GETGROUPS(2)		   Linux Programmers Manual		 GETGROUPS(2)



NAME
       getgroups, setgroups - get/set list of supplementary group IDs

SYNOPSIS
       #include 
       #include 

       int getgroups(int size, gid_t list[]);

       #include 

       int setgroups(size_t size, const gid_t *list);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       setgroups(): _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
       getgroups()  returns the supplementary group IDs of the calling process
       in list.  The argument size should be set  to  the  maximum  number  of
       items  that  can  be  stored  in the buffer pointed to by list.	If the
       calling process is a member of more  than  size	supplementary  groups,
       then  an  error results.  It is unspecified whether the effective group
       ID of the calling process is included in the returned list.  (Thus,  an
       application should also call getegid(2) and add or remove the resulting
       value.)

       If size is zero, list is not modified, but the total number of  supple
       mentary	group IDs for the process is returned.	This allows the caller
       to determine the size of a dynamically allocated list to be used  in  a
       further call to getgroups().

       setgroups()  sets  the supplementary group IDs for the calling process.
       Appropriate privileges (Linux: the CAP_SETGID capability) are required.
       The  size  argument  specifies the number of supplementary group IDs in
       the buffer pointed to by list.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, getgroups() returns the number of supplementary  group  IDs
       is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

       On success, setgroups() returns 0.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno
       is set appropriately.

ERRORS
       EFAULT list has an invalid address.

       getgroups() can additionally fail with the following error:

       EINVAL size  is less than the number of supplementary group IDs, but is
	      not zero.

       setgroups() can additionally fail with the following errors:

       EINVAL size is greater than NGROUPS_MAX (32 before Linux  2.6.4;  65536
	      since Linux 2.6.4).

       ENOMEM Out of memory.

       EPERM  The calling process has insufficient privilege.

CONFORMING TO
       SVr4, 4.3BSD.  The getgroups() function is in POSIX.1-2001.  Since set
       groups() requires privilege, it is not covered by POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES
       A process can have up to NGROUPS_MAX supplementary group IDs  in  addi
       tion  to the effective group ID.  The set of supplementary group IDs is
       inherited from the parent process, and preserved across an execve(2).

       The maximum number of  supplementary  group  IDs  can  be  found  using
       sysconf(3):

	   long ngroups_max;
	   ngroups_max = sysconf(_SC_NGROUPS_MAX);

       The  maximum return value of getgroups() cannot be larger than one more
       than this value.

SEE ALSO
       getgid(2), setgid(2), getgrouplist(3), initgroups(3),  capabilities(7),
       credentials(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux				  2008-06-03			  GETGROUPS(2)