[PATCH v2] vsock.7: add VMADDR_CID_LOCAL description

* [PATCH v2] vsock.7: add VMADDR_CID_LOCAL description
@ 2020-02-14 13:07 Stefano Garzarella
  2020-02-14 19:35 ` Stefan Hajnoczi
  2020-02-17 13:55 ` Jorgen Hansen
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Stefano Garzarella @ 2020-02-14 13:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: mtk.manpages
  Cc: Jorgen Hansen, linux-man, Stefan Hajnoczi, Dexuan Cui, netdev

Linux 5.6 added the new well-known VMADDR_CID_LOCAL for
local communication.

This patch explains how to use it and remove the legacy
VMADDR_CID_RESERVED no longer available.

Signed-off-by: Stefano Garzarella <sgarzare@redhat.com>
---
v2:
    * rephrased "Local communication" description [Stefan]
    * added a mention of previous versions that supported
      loopback only in the guest [Stefan]
---
 man7/vsock.7 | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man7/vsock.7 b/man7/vsock.7
index c5ffcf07d..78ac22b1e 100644
--- a/man7/vsock.7
+++ b/man7/vsock.7
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ There are several special addresses:
 means any address for binding;
 .B VMADDR_CID_HYPERVISOR
 (0) is reserved for services built into the hypervisor;
-.B VMADDR_CID_RESERVED
-(1) must not be used;
+.B VMADDR_CID_LOCAL
+(1) is the well-known address for local communication (loopback);
 .B VMADDR_CID_HOST
 (2)
 is the well-known address of the host.
@@ -164,6 +164,16 @@ Consider using
 .B VMADDR_CID_ANY
 when binding instead of getting the local CID with
 .BR IOCTL_VM_SOCKETS_GET_LOCAL_CID .
+.SS Local communication
+The
+.B VMADDR_CID_LOCAL
+(1) directs packets to the same host that generated them. This is useful
+for testing applications on a single host and for debugging.
+.PP
+The local CID obtained with
+.BR IOCTL_VM_SOCKETS_GET_LOCAL_CID
+can be used for the same purpose, but it is preferable to use
+.B VMADDR_CID_LOCAL .
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES
@@ -222,6 +232,11 @@ are valid.
 Support for VMware (VMCI) has been available since Linux 3.9.
 KVM (virtio) is supported since Linux 4.8.
 Hyper-V is supported since Linux 4.14.
+.PP
+VMADDR_CID_LOCAL is supported since Linux 5.6.
+Local communication in the guest and on the host is available since Linux 5.6.
+Previous versions partially supported it only in the guest and only with some
+transports (VMCI and virtio).
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .BR bind (2),
 .BR connect (2),
-- 
2.24.1


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