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-rw-r--r--lib/libsys/getgroups.296
1 files changed, 73 insertions, 23 deletions
diff --git a/lib/libsys/getgroups.2 b/lib/libsys/getgroups.2
index 91cca2748ec2..4e94b32d4e7b 100644
--- a/lib/libsys/getgroups.2
+++ b/lib/libsys/getgroups.2
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
+.\"-
+.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
+.\" Copyright (c) 2025 The FreeBSD Foundation
+.\"
+.\" Portions of this documentation were written by Olivier Certner
+.\" <olce@FreeBSD.org> at Kumacom SARL under sponsorship from the FreeBSD
+.\" Foundation.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
@@ -25,12 +33,12 @@
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
-.Dd January 21, 2011
+.Dd October 10, 2025
.Dt GETGROUPS 2
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm getgroups
-.Nd get group access list
+.Nd get the calling process' supplementary groups
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
@@ -40,36 +48,39 @@
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn getgroups
-system call
-gets the current group access list of the user process
-and stores it in the array
-.Fa gidset .
-The
+system call gets the calling process' supplementary groups and stores them in
+the
+.Fa gidset
+array in strictly ascending order.
+The value of
.Fa gidsetlen
-argument
-indicates the number of entries that may be placed in
+indicates the maximum number of entries that may be placed in
.Fa gidset .
-The
-.Fn getgroups
-system call
-returns the actual number of groups returned in
-.Fa gidset .
-At least one and as many as {NGROUPS_MAX}+1 values may be returned.
+.Pp
If
.Fa gidsetlen
is zero,
.Fn getgroups
-returns the number of supplementary group IDs associated with
-the calling process without modifying the array pointed to by
+returns the cardinal of the calling process' supplementary groups set and
+ignores argument
.Fa gidset .
.Pp
+No more than
+.Dv {NGROUPS_MAX}
+values may ever be returned.
The value of
.Dv {NGROUPS_MAX}
should be obtained using
.Xr sysconf 3
to avoid hard-coding it into the executable.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
-A successful call returns the number of groups in the group set.
+On success, the
+.Fn getgroups
+system call returns the cardinal of the supplementary groups set.
+It always succeeds if argument
+.Fa gidsetlen
+is zero.
+.Pp
A value of -1 indicates that an error occurred, and the error
code is stored in the global variable
.Va errno .
@@ -81,12 +92,12 @@ are:
.It Bq Er EINVAL
The argument
.Fa gidsetlen
-is smaller than the number of groups in the group set.
+is smaller than the number of supplementary groups
+.Pq but not zero .
.It Bq Er EFAULT
-The argument
+An invalid address was encountered while reading from the
.Fa gidset
-specifies
-an invalid address.
+array.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr setgroups 2 ,
@@ -96,9 +107,48 @@ an invalid address.
The
.Fn getgroups
system call conforms to
-.St -p1003.1-2008 .
+.St -p1003.1-2008 ,
+not reporting the effective group ID.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn getgroups
system call appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
+.Pp
+Since
+.Fx 14.3 ,
+the
+.Fn getgroups
+system call has been reporting the supplementary groups in strictly ascending
+order.
+.Pp
+Before
+.Fx 15.0 ,
+the
+.Fn getgroups
+system call would additionally return the effective group ID as the first
+element of the array, before the supplementary groups.
+.Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
+The
+.Fn getgroups
+system call gets the supplementary groups set in the
+.Fa gidset
+array.
+In particular, as evoked in
+.Sx HISTORY ,
+it does not anymore retrieve the effective group ID in the first slot of
+.Fa gidset .
+Programs that process this slot in a specific way must be modified to obtain the
+effective group ID through other means, such as a call to
+.Xr getegid 2 .
+.Pp
+The effective group ID is present in the supplementary groups set if and only if
+it was explicitly set as a supplementary group.
+The function
+.Fn initgroups
+enforces that, while the
+.Fn setgroups
+system call does not.
+Please consult the
+.Xr initgroups 3
+manual page for the rationale.