GETLOCALBASE(3) FreeBSD Library Functions Manual GETLOCALBASE(3)
NAME
getlocalbase - return the path to the local software directory
LIBRARY
System Utilities Library (libutil, -lutil)
SYNOPSIS
#include <libutil.h>
const char*
getlocalbase(void);
DESCRIPTION
The getlocalbase() function returns the path to the local software base
directory. Normally this is the /usr/local directory. First the
LOCALBASE environment variable is checked. If that does not exist then
the user.localbase sysctl is checked. If that also does not exist then
the value of the LOCALBASE_PATH compile-time variable is used. If that
is undefined then the system default, _PATH_LOCALBASE is used.
The contents of the string returned by the getlocalbase() function shall
not be modified.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
Calls to getlocalbase() will perform a setugid check on the running
binary before checking the environment.
The address returned by getlocalbase() will point into the executing
processes environment if it is the result of getenv(LOCALBASE), to a
static buffer if it is the result of sysctl(user.localbase), and to a
constant string if the compiled in default value is returned.
The same value will be returned on successive calls during the run-time
of the program, ignoring any changes to the environment variable or the
sysctl value that might have been made.
The getlocalbase() function can be compiled with a non-default value of
LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN. A value of 0 will disable fetching of the sysctl
value, a value less than MAXPATHLEN will put a limit on the maximum
string length supported for this sysctl value. If built with a non-
default value of LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN, a value of the user.localbase sysctl
variable longer than this value will make getlocalbase() return a valid
string that is not a valid path prefix in any filesystem.
RETURN VALUES
The getlocalbase() function returns a pointer to a string, whose length
may exceed MAXPATHLEN, if it has been obtained from the environment.
ENVIRONMENT
The getlocalbase() library function retrieves the LOCALBASE environment
variable.
ERRORS
The getlocalbase() function always succeeds and returns a valid pointer
to a string.
SEE ALSO
env(1), src.conf(5), sysctl(8)
HISTORY
The getlocalbase library function first appeared in FreeBSD 13.0.
AUTHORS
This manual page was written by Scott Long <
[email protected]> and
Stefan Esser <
[email protected]>.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 July 11, 2023 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8