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RFC 3493: Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

The de facto standard Application Program Interface (API) for TCP/IP applications is the "sockets" interface. Although this API was developed for Unix in the early 1980s it has also been implemented on a wide variety of non-Unix systems. TCP/IP applications written using the sockets API have in the past enjoyed a high degree of portability and we would like the same portability with IPv6 applications. But changes are required to the sockets API to support IPv6 and this memo describes these changes. These include a new socket address structure to carry IPv6 addresses, new address conversion functions, and some new socket options. These extensions are designed to provide access to the basic IPv6 features required by TCP and UDP applications, including multicasting, while introducing a minimum of change into the system and providing complete compatibility for existing IPv4 applications. Additional extensions for advanced IPv6 features (raw sockets and access to the IPv6 extension headers) are defined in another document. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

Document record

Document ID
RFC3493
Published
March 2003
Authors
R. Gilligan; S. Thomson; J. Bound; J. McCann; W. Stevens
Status
INFORMATIONAL
Stream
IETF
Area
int
Pages
39
Also known as
—
Obsoletes:
RFC 2553

Topics

Standards lineage

This document is one revision in a chain of 3 RFCs, each formally replacing the one before it.

  1. RFC 2133 (1997)
  2. RFC 2553 (1999)
  3. RFC 3493 (2003)

Read the full history of Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6 →

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The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

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canonical URL: /rfc/3493-basic-socket-interface-extensions-for-ipv6