# Inter-Client Exchange Library

X Consortium Standard
X Version 11, Release &fullrelvers;
Version 1.0
Ralph
Mor
X Consortium
1993
1994
1996
X Consortium

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## Overview of ICE

There are numerous possible inter-client protocols, with many similarities and common needs - authentication, version negotiation, byte order negotiation, and so on. The Inter-Client Exchange (ICE) protocol is intended to provide a framework for building such protocols, allowing them to make use of common negotiation mechanisms and to be multiplexed over a single transport connection.

## The ICE Library - C Language Interface to ICE

A client that wishes to utilize ICE must first register the protocols it understands with the ICE library. Each protocol is dynamically assigned a major opcode ranging from 1-255 (two clients can use different major opcodes for the same protocol). The next step for the client is either to open a connection with another client or to wait for connections made by other clients. Authentication may be required. A client can both initiate connections with other clients and be waiting for clients to connect to itself (a nested session manager is an example). Once an ICE connection is established between the two clients, one of the clients needs to initiate a `ProtocolSetup` in order to "activate" a given protocol. Once the other client accepts the `ProtocolSetup` (once again, authentication may be required), the two clients are ready to start passing messages specific to that protocol to each other. Multiple protocols may be active on a single ICE connection. Clients are responsible for notifying the ICE library when a protocol is no longer active on an ICE connection, although ICE does not define how each subprotocol triggers a protocol shutdown.

The ICE library utilizes callbacks to process incoming messages. Using callbacks allows `ProtocolSetup` messages and authentication to happen behind the scenes. An additional benefit is that messages never need to be buffered up by the library when the client blocks waiting for a particular message.

## Intended Audience

This document is intended primarily for implementors of protocol libraries layered on top of ICE. Typically, applications that wish to utilize ICE will make calls into individual protocol libraries rather than directly make calls into the ICE library. However, some applications will have to make some initial calls into the ICE library in order to accept ICE connections (for example, a session manager accepting connections from clients). But in general, protocol libraries should be designed to hide the inner details of ICE from applications.

## Header Files and Library Name

The header file <X11/ICE/ICElib.h> defines all of the ICElib data structures and function prototypes. `ICElib.h` includes the header file <X11/ICE/ICE.h>, which defines all of the ICElib constants. Protocol libraries that need to read and write messages should include the header file <X11/ICE/ICEmsg.h>.

Applications should link against ICElib using -lICE.

## Note on Prefixes

The following name prefixes are used in the library to distinguish between a client that initiates a `ProtocolSetup` and a client that responds with a `ProtocolReply`

- `IcePo` - Ice Protocol Originator

- `IcePa` - Ice Protocol Acceptor

## Protocol Registration

In order for two clients to exchange messages for a given protocol, each side must register the protocol with the ICE library. The purpose of registration is for each side to obtain a major opcode for the protocol and to provide callbacks for processing messages and handling authentication. There are two separate registration functions:

- One to handle the side that does a `ProtocolSetup`

- One to handle the side that responds with a `ProtocolReply`

It is recommended that protocol registration occur before the two clients establish an ICE connection. If protocol registration occurs after an ICE connection is created, there can be a brief interval of time in which a `ProtocolSetup` is received, but the protocol is not registered. If it is not possible to register a protocol before the creation of an ICE connection, proper precautions should be taken to avoid the above race condition.

The function should be called for the client that initiates a `ProtocolSetup`

      int IceRegisterForProtocolSetup
        const char *protocol_name
        const char *vendor
        const char *release
        int version_count
        IcePoVersionRec *version_recs
        int auth_count
        char **auth_names
        IcePoAuthProc *auth_procs
        IceIOErrorProc io_error_proc

protocol_name

  A string specifying the name of the protocol to register.

vendor

  A vendor string with semantics specified by the protocol.

release

  A release string with semantics specified by the protocol.

version_count

  The number of different versions of the protocol supported.

version_recs

  List of versions and associated callbacks.

auth_count

  The number of authentication methods supported.

auth_names

  The list of authentication methods supported.

auth_procs

  The list of authentication callbacks, one for each authentication method.

io_error_proc

  IO error handler, or NULL.

returns the major opcode reserved or -1 if an error occurred. In order to actually activate the protocol, the function needs to be called with this major opcode. Once the protocol is activated, all messages for the protocol should be sent using this major opcode.

A protocol library may support multiple versions of the same protocol. The version_recs argument specifies a list of supported versions of the protocol, which are prioritized in decreasing order of preference. Each version record consists of a major and minor version of the protocol as well as a callback to be used for processing incoming messages.

    typedef struct {
    	int major_version;
    	int minor_version;
    	IcePoProcessMsgProc process_msg_proc;
    } IcePoVersionRec;

The `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback is responsible for processing the set of messages that can be received by the client that initiated the `ProtocolSetup` For further information, see

Authentication may be required before the protocol can become active. The protocol library must register the authentication methods that it supports with the ICE library. The auth_names and auth_procs arguments are a list of authentication names and callbacks that are prioritized in decreasing order of preference. For information on the `IcePoAuthProc` callback, see

The callback is invoked if the ICE connection unexpectedly breaks. You should pass NULL for io_error_proc if not interested in being notified. For further information,

The function should be called for the client that responds to a `ProtocolSetup` with a `ProtocolReply`

      Bool IceRegisterForProtocolReply
        const char *protocol_name
        const char *vendor
        const char *release
        int version_count
        IcePoVersionRec *version_recs
        int auth_count
        const char **auth_names
        IcePoAuthProc *auth_procs
        IceHostBasedAuthProc host_based_auth_proc
        IceProtocolSetupProc protocol_setup_proc
        IceProtocolActivateProc protocol_activate_proc
        IceIOErrorProc io_error_proc

protocol_name

  A string specifying the name of the protocol to register.

vendor

  A vendor string with semantics specified by the protocol.

release

  A release string with semantics specified by the protocol.

version_count

  The number of different versions of the protocol supported.

version_recs

  List of versions and associated callbacks.

auth_count

  The number of authentication methods supported.

auth_names

  The list of authentication methods supported.

auth_procs

  The list of authentication callbacks, one for each authentication method.

host_based_auth_proc

  Host based authentication callback.

protocol_setup_proc

  A callback to be invoked when authentication has succeeded for a `ProtocolSetup` but before the `ProtocolReply` is sent.

protocol_activate_proc

  A callback to be invoked after the `ProtocolReply` is sent.

io_error_proc

  IO error handler, or NULL.

returns the major opcode reserved or -1 if an error occurred. The major opcode should be used in all subsequent messages sent for this protocol.

