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socat(1) socat(1)
NAME
socat - Multipurpose relay (SOcket CAT)
SYNOPSIS
socat [options] <address> <address>
socat -V
socat -h[h[h]] | -?[?[?]]
filan
procan
DESCRIPTION
Socat is a command line based utility that establishes two bidirectional byte streams and
transfers data between them. Because the streams can be constructed from a large set of
different types of data sinks and sources (see address types), and because lots of address
options may be applied to the streams, socat can be used for many different purposes. It
might be one of the tools that one `has already needed'.
Filan is a utility that prints information about its active file descriptors to stdout. It
has been written for debugging socat, but might be useful for other purposes too. Use the
-h option to find more infos.
Procan is a utility that prints information about process parameters to stdout. It has
been written to better understand some UNIX process properties and for debugging socat,
but might be useful for other purposes too.
The life cycle of a socat instance typically consists of four phases.
In the init phase, the command line options are parsed and logging is initialized.
During the open phase, socat opens the first address and afterwards the second address.
These steps are usually blocking; thus, especially for complex address types like socks,
connection requests or authentication dialogs must be completed before the next step is
started.
In the transfer phase, socat watches both streams' read and write file descriptors via
select(), and, when data is available on one side and can be written to the other side,
socat reads it, performs newline character conversions if required, and writes the data to
the write file descriptor of the other stream, then continues waiting for more data in
both directions.
When one of the streams effectively reaches EOF, the closing phase begins. Socat transfers
the EOF condition to the other stream, i.e. tries to shutdown only its write stream, giv-
ing it a chance to terminate gracefully. For a defined time socat continues to transfer
data in the other direction, but then closes all remaining channels and terminates.
OPTIONS
Socat provides some command line options that modify the behaviour of the program. They
have nothing to do with so called address options that are used as parts of address speci-
fications.
-V Print version and available feature information to stdout, and exit.
-h | -?
Print a help text to stdout describing command line options and available address
types, and exit.
-hh | -??
Like -h, plus a list of the short names of all available address options. Some
options are platform dependend, so this output is helpful for checking the
particular implementation.
-hhh | -???
Like -hh, plus a list of all available address option names.
-d Without this option, only fatal and error messages are generated; applying this
option also prints warning messages. See DIAGNOSTICS for more information.
-d -d Prints fatal, error, warning, and notice messages.
-d -d -d
Prints fatal, error, warning, notice, and info messages.
-d -d -d -d
Prints fatal, error, warning, notice, info, and debug messages.
-D Logs information about file descriptors before starting the transfer phase.
-ly[<facility>]
Writes messages to syslog instead of stderr; severity as defined with -d option.
With optional <facility>, the syslog type can be selected, default is "daemon".
-lf<logfile>
Writes messages to <logfile> [filename] instead of stderr.
-ls Writes messages to stderr (this is the default).
-lp<progname>
Overrides the program name printed in error messages.
-lu Extends the timestamp of error messages to microsecond resolution. Does not work
when logging to syslog.
-lm[<facility>]
Mixed log mode. During startup messages are printed to stderr; when socat starts
the transfer phase loop or daemon mode (i.e. after opening all streams and before
starting data transfer, or, with listening sockets with fork option, before the
first accept call), it switches logging to syslog. With optional <facility>, the
syslog type can be selected, default is "daemon".
-lh Adds hostname to log messages. Uses the value from environment variable HOSTNAME or
the value retrieved with uname() if HOSTNAME is not set.
-v Writes the transferred data not only to their target streams, but also to stderr.
The output format is text with some conversions for readability, and prefixed with
"> " or "< " indicating flow directions.
-x Writes the transferred data not only to their target streams, but also to stderr.
The output format is hexadecimal, prefixed with "> " or "< " indicating flow direc-
tions. Can be combined with -v.
-b<size>
Sets the data transfer block <size> [size_t]. At most <size> bytes are transferred
per step. Default is 8192 bytes.
-s By default, socat terminates when an error occurred to prevent the process from
running when some option could not be applied. With this option, socat is sloppy
with errors and tries to continue. Even with this option, socat will exit on
fatals, and will abort connection attempts when security checks failed.
-t<timeout>
When one channel has reached EOF, the write part of the other channel is shut down.
Then, socat waits <timeout> [timeval] seconds before terminating. Default is 0.5
seconds. This timeout only applies to addresses where write and read part can be
closed independently. When during the timeout interval the read part gives EOF,
socat terminates without awaiting the timeout.
-T<timeout>
Total inactivity timeout: when socat is already in the transfer loop and nothing
has happened for <timeout> [timeval] seconds (no data arrived, no interrupt
occurred...) then it terminates. Useful with protocols like UDP that cannot trans-
fer EOF.
-u Uses unidirectional mode. The first address is only used for reading, and the sec-
ond address is only used for writing (example).
-U Uses unidirectional mode in reverse direction. The first address is only used for
writing, and the second address is only used for reading.
-g During address option parsing, don't check if the option is considered useful in
the given address environment. Use it if you want to force, e.g., appliance of a
socket option to a serial device.
-L<lockfile>
If lockfile exists, exits with error. If lockfile does not exist, creates it and
continues, unlinks lockfile on exit.
-W<lockfile>
If lockfile exists, waits until it disappears. When lockfile does not exist, cre-
ates it and continues, unlinks lockfile on exit.
-4 Use IP version 4 in case that the addresses do not implicitly or explicitly specify
a version; this is the default.
-6 Use IP version 6 in case that the addresses do not implicitly or explicitly specify
a version.
ADDRESS SPECIFICATIONS
With the address command line arguments, the user gives socat instructions and the neces-
sary information for establishing the byte streams.
An address specification usually consists of an address type keyword, zero or more
required address parameters separated by ':' from the keyword and from each other, and
zero or more address options separated by ','.
The keyword specifies the address type (e.g., TCP4, OPEN, EXEC). For some keywords there
exist synonyms ('-' for STDIO, TCP for TCP4). Keywords are case insensitive. For a few
special address types, the keyword may be omitted: Address specifications starting with a
number are assumed to be FD (raw file descriptor) addresses; if a '/' is found before the
first ':' or ',', GOPEN (generic file open) is assumed.
The required number and type of address parameters depend on the address type. E.g., TCP4
requires a server specification (name or address), and a port specification (number or
service name).
Zero or more address options may be given with each address. They influence the address in
some ways. Options consist of an option keyword or an option keyword and a value, sepa-
rated by '='. Option keywords are case insensitive. For filtering the options that are
useful with an address type, each option is member of one option group. For each address
type there is a set of option groups allowed. Only options belonging to one of these
address groups may be used (except with option -g).
Address specifications following the above schema are also called single address specifi-
cations. Two single addresses can be combined with "!!" to form a dual type address for
one channel. Here, the first