# man > netconfig(5)

[_NETCONFIG_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETCONFIG/5/markdown)                             File Formats Manual                            [_NETCONFIG_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETCONFIG/5/markdown)

## NAME
       netconfig — network configuration data base

## SYNOPSIS
       _/etc/netconfig_

## DESCRIPTION
       The **netconfig **file defines a list of “transport names”, describing their semantics and proto‐
       col.  In FreeBSD, this file is only used by the RPC library code.

       Entries have the following format:

       _network_id_ _semantics_ _flags_ _family_ _protoname_ _device_ _libraries_

       Entries consist of the following fields:

       _network_id_  The name of the transport described.

       _semantics_   Describes the semantics of the transport.  This can be one of:

                         **tpi_clts      **Connectionless transport.

                         **tpi_cots      **Connection-oriented transport

                         **tpi_cots_ord  **Connection-oriented, ordered transport.

                         **tpi_raw       **A raw connection.

       _flags_       This field is either blank (specified by “**-**”), or contains a “**v**”, meaning visible
                   to the [_getnetconfig_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetconfig/3/markdown) function.

       _family_      The protocol family of the transport.  This is currently one of:

                         **inet6     **The IPv6 (PF_INET6) family of protocols.

                         **inet      **The IPv4 (PF_INET) family of protocols.

                         **loopback  **The PF_LOCAL protocol family.

       _protoname_   The  name  of the protocol used for this transport.  Can currently be either **udp**,
                   **tcp **or empty.

       _device_      This field is always empty in FreeBSD.

       _libraries_   This field is always empty in FreeBSD.

       The order of entries in this file will determine which transport will be preferred by the RPC
       library code, given a match on a specified network type.  For example, if  a  sample  network
       config file would look like this:

             udp6       tpi_clts      v     inet6    udp     -       -
             tcp6       tpi_cots_ord  v     inet6    tcp     -       -
             udp        tpi_clts      v     inet     udp     -       -
             tcp        tpi_cots_ord  v     inet     tcp     -       -
             rawip      tpi_raw       -     inet      -      -       -
             local      tpi_cots_ord  -     loopback  -      -       -

       then  using  the network type **udp **in calls to the RPC library function (see [_rpc_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rpc/3/markdown)) will make
       the code first try **udp6**, and then **udp**.

       [_getnetconfig_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetconfig/3/markdown) and associated functions will parse this file and return  structures  of  the
       following format:

       struct netconfig {
           char *nc_netid;              /* Network ID */
           unsigned long nc_semantics;  /* Semantics (see below) */
           unsigned long nc_flag;       /* Flags (see below) */
           char *nc_protofmly;          /* Protocol family */
           char *nc_proto;              /* Protocol name */
           char *nc_device;             /* Network device pathname (unused) */
           unsigned long nc_nlookups;   /* Number of lookup libs (unused) */
           char **nc_lookups;           /* Names of the libraries (unused) */
           unsigned long nc_unused[9];  /* reserved */
       };

## FILES
       _/etc/netconfig_

## SEE ALSO
       [_getnetconfig_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetconfig/3/markdown), [_getnetpath_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetpath/3/markdown)

Debian                                    November 17, 2000                             [_NETCONFIG_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETCONFIG/5/markdown)