processes. sit with me, it's short, you'll slay.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

XPA is out here supporting both inet and unix (local) socket communication. that's it, that's the synopsis, we love a brief king 👑

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the tea 🫖 — XPA uses sockets to talk between processes, and it supports three methods of socket communication:

• inet
• localhost
• unix

as a general rule, you want the same method for all XPA processes in a session. the way you set that up is the global environment variable XPA_METHOD. 💅

by default, the preferred method is "inet", which is appropriate for most users. wanna switch it up? type something like this:

setenv XPA_METHOD local              # unix csh
XPA_METHOD=local; export XPA_METHOD  # unix sh, bash, windows/cygwin
set XPA_METHOD=localhost             # dos/windows

the options for XPA_METHOD are: inet, unix (or local), and localhost. ✨

on Unix machines you can pop that environment setup command into your shell init file (.cshrc, .profile, .bashrc, etc.). on Windows platforms it can go in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (I think!). 😭 not me hedging in a manpage but ok we respect the honesty.

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🌐 inet sockets (the default, the moment)

by default, inet sockets are used by XPA. these are the standard Internet sockets that programs such as Netscape, ftp, etc. use. inet sockets utilize the IP address of the given machine plus a (usually random) port number to communicate between processes on the same machine or between different machines on the Internet. 🔥

ngl there's a note here and it matters: XPA has an Access Control mechanism to prevent unauthorized access of XPA access points by other computers on the Net. so we're secure, bestie, don't stress.

for users connected to the Internet, this usually is the appropriate communication method. for more info about setting up XPA communication between machines, see Communication Between Machines.

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🧚 unix / local sockets (offline girlies, this is your moment)

if you're using XPA on a machine without an Internet connection, then inet sockets are not appropriate. in fact, an XPA process often will hang for many seconds while waiting for a response from the Domain Name Service (DNS) when using inet sockets. 💀 the audacity.

instead of inet sockets, users on Unix platforms can also use unix sockets (also known as local sockets). these sockets are based on the local file system and do not make use of the DNS. they generally are considered to be faster than inet sockets, but they are not implemented under Windows. 🙈

use local sockets as a first resort if you are on a Unix machine that is not connected to the Internet. periodt.

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🦋 localhost sockets (the middle path)

users not connected to the Internet also can use localhost sockets. these are also inet-type sockets, but the IP address used for the local machine is the localhost address, 0x7F000001, instead of the real IP of the machine. 🎀

depending on how sockets are set up for a given platform, communication with the DNS usually is not required in this case (though of course, XPA cannot interact with other machines). the localhost method will generally work on both Unix and Windows platforms, but whether the DNS is required or not is subject to individual configurations. iykyk, it depends. 🤷♀️

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⚠️ A FINAL WARNING / REMINDER ⚠️

if your XPA-enabled server hangs at startup time and your XPA_METHOD is inet, the problem probably is related to an incorrect Internet configuration. 😭

you can confirm this by using the unix method or (usually) the localhost method. and you can use these alternate methods if other hosts do not need access to the XPA server. 🫶

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• See xpa(n) for a list of XPA help pages.

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ok that's the whole page bestie, you ate that. 💖

this was version 2.1.15, dated July 23, 2013, brought to you by SAORD Documentation — ty for coming to my ted talk, mwah 🎀✨