A protocol library may support multiple versions of the same protocol. The version_recs argument specifies a list of supported versions of the protocol, which are prioritized in decreasing order of preference. Each version record consists of a major and minor version of the protocol as well as a callback to be used for processing incoming messages.

    typedef struct {
    	int major_version;
    	int minor_version;
    	IcePaProcessMsgProc process_msg_proc;
    } IcePaVersionRec;

The callback is responsible for processing the set of messages that can be received by the client that accepted the `ProtocolSetup` For further information, see

Authentication may be required before the protocol can become active. The protocol library must register the authentication methods that it supports with the ICE library. The auth_names and auth_procs arguments are a list of authentication names and callbacks that are prioritized in decreasing order of preference. For information on the `IcePaAuthProc`, See

If authentication fails and the client attempting to initiate the `ProtocolSetup` has not required authentication, the `IceHostBasedAuthProc` callback is invoked with the host name of the originating client. If the callback returns `True` the `ProtocolSetup` will succeed, even though the original authentication failed. Note that authentication can effectively be disabled by registering an `IceHostBasedAuthProc` which always returns `True` If no host based authentication is allowed, you should pass NULL for host_based_auth_proc.

      Bool HostBasedAuthProc
        char *host_name

protocol_name

  The host name of the client that sent the `ProtocolSetup`

The host_name argument is a string of the form protocol/hostname, where protocol is one of {tcp, decnet, local}.

Because `ProtocolSetup` messages and authentication happen behind the scenes via callbacks, the protocol library needs some way of being notified when the `ProtocolSetup` has completed. This occurs in two phases. In the first phase, the `IceProtocolSetupProc` callback is invoked after authentication has successfully completed but before the ICE library sends a `ProtocolReply` Any resources required for this protocol should be allocated at this time. If the `IceProtocolSetupProc` returns a successful status, the ICE library will send the `ProtocolReply` and then invoke the `IceProtocolActivateProc` callback. Otherwise, an error will be sent to the other client in response to the `ProtocolSetup`

The `IceProtocolActivateProc` is an optional callback and should be registered only if the protocol library intends to generate a message immediately following the `ProtocolReply` You should pass NULL for protocol_activate_proc if not interested in this callback.

      Status ProtocolSetupProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        int major_version
        int minor_version
        char *vendor
        char *release
        IcePointer *client_data_ret
        char **failure_reason_ret

protocol_name

  The ICE connection object.

major_version

  The major version of the protocol.

minor_version

  The minor version of the protocol.

vendor

  The vendor string registered by the protocol originator.

release

  The release string registered by the protocol originator.

client_data_ret

  Client data to be set by callback.

failure_reason_ret

  Failure reason returned.

The pointer stored in the client_data_ret argument will be passed to the callback whenever a message has arrived for this protocol on the ICE connection.

The vendor and release strings should be freed with `free` when they are no longer needed.

If a failure occurs, the `IceProtocolSetupProc` should return a zero status as well as allocate and return a failure reason string in failure_reason_ret. The ICE library will be responsible for freeing this memory.

The `IceProtocolActivateProc` callback is defined as follows:

      void ProtocolActivateProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

client_data

  The client data set in the `IceProtocolSetupProc` callback.

The callback is invoked if the ICE connection unexpectedly breaks. You should pass NULL for io_error_proc if not interested in being notified. For further information, see

### Callbacks for Processing Messages

When an application detects that there is new data to read on an ICE connection (via `select` it calls the function

When reads an ICE message header with a major opcode other than zero (reserved for the ICE protocol), it needs to call a function that will read the rest of the message, unpack it, and process it accordingly.

If the message arrives at the client that initiated the `ProtocolSetup` the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback is invoked.

      void PoProcessMsgProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data
        int opcode
        unsigned long length
        Bool swap
        IceReplyWaitInfo *reply_wait
        Bool *reply_ready_ret

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

client_data

  Client data associated with this protocol on the ICE connection.

opcode

  The minor opcode of the message.

length

  The length (in 8-byte units) of the message beyond the ICE header.

swap

  A flag that indicates if byte swapping is necessary.

reply_wait

  Indicates if the invoking client is waiting for a reply.

reply_ready_ret

  If set to `True` a reply is ready.

If the message arrives at the client that accepted the `ProtocolSetup` the callback is invoked.

      void IcePaProcessMsgProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data
        int opcode
        unsigned long length
        Bool swap

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

client_data

  Client data associated with this protocol on the ICE connection.

opcode

  The minor opcode of the message.

length

  The length (in 8-byte units) of the message beyond the ICE header.

swap

  A flag that indicates if byte swapping is necessary.

In order to read the message, both of these callbacks should use the macros defined for this purpose (see .). Note that byte swapping may be necessary. As a convenience, the length field in the ICE header will be swapped by ICElib if necessary.

In both of these callbacks, the client_data argument is a pointer to client data that was registered at `ProtocolSetup` time. In the case of `IcePoProcessMsgProc` the client data was set in the call to In the case of the client data was set in the `IceProtocolSetupProc` callback.

The `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback needs to check the reply_wait argument. If reply_wait is NULL , the ICE library expects the function to pass the message to the client via a callback. For example, if this is a Session Management "Save Yourself" message, this function should notify the client of the "Save Yourself" via a callback. The details of how such a callback would be defined are implementation-dependent.

However, if reply_wait is not NULL , then the client is waiting for a reply or an error for a message it previously sent. The reply_wait is of type `IceReplyWaitInfo`

    typedef struct {
    	unsigned long sequence_of_request;
    	int major_opcode_of_request;
    	int minor_opcode_of_request;
    	IcePointer reply;
    } IceReplyWaitInfo;

`IceReplyWaitInfo` contains the major/minor opcodes and sequence number of the message for which a reply is being awaited. It also contains a pointer to the reply message to be filled in (the protocol library should cast this `IcePointer` to the appropriate reply type). In most cases, the reply will have some fixed-size part, and the client waiting for the reply will have provided a pointer to a structure to hold this fixed-size data. If there is variable-length data, it would be expected that the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback will have to allocate additional memory and store pointer(s) to that memory in the fixed-size structure. If the entire data is variable length (for example., a single variable-length string), then the client waiting for the reply would probably just pass a pointer to fixed-size space to hold a pointer, and the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback would allocate the storage and store the pointer. It is the responsibility of the client receiving the reply to free any memory allocated on its behalf.

If reply_wait is not NULL and `IcePoProcessMsgProc` has a reply or error to return in response to this reply_wait (that is, no callback was generated), then the reply_ready_ret argument should be set to `True` Note that an error should only be returned if it corresponds to the reply being waited for. Otherwise, the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` should either handle the error internally or invoke an error handler for its library.

If reply_wait is NULL, then care must be taken not to store any value in reply_ready_ret, because this pointer may also be NULL.

The callback, on the other hand, should always pass the message to the client via a callback. For example, if this is a Session Management "Interact Request" message, this function should notify the client of the "Interact Request" via a callback.

The reason the callback does not have a reply_wait, like `IcePoProcessMsgProc` does, is because a process that is acting as a server should never block for a reply (infinite blocking can occur if the connecting client does not act properly, denying access to other clients).

### Authentication Methods

As already stated, a protocol library must register the authentication methods that it supports with the ICE library. For each authentication method, there are two callbacks that may be registered:

- One to handle the side that initiates a `ProtocolSetup`

- One to handle the side that accepts or rejects this request

`IcePoAuthProc` is the callback invoked for the client that initiated the `ProtocolSetup` This callback must be able to respond to the initial "Authentication Required" message or subsequent "Authentication Next Phase" messages sent by the other client.

      IcePoAuthStatus IcePoAuthStatus
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data
        int opcode

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

auth_state_ptr

  A pointer to state for use by the authentication callback procedure.

clean_up

  If `True` authentication is over, and the function should clean up any state it was maintaining. The last 6 arguments should be ignored.

swap

  If `True` the auth_data may have to be byte swapped (depending on its contents).

auth_datalen

  The length (in bytes) of the authenticator data.

auth_data

  The data from the authenticator.

reply_datalen_ret

  The length (in bytes) of the reply data returned.

reply_data_ret

  The reply data returned.

error_string_ret

  If the authentication procedure encounters an error during authentication, it should allocate and return an error string.

Authentication may require several phases, depending on the authentication method. As a result, the `IcePoAuthProc` may be called more than once when authenticating a client, and some state will have to be maintained between each invocation. At the start of each `ProtocolSetup` *auth_state_ptr is NULL, and the function should initialize its state and set this pointer. In subsequent invocations of the callback, the pointer should be used to get at any state previously stored by the callback.

If needed, the network ID of the client accepting the `ProtocolSetup` can be obtained by calling the `IceConnectionString` function.

ICElib will be responsible for freeing the reply_data_ret and error_string_ret pointers with `free`

The auth_data pointer may point to a volatile block of memory. If the data must be kept beyond this invocation of the callback, be sure to make a copy of it.

The `IcePoAuthProc` should return one of four values:

- `IcePoAuthHaveReply` - a reply is available.

- `IcePoAuthRejected` - authentication rejected.

- `IcePoAuthFailed` - authentication failed.

- `IcePoAuthDoneCleanup` - done cleaning up.

`IcePaAuthProc` is the callback invoked for the client that received the `ProtocolSetup`

      IcePoAuthStatus PoAuthStatus
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer *auth_state_ptr
        Bool swap
        int auth_datalen
        IcePointer auth_data
        int *reply_datalen_ret
        IcePointer *reply_data_ret
        char **error_string_ret

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

auth_state_ptr

  A pointer to state for use by the authentication callback procedure.

swap

  If `True` auth_data may have to be byte swapped (depending on its contents).

auth_datalen

  The length (in bytes) of the protocol originator authentication data.

auth_data

  The authentication data from the protocol originator.

reply_datalen_ret

  The length of the authentication data returned.

reply_data_ret

  The authentication data returned.

error_string_ret

  If authentication is rejected or fails, an error string is returned.

Authentication may require several phases, depending on the authentication method. As a result, the `IcePaAuthProc` may be called more than once when authenticating a client, and some state will have to be maintained between each invocation. At the start of each `ProtocolSetup` auth_datalen is zero, *auth_state_ptr is NULL, and the function should initialize its state and set this pointer. In subsequent invocations of the callback, the pointer should be used to get at any state previously stored by the callback.

If needed, the network ID of the client accepting the `ProtocolSetup` can be obtained by calling the `IceConnectionString` function.

The auth_data pointer may point to a volatile block of memory. If the data must be kept beyond this invocation of the callback, be sure to make a copy of it.

ICElib will be responsible for transmitting and freeing the reply_data_ret and error_string_ret pointers with `free`

The `IcePaAuthProc` should return one of four values:

- `IcePaAuthContinue` - continue (or start) authentication.

- `IcePaAuthAccepted` - authentication accepted.

- `IcePaAuthRejected` - authentication rejected.

- `IcePaAuthFailed` - authentication failed.

## ICE Connections

In order for two clients to establish an ICE connection, one client has to be waiting for connections, and the other client has to initiate the connection. Most clients will initiate connections, so we discuss that first.

### Opening an ICE Connection

To open an ICE connection with another client (that is, waiting for connections), use

      IceConn IceOpenConnection
        char *network_ids_list
        IcePointer context
        Bool must_authenticate
        int major_opcode_check
        int error_length
        char *error_string_ret

network_ids_list

  Specifies the network ID(s) of the other client.

context

  A pointer to an opaque object or NULL. Used to determine if an ICE connection can be shared (see below).

must_authenticate

  If `True` the other client may not bypass authentication.

major_opcode_check

  Used to force a new ICE connection to be created (see below).

error_length

  Length of the error_string_ret argument passed in.

error_string_ret

  Returns a null-terminated error message, if any. The error_string_ret argument points to user supplied memory. No more than error_length bytes are used.

returns an opaque ICE connection object if it succeeds; otherwise, it returns NULL.

The network_ids_list argument contains a list of network IDs separated by commas. An attempt will be made to use the first network ID. If that fails, an attempt will be made using the second network ID, and so on. Each network ID has the following format:

tcp/<hostname>:<portnumber> | or
decnet/<hostname>::<objname> | or
local/<hostname>:<path> |

Most protocol libraries will have some sort of open function that should internally make a call into When is called, it may be possible to use a previously opened ICE connection (if the target client is the same). However, there are cases in which shared ICE connections are not desired.

The context argument is used to determine if an ICE connection can be shared. If context is NULL, then the caller is always willing to share the connection. If context is not NULL, then the caller is not willing to use a previously opened ICE connection that has a different non-NULL context associated with it.

In addition, if major_opcode_check contains a nonzero major opcode value, a previously created ICE connection will be used only if the major opcode is not active on the connection. This can be used to force multiple ICE connections between two clients for the same protocol.

Any authentication requirements are handled internally by the ICE library. The method by which the authentication data is obtained is implementation-dependent. The X Consortium's ICElib implementation uses an .ICEauthority file (see Appendix A).

After is called, the client is ready to send a `ProtocolSetup` (provided that was called) or receive a `ProtocolSetup` (provided that was called).

### Listening for ICE Connections

Clients wishing to accept ICE connections must first call or so that they can listen for connections. A list of opaque "listen" objects are returned, one for each type of transport method that is available (for example, Unix Domain, TCP, DECnet, and so on).

Normally clients will let ICElib allocate an available name in each transport and return listen objects. Such a client will then use to extract the chosen names and make them available to other clients for opening the connection. In certain cases it may be necessary for a client to listen for connections on pre-arranged transport object names. Such a client may use to specify the names for the listen objects.

      Status IceListenForConnections
        int *count_ret
        IceListenObj **listen_objs_ret
        int error_length
        char *error_string_ret

count_ret

  Returns the number of listen objects created.

listen_objs_ret

  Returns a list of pointers to opaque listen objects.

error_length

  The length of the error_string_ret argument passed in.

error_string_ret

  Returns a null-terminated error message, if any. The error_string_ret points to user supplied memory. No more than error_length bytes are used.

The return value of is zero for failure and a positive value for success.

      Status IceListenForWellKnownConnections
        char *port_id
        int *count_ret
        IceListenObj **listen_objs_ret
        int error_length
        char *error_string_ret

port_id

  Specifies the port identification for the address(es) to be opened. The value must not contain the slash ("/"> or comma (".") character; thse are reserved for future use.

count_ret

  Returns the number of listen objects created.

listen_objs_ret

  Returns a list of pointers to opaque listen objects.

listen_objs_ret

  Returns a list of pointers to opaque listen objects.

error_length

  The length of the error_string_ret argument passed in.

error_string_ret

  Returns a null-terminated error message, if any. The error_string_ret points to user supplied memory. No more than error_length bytes are used.

constructs a list of network IDs by prepending each known transport to port_id and then attempts to create listen objects for the result. Port_id is the portnumber, objname, or path portion of the ICE network ID. If a listen object for a particular network ID cannot be created the network ID is ignored. If no listen objects are created returns failure.

The return value of is zero for failure and a positive value for success.

To close and free the listen objects, use

      void IceFreeListenObjs
        int count
        IceListenObj *listen_objs

count

  The number of listen objects.

listen_objs

  The listen objects.

To detect a new connection on a listen object, use `select` on the descriptor associated with the listen object.

To obtain the descriptor, use

      int IceGetListenConnectionNumber
        IceListenObj *listen_objs

listen_obj

  The listen objects.

To obtain the network ID string associated with a listen object, use

      char IceGetListenConnectionString
        IceListenObj listen_obj

listen_obj

  The listen objects.

A network ID has the following format:

tcp/<hostname>:<portnumber> | or
decnet/<hostname>::<objname> | or
local/<hostname>:<path> |

To compose a string containing a list of network IDs separated by commas (the format recognized by use

      char IceComposeNetworkIdList
        int count
        IceListenObj *listen_objs

count

  The number of listen objects.

listen_objs

  The listen objects.

### Host Based Authentication for ICE Connections

If authentication fails when a client attempts to open an ICE connection and the initiating client has not required authentication, a host based authentication procedure may be invoked to provide a last chance for the client to connect. Each listen object has such a callback associated with it, and this callback is set using the function.

      void IceSetHostBasedAuthProc
        IceListenObj listen_obj
        IceHostBasedAuthProc host_based_auth_proc

IceListenObj

  The listen object.

host_based_auth_proc

  The host based authentication procedure.

By default, each listen object has no host based authentication procedure associated with it. Passing NULL for host_based_auth_proc turns off host based authentication if it was previously set.

      Bool HostBasedAuthProc
        char *host_name

host_name

  The host name of the client that tried to open an ICE connection.

The host_name argument is a string in the form protocol/ hostname, where protocol is one of {tcp, decnet, local}.

If `IceHostBasedAuthProc` returns `True` access will be granted, even though the original authentication failed. Note that authentication can effectively be disabled by registering an `IceHostBasedAuthProc` which always returns `True`

Host based authentication is also allowed at `ProtocolSetup` time. The callback is specified in the function (see ).

### Accepting ICE Connections

After a connection attempt is detected on a listen object returned by you should call This returns a new opaque ICE connection object.

      IceConn IceAcceptConnection
        IceListenObj listen_obj
        IceAcceptStatus *status_ret

listen_obj

  The listen object on which a new connection was detected.

status_ret

  Return status information.

The status_ret argument is set to one of the following values:

- `IceAcceptSuccess` - the accept operation succeeded, and the function returns a new connection object.

- `IceAcceptFailure` - the accept operation failed, and the function returns NULL.

- `IceAcceptBadMalloc` - a memory allocation failed, and the function returns NULL.

In general, to detect new connections, you should call `select` on the file descriptors associated with the listen objects. When a new connection is detected, the function should be called. may return a new ICE connection that is in a pending state. This is because before the connection can become valid, authentication may be necessary. Because the ICE library cannot block and wait for the connection to become valid (infinite blocking can occur if the connecting client does not act properly), the application must wait for the connection status to become valid.

The following pseudo-code demonstrates how connections are accepted:

    new_ice_conn = IceAcceptConnection (listen_obj, &accept_status);
    if (accept_status != IceAcceptSuccess)
    {
         close the file descriptor and return
    }

    status = IceConnectionStatus (new_ice_conn);
    time_start = time_now;

    while (status == IceConnectPending)
    {
         select() on {new_ice_conn, all open connections}

         for (each ice_conn in the list of open connections)
              if (data ready on ice_conn)
              {
                   status = IceProcessMessages (ice_conn, NULL, NULL);
                   if (status == IceProcessMessagesIOError)
                        IceCloseConnection(ice_conn);
              }
         if data ready on new_ice_conn
         {
              /*
              * IceProcessMessages is called until the connection
              * is non-pending.  Doing so handles the connection
              * setup request and any authentication requirements.
              */

              IceProcessMessages ( new_ice_conn, NULL, NULL);
              status = IceConnectionStatus (new_ice_conn);
         }
         else
         {
              if (time_now - time_start > MAX_WAIT_TIME)
                   status = IceConnectRejected;
         }
    }

    if (status == IceConnectAccepted)
    {
         Add new_ice_conn to the list of open connections
    }
    else
    {
         IceCloseConnection
         new_ice_conn
    }

After is called and the connection has been validated, the client is ready to receive a `ProtocolSetup` (provided that was called) or send a `ProtocolSetup` (provided that was called).

### Closing ICE Connections

To close an ICE connection created with or use

      IceCloseStatus IceCloseConnection
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection to close.

To actually close an ICE connection, the following conditions must be met:

- The open reference count must have reached zero on this ICE connection. When is called, it tries to use a previously opened ICE connection. If it is able to use an existing connection, it increments the open reference count on the connection by one. So, to close an ICE connection, each call to must be matched with a call to The connection can be closed only on the last call to

- The active protocol count must have reached zero. Each time a `ProtocolSetup` succeeds on the connection, the active protocol count is incremented by one. When the client no longer expects to use the protocol on the connection, the function should be called, which decrements the active protocol count by one (see ).

- If shutdown negotiation is enabled on the connection, the client on the other side of the ICE connection must agree to have the connection closed.

  returns one of the following values:

- `IceClosedNow` - the ICE connection was closed at this time. The watch procedures were invoked and the connection was freed.

- `IceClosedASAP` - an IO error had occurred on the connection, but is being called within a nested The watch procedures have been invoked at this time, but the connection will be freed as soon as possible (when the nesting level reaches zero and returns a status of `IceProcessMessagesConnectionClosed`

- `IceConnectionInUse` - the connection was not closed at this time, because it is being used by other active protocols.

- `IceStartedShutdownNegotiation` - the connection was not closed at this time and shutdown negotiation started with the client on the other side of the ICE connection. When the connection is actually closed, will return a status of `IceProcessMessagesConnectionClosed`

When it is known that the client on the other side of the ICE connection has terminated the connection without initiating shutdown negotiation, the function should be called to turn off shutdown negotiation. This will prevent from writing to a broken connection.

      void IceSetShutdownNegotiation
        IceConn ice_conn
        Bool negotiate

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

negotiate

  If `False` shutdown negotiating will be turned off.

To check the shutdown negotiation status of an ICE connection, use

      Bool IceCheckShutdownNegotiation
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

returns `True` if shutdown negotiation will take place on the connection; otherwise, it returns `False` Negotiation is on by default for a connection. It can only be changed with the function.

### Connection Watch Procedures

To add a watch procedure that will be called each time ICElib opens a new connection via or or closes a connection via use

      Status IceAddConnectionWatch
        IceWatchProc watch_proc
        IcePointer client_data

watch_proc

  The watch procedure to invoke when ICElib opens or closes a connection.

client_data

  This pointer will be passed to the watch procedure.

The return value of is zero for failure, and a positive value for success.

Note that several calls to might share the same ICE connection. In such a case, the watch procedure is only invoked when the connection is first created (after authentication succeeds). Similarly, because connections might be shared, the watch procedure is called only if actually closes the connection (right before the IceConn is freed).

The watch procedures are very useful for applications that need to add a file descriptor to a select mask when a new connection is created and remove the file descriptor when the connection is destroyed. Because connections are shared, knowing when to add and remove the file descriptor from the select mask would be difficult without the watch procedures.

Multiple watch procedures may be registered with the ICE library. No assumptions should be made about their order of invocation.

If one or more ICE connections were already created by the ICE library at the time the watch procedure is registered, the watch procedure will instantly be invoked for each of these ICE connections (with the opening argument set to `True`

The watch procedure is of type `IceWatchProc`

      void WatchProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data
        Bool opening
        IcePointer *watch_data

ice_conn

  The opened or closed ICE connection. Call `IceConnectionNumber` to get the file descriptor associated with this connection.

client_data

  Client data specified in the call to

opening

  If `True` the connection is being opened. If `False` the connection is being closed.

watch_data

  Can be used to save a pointer to client data.

If opening is `True` the client should set the *watch_data pointer to any data it may need to save until the connection is closed and the watch procedure is invoked again with opening set to `False`

To remove a watch procedure, use

      void IceRemoveConnectionWatch
        IceWatchProc watch_proc
        IcePointer client_data

watch_proc

  The watch procedure that was passed to

client_data

  The client_data pointer that was passed to

## Protocol Setup and Shutdown

To activate a protocol on a given ICE connection, use

      IceProtocolSetupStatus IceProtocolSetup
        IceConn ice_conn
        int my_opcode
        IcePointer client_data
        Bool must_authenticate
        int *major_version_ret
        int *minor_version_ret
        char **vendor_ret
        char **release_ret
        int error_length
        char *error_string_ret

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

my_opcode

  The major opcode of the protocol to be set up, as returned by

client_data

  The client data stored in this pointer will be passed to the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback.

must_authenticate

  If `True` the other client may not bypass authentication.

major_version_ret

  The major version of the protocol to be used is returned.

minor_version_ret

  The minor version of the protocol to be used is returned.

vendor_ret

  The vendor string specified by the protocol acceptor.

release_ret

  The release string specified by the protocol acceptor.

error_length

  Specifies the length of the error_string_ret argument passed in.

error_string_ret

  Returns a null-terminated error message, if any. The error_string_ret argument points to user supplied memory. No more than error_length bytes are used.

The vendor_ret and release_ret strings should be freed with `free` when no longer needed.

returns one of the following values:

- `IceProtocolSetupSuccess` - the major_version_ret, minor_version_ret, vendor_ret, release_ret are set.

- `IceProtocolSetupFailure` or `IceProtocolSetupIOError` - check error_string_ret for failure reason. The major_version_ret, minor_version_ret, vendor_ret, release_ret are not set.

- `IceProtocolAlreadyActive` - this protocol is already active on this connection. The major_version_ret, minor_version_ret, vendor_ret, release_ret are not set.

To notify the ICE library when a given protocol will no longer be used on an ICE connection, use

      Status IceProtocolShutdown
        IceConn ice_conn
        int major_opcode

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

major_opcode

  The major opcode of the protocol to shut down.

The return value of is zero for failure and a positive value for success.

Failure will occur if the major opcode was never registered OR the protocol of the major opcode was never activated on the connection. By activated, we mean that a `ProtocolSetup` succeeded on the connection. Note that ICE does not define how each sub-protocol triggers a protocol shutdown.

## Processing Messages

To process incoming messages on an ICE connection, use

      IceProcessMessagesStatus IceProcessMessages
        IceConn ice_conn
        IceReplyWaitInfo *reply_wait
        Bool *reply_ready_ret

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

reply_wait

  Indicates if a reply is being waited for.

reply_ready_ret

  If set to `True` on return, a reply is ready.

is used in two ways:

- In the first, a client may generate a message and block by calling repeatedly until it gets its reply.

- In the second, a client calls with reply_wait set to NULL in response to `select` showing that there is data to read on the ICE connection. The ICE library may process zero or more complete messages. Note that messages that are not blocked for are always processed by invoking callbacks.

`IceReplyWaitInfo` contains the major/minor opcodes and sequence number of the message for which a reply is being awaited. It also contains a pointer to the reply message to be filled in (the protocol library should cast this `IcePointer` to the appropriate reply type). In most cases, the reply will have some fixed-size part, and the client waiting for the reply will have provided a pointer to a structure to hold this fixed-size data. If there is variable-length data, it would be expected that the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback will have to allocate additional memory and store pointer(s) to that memory in the fixed-size structure. If the entire data is variable length (for example, a single variable-length string), then the client waiting for the reply would probably just pass a pointer to fixed-size space to hold a pointer, and the `IcePoProcessMsgProc` callback would allocate the storage and store the pointer. It is the responsibility of the client receiving the reply to free up any memory allocated on its behalf.

    typedef struct {
         unsigned long sequence_of_request;
         int major_opcode_of_request;
         int minor_opcode_of_request;
         IcePointer reply;
    } IceReplyWaitInfo;

If reply_wait is not NULL and has a reply or error to return in response to this reply_wait (that is, no callback was generated), then the reply_ready_ret argument will be set to `True`

If reply_wait is NULL, then the caller may also pass NULL for reply_ready_ret and be guaranteed that no value will be stored in this pointer.

returns one of the following values:

- `IceProcessMessagesSuccess` - no error occurred.

- `IceProcessMessagesIOError` - an IO error occurred, and the caller must explicitly close the connection by calling

- `IceProcessMessagesConnectionClosed` - the ICE connection has been closed (closing of the connection was deferred because of shutdown negotiation, or because the nesting level was not zero). Do not attempt to access the ICE connection at this point, since it has been freed.

## Ping

To send a "Ping" message to the client on the other side of the ICE connection, use

      Status IcePing
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePingReplyProc ping_reply_proc
        IcePointer client_data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

ping_reply_proc

  The callback to invoke when the Ping reply arrives.

client_data

  This pointer will be passed to the `IcePingReplyProc` callback.

returns zero for failure and a positive value for success.

When processes the Ping reply, it will invoke the `IcePingReplyProc` callback.

      void PingReplyProc
        IceConn ice_conn
        IcePointer client_data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

client_data

  The client data specified in the call to

## Using ICElib Informational Functions

      IceConnectStatus IceConnectionStatus
        IceConn ice_conn

returns the status of an ICE connection. The possible return values are:

- `IceConnectPending` - the connection is not valid yet (that is, authentication is taking place). This is only relevant to connections created by

- `IceConnectAccepted` - the connection has been accepted. This is only relevant to connections created by

- `IceConnectRejected` - the connection had been rejected (that is, authentication failed). This is only relevant to connections created by

- `IceConnectIOError` - an IO error has occurred on the connection.

      char  *IceVendor
        IceConn ice_conn

`IceVendor` returns the ICE library vendor identification for the other side of the connection. The string should be freed with a call to `free` when no longer needed.

      char  *IceRelease
        IceConn ice_conn

`IceRelease` returns the release identification of the ICE library on the other side of the connection. The string should be freed with a call to `free` when no longer needed.

      int  IceProtocolVersion
        IceConn ice_conn

returns the major version of the ICE protocol on this connection.

      int  IceProtocolRevision
        IceConn ice_conn

returns the minor version of the ICE protocol on this connection.

      int  IceConnectionNumber
        IceConn ice_conn

`IceConnectionNumber` returns the file descriptor of this ICE connection.

      char  *IceConnectionString
        IceConn ice_conn

`IceConnectionString` returns the network ID of the client that accepted this connection. The string should be freed with a call to `free` when no longer needed.

      unsigned long  IceLastSentSequenceNumber
        IceConn ice_conn

returns the sequence number of the last message sent on this ICE connection.

      unsigned long  IceLastReceivedSequenceNumber
        IceConn ice_conn

`IceLastReceivedSequenceNumber` returns the sequence number of the last message received on this ICE connection.

      Bool  IceSwapping
        IceConn ice_conn

returns `True` if byte swapping is necessary when reading messages on the ICE connection.

      IcePointer  IceGetContext
        IceConn ice_conn

returns the context associated with a connection created by

## ICE Messages

All ICE messages have a standard 8-byte header. The ICElib macros that read and write messages rely on the following naming convention for message headers:

         CARD8	major_opcode;
         CARD8	minor_opcode;
         CARD8	data[2];
         CARD32	length;

The 3rd and 4th bytes of the message header can be used as needed. The length field is specified in units of 8 bytes.

### Sending ICE Messages

The ICE library maintains an output buffer used for generating messages. Protocol libraries layered on top of ICE may choose to batch messages together and flush the output buffer at appropriate times.

If an IO error has occurred on an ICE connection, all write operations will be ignored. For further information, see .

To get the size of the ICE output buffer, use

      int  IceGetOutBufSize
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

To flush the ICE output buffer, use

      int  IceFlush
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

Note that the output buffer may be implicitly flushed if there is insufficient space to generate a message.

The following macros can be used to generate ICE messages:

       IceGetHeader
        IceConn ice_conn
        int major_opcode
        int minor_opcode
        int header_size
        <C_data_type> *pmsg

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

major_opcode

  The major opcode of the message.

minor_opcode

  The minor opcode of the message.

header_size

  The size of the message header (in bytes).

<C_data_type>

  The actual C data type of the message header.

pmsg

  The message header pointer. After this macro is called, the library can store data in the message header.

is used to set up a message header on an ICE connection. It sets the major and minor opcodes of the message, and initializes the message's length to the length of the header. If additional variable length data follows, the message's length field should be updated.

       IceGetHeaderExtra
        IceConn ice_conn
        int major_opcode
        int minor_opcode
        int header_size
        int extra
        <C_data_type> *pmsg
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

major_opcode

  The major opcode of the message.

minor_opcode

  The minor opcode of the message.

header_size

  The size of the message header (in bytes).

extra

  The size of the extra data beyond the header (in 8-byte units).

<C_data_type>

  The actual C data type of the message header.

pmsg

  The message header pointer. After this macro is called, the library can store data in the message header.

pdata

  Returns a pointer to the ICE output buffer that points immediately after the message header. The variable length data should be stored here. If there was not enough room in the ICE output buffer, pdata is set to NULL.

is used to generate a message with a fixed (and relatively small) amount of variable length data. The complete message must fit in the ICE output buffer.

       IceSimpleMessage
        IceConn ice_conn
        int major_opcode
        int minor_opcode

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

major_opcode

  The major opcode of the message.

minor_opcode

  The minor opcode of the message.

is used to generate a message that is identical in size to the ICE header message, and has no additional data.

       IceErrorHeader
        IceConn ice_conn
        int offending_major_opcode
        int offending_minor_opcode
        int offending_sequence_num
        int severity
        int error_class
        int data_length

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

offending_major_opcode

  The major opcode of the protocol in which an error was detected.

offending_minor_opcode

  The minor opcode of the protocol in which an error was detected.

offending_sequence_num

  The sequence number of the message that caused the error.

severity

  `IceCanContinue` `IceFatalToProtocol` or `IceFatalToConnection`

error_class

  The error class.

data_length

  Length of data (in 8-byte units) to be written after the header.

sets up an error message header.

Note that the two clients connected by ICE may be using different major opcodes for a given protocol. The offending_major_opcode passed to this macro is the major opcode of the protocol for the client sending the error message.

Generic errors, which are common to all protocols, have classes in the range 0x8000..0xFFFF. See the Inter-Client Exchange Protocol standard for more details.

IceBadMinor | 0x8000
IceBadState | 0x8001
IceBadLength | 0x8002
IceBadValue | 0x8003

Per-protocol errors have classes in the range 0x0000-0x7fff.

To write data to an ICE connection, use the macro. If the data fits into the ICE output buffer, it is copied there. Otherwise, the ICE output buffer is flushed and the data is directly sent.

This macro is used in conjunction with and

       IceWriteData
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to write.

data

  The data to write.

To write data as 16-bit quantities, use

       IceWriteData16
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to write.

data

  The data to write.

To write data as 32-bit quantities, use

       IceWriteData32
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to write.

data

  The data to write.

To write data as 32-bit quantities, use

To bypass copying data to the ICE output buffer, use to directly send data over the network connection. If necessary, the ICE output buffer is first flushed.

       IceSendData
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to send.

data

  The data to send.

To force 32-bit or 64-bit alignment, use A maximum of 7 pad bytes can be specified.

       IceWritePad
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *data

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to write.

data

  The number of pad bytes to write.

### Reading ICE Messages

The ICE library maintains an input buffer used for reading messages. If the ICE library chooses to perform nonblocking reads (this is implementation-dependent), then for every read operation that it makes, zero or more complete messages may be read into the input buffer. As a result, for all of the macros described in this section that read messages, an actual read operation will occur on the connection only if the data is not already present in the input buffer.

To get the size of the ICE input buffer, use

      int IceGetInBufSize
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

When reading messages, care must be taken to check for IO errors. If any IO error occurs in reading any part of a message, the message should be thrown out. After using any of the macros described below for reading messages, the macro can be used to check if an IO error occurred on the connection. After an IO error has occurred on an ICE connection, all read operations will be ignored. For further information, see .

      Bool IceValidIO
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

The following macros can be used to read ICE messages.

       IceReadSimpleMessage
        IceConn ice_conn
        <C_data_type> *pmsg

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

<C_data_type>

  The actual C data type of the message header.

pmsg

  This pointer is set to the message header.

is used for messages that are identical in size to the 8-byte ICE header, but use the spare 2 bytes in the header to encode additional data. Note that the ICE library always reads in these first 8 bytes, so it can obtain the major opcode of the message. simply returns a pointer to these 8 bytes; it does not actually read any data into the input buffer.

For a message with variable length data, there are two ways of reading the message. One method involves reading the complete message in one pass using The second method involves reading the message header (note that this may be larger than the 8-byte ICE header), then reading the variable length data in chunks (see and

       IceReadCompleteMessage
        IceConn ice_conn
        int header_size
        <C_data_type> *pmsg
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

header_size

  The size of the message header (in bytes).

<C_data_type>

  The actual C data type of the message header.

pmsg

  This pointer is set to the message header.

pdata

  This pointer is set to the variable length data of the message.

If the ICE input buffer has sufficient space, will read the complete message into the ICE input buffer. Otherwise, a buffer will be allocated to hold the variable length data. After the call, the pdata argument should be checked against NULL to make sure that there was sufficient memory to allocate the buffer.

After calling and processing the message, should be called.

       IceDisposeCompleteMessage
        IceConn ice_conn
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

pdata

  The pointer to the variable length data returned in

If a buffer had to be allocated to hold the variable length data (because it did not fit in the ICE input buffer), it is freed here by ICElib.

       IceReadMessageHeader
        IceConn ice_conn
        int header_size
        <C_data_type> *pmsg

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

header_size

  The size of the message header (in bytes).

<C_data_type>

  The actual C data type of the message header.

pmsg

  This pointer is set to the message header.

reads just the message header. The rest of the data should be read with the family of macros. This method of reading a message should be used when the variable length data must be read in chunks.

To read data directly into a user supplied buffer, use

       IceReadData
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of bytes to read.

pdata

  The data is read into this user supplied buffer.

To read data as 16-bit quantities, use

       IceReadData16
        IceConn ice_conn
        Bool swap
        int bytes
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

swap

  If `True,` the values will be byte swapped.

bytes

  The number of bytes to read.

pdata

  The data is read into this user supplied buffer.

To read data as 32-bit quantities, use

       IceReadData32
        IceConn ice_conn
        Bool swap
        int bytes
        char *pdata

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

swap

  If `True,` the values will be byte swapped.

bytes

  The number of bytes to read.

pdata

  The data is read into this user supplied buffer.

To force 32-bit or 64-bit alignment, use A maximum of 7 pad bytes can be specified.

       IceReadPad
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes

ice_conn

  A valid ICE connection object.

bytes

  The number of pad bytes.

## Error Handling

There are two default error handlers in ICElib:

- One to handle typically fatal conditions (for example, a connection dying because a machine crashed)

- One to handle ICE-specific protocol errors

These error handlers can be changed to user-supplied routines if you prefer your own error handling and can be changed as often as you like.

To set the ICE error handler, use

       IceSetErrorHandler
        IceConn ice_conn
        int bytes

handler

  The ICE error handler. You should pass NULL to restore the default handler.

returns the previous error handler.

The ICE error handler is invoked when an unexpected ICE protocol error (major opcode 0) is encountered. The action of the default handler is to print an explanatory message to `stderr` and if the severity is fatal, call `exit` with a nonzero value. If exiting is undesirable, the application should register its own error handler.

Note that errors in other protocol domains should be handled by their respective libraries (these libraries should have their own error handlers).

An ICE error handler has the type of

      void IceErrorHandler
        IceConn ice_conn
        Bool swap
        int offending_minor_opcode
        unsigned long offending_sequence_num
        int error_class
        int severity
        IcePointer values

handler

  The ICE connection object.

swap

  A flag that indicates if the values need byte swapping.

offending_minor_opcode

  The ICE minor opcode of the offending message.

offending_sequence_num

  The sequence number of the offending message.

error_class

  The error class of the offending message.

severity

  `IceCanContinue` `IceFatalToProtocol` or `IceFatalToConnection`

values

  Any additional error values specific to the minor opcode and class.

The following error classes are defined at the ICE level:

    IceBadMinor
    IceBadState
    IceBadLength
    IceBadValue
    IceBadMajor
    IceNoAuth
    IceNoVersion
    IceSetupFailed
    IceAuthRejected
    IceAuthFailed
    IceProtocolDuplicate
    IceMajorOpcodeDuplicate
    IceUnknownProtocol

For further information, see the Inter-Client Exchange Protocol standard.

To handle fatal I/O errors, use

      IceIOErrorHandler IceSetIOErrorHandler
        IceIOErrorHandler handler

handler

  The I/O error handler. You should pass NULL to restore the default handler.

returns the previous IO error handler.

An ICE I/O error handler has the type of

      void IceIOErrorHandler
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

There are two ways of handling IO errors in ICElib:

- In the first, the IO error handler does whatever is necessary to respond to the IO error and then returns, but it does not call The ICE connection is given a "bad IO" status, and all future reads and writes to the connection are ignored. The next time is called it will return a status of `IceProcessMessagesIOError` At that time, the application should call

- In the second, the IO error handler does call and then uses the `longjmp` call to get back to the application's main event loop. The `setjmp` and `longjmp` calls may not work properly on all platforms, and special care must be taken to avoid memory leaks. Therefore, this second model is less desirable.

Before the application I/O error handler is invoked, protocol libraries that were interested in being notified of I/O errors will have their handlers invoked. This handler is set up in the protocol registration functions (see and and could be used to clean up state specific to the protocol.

      void IceIOErrorProc
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

Note that every callback must return. This is required because each active protocol must be notified of the broken connection, and the application IO error handler must be invoked afterwards.

## Multi-Threading Support

To declare that multiple threads in an application will be using the ICE library, use `IceInitThreads`

    Status IceInitThreads()

The `IceInitThreads` function must be the first ICElib function a multi-threaded program calls. It must complete before any other ICElib call is made. `IceInitThreads` returns a nonzero status if and only if it was able to initialize the threads package successfully. It is safe to call `IceInitThreads` more than once, although the threads package will only be initialized once.

Protocol libraries layered on top of ICElib will have to lock critical sections of code that access an ICE connection (for example, when generating messages). Two calls, which are generally implemented as macros, are provided:

      void IceLockConn
        IceConn ice_conn

      void IceUnlockConn
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

To keep an ICE connection locked across several ICElib calls, applications use and

      void IceAppLockConn
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

The function completely locks out other threads using the connection until is called. Other threads attempting to use ICElib calls on the connection will block. If the program has not previously called `IceInitThreads` has no effect.

      void IceAppUnlockConn
        IceConn ice_conn

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

The function allows other threads to complete ICElib calls on the connection that were blocked by a previous call to from this thread. If the program has not previously called `IceInitThreads` has no effect.

## Miscellaneous Functions

To allocate scratch space (for example, when generating messages with variable data), use `IceAllocScratch` Each ICE connection has one scratch space associated with it. The scratch space starts off as empty and grows as needed. The contents of the scratch space is not guaranteed to be preserved after any ICElib function is called.

      char *IceAllocScratch
        IceConn ice_conn
        unsigned long size

ice_conn

  The ICE connection object.

size

  The number of bytes required.

Note that the memory returned by `IceAllocScratch` should not be freed by the caller. The ICE library will free the memory when the ICE connection is closed.

## Acknowledgements

Thanks to Bob Scheifler for his thoughtful input on the design of the ICE library. Thanks also to Jordan Brown, Larry Cable, Donna Converse, Clive Feather, Stephen Gildea, Vania Joloboff, Kaleb Keithley, Stuart Marks, Hiro Miyamoto, Ralph Swick, Jim VanGilder, and Mike Wexler.

## Authentication Utility Functions

As discussed in this document, the means by which authentication data is obtained by the ICE library (for `ConnectionSetup` messages or `ProtocolSetup` messages) is implementation-dependent.† The X Consortium's ICElib implementation assumes the presence of an ICE authority file.

This appendix describes some utility functions that manipulate an ICE authority file. The authority file can be used to pass authentication data between clients.

The basic operations on the .ICEauthority file are:

- Get file name

- Lock

- Unlock

- Read entry

- Write entry

- Search for entry

These are fairly low-level operations, and it is expected that a program, like "iceauth", would exist to add, remove, and display entries in the file.

In order to use these utility functions, the <X11/ICE/ICEutil.h> header file must be included.

An entry in the .ICEauthority file is defined by the following data structure:

    typedef struct {
         char *protocol_name;
         unsigned short protocol_data_length;
         char *protocol_data;
         char *network_id;
         char *auth_name;
         unsigned short auth_data_length;
         char *auth_data;
    } IceAuthFileEntry;

The protocol_name member is either "ICE" for connection setup authentication or the subprotocol name, such as "XSMP". For each entry, protocol specific data can be specified in the protocol_data member. This can be used to search for old entries that need to be removed from the file.

The network_id member is the network ID of the client accepting authentication (for example, the network ID of a session manager). A network ID has the following form:

tcp/<hostname>:<portnumber> | or
decnet/<hostname>::<objname> | or
local/<hostname>:<path> |

The auth_name member is the name of the authentication method. The auth_data member is the actual authentication data, and the auth_data_length member is the number of bytes in the data.

To obtain the default authorization file name, use `IceAuthFileName`

    char *IceAuthFileName()

If the ICEAUTHORITY environment variable if set, this value is returned. Otherwise, the default authorization file name is $HOME/.ICEauthority. This name is statically allocated and should not be freed.

To synchronously update the authorization file, the file must be locked with a call to This function takes advantage of the fact that the `link` system call will fail if the name of the new link already exists.

      int IceLockAuthFile
        char *file_name
        int retries
        int timeout
        long dead

file_name

  The authorization file to lock.

retries

  The number of retries.

timeout

  The number of seconds before each retry.

dead

  If a lock already exists that is the specified dead seconds old, it is broken. A value of zero is used to unconditionally break an old lock.

One of three values is returned:

- `IceAuthLockSuccess` - the lock succeeded.

- `IceAuthLockError` - a system error occurred, and `errno` may prove useful.

- `IceAuthLockTimeout` - the specified number of retries failed.

To unlock an authorization file, use

      int IceUnlockAuthFile
        char *file_name

file_name

  The authorization file to unlock.

To read the next entry in an authorization file, use `IceReadAuthFileEntry`

      IceAuthFileEntry *IceReadAuthFileEntry
        FILE *auth_file

auth_file

  The authorization file.

Note that it is the responsibility of the application to open the file for reading before calling this function. If an error is encountered, or there are no more entries to read, NULL is returned.

Entries should be free with a call to

To write an entry in an authorization file, use

      Status IceWriteAuthFileEntry
        FILE *auth_file
        IceAuthFileEntry *entry

auth_file

  The authorization file.

entry

  The entry to write.

Note that it is the responsibility of the application to open the file for writing before calling this function. The function returns a nonzero status if the operation was successful.

To search the default authorization file for an entry that matches a given protocol_name/network_id/auth_name tuple, use `IceGetAuthFileEntry`

      IceAuthFileEntry *IceGetAuthFileEntry
        const char *protocol_name
        const char *network_id
        const char *auth_name

auth_file

  The name of the protocol to search on.

network_id

  The network ID to search on.

auth_name

  The authentication method to search on.

If `IceGetAuthFileEntry` fails to find such an entry, NULL is returned.

To free an entry returned by `IceReadAuthFileEntry` or `IceGetAuthFileEntry` use

      void IceFreeAuthFileEntry
        IceAuthFileEntry *entry

entry

  The entry to free.

## MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 Authentication

The X Consortium's ICElib implementation supports a simple MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 authentication scheme using the authority file utilities described in Appendix A.

In this model, an application, such as a session manager, obtains a magic cookie by calling `IceGenerateMagicCookie` and then stores it in the user's local .ICEauthority file so that local clients can connect. In order to allow remote clients to connect, some remote execution mechanism should be used to store the magic cookie in the user's .ICEauthority file on a remote machine.

In addition to storing the magic cookie in the .ICEauthority file, the application needs to call the function in order to store the magic cookie in memory. When it comes time for the MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 authentication procedure to accept or reject the connection, it will compare the magic cookie presented by the requestor to the magic cookie in memory.

      char *IceGenerateMagicCookie
        int length

length

  The desired length of the magic cookie.

The magic cookie returned will be null-terminated. If memory can not be allocated for the magic cookie, the function will return NULL. Otherwise, the magic cookie should be freed with a call to `free`

To store the authentication data in memory, use Currently, this function is only used for MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 authentication, but it may be used for additional authentication methods in the future.

      void IceSetPaAuthData
        int num_entries
        IceAuthDataEntry *entries

num_entries

  The number of authentication data entries.

entries

  The list of authentication data entries.

Each entry has associated with it a protocol name (for example, "ICE" for ICE connection setup authentication, "XSMP" for session management authentication), a network ID for the "accepting" client, an authentication name (for example, MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1), and authentication data. The ICE library will merge these entries with previously set entries, based on the (protocol_name, network_id, auth_name) tuple.

    typedef struct {
    	char *protocol_name;
    	char *network_id;
    	char *auth_name;
    	unsigned short auth_data_length;
    	char *auth_data;
    } IceAuthDataEntry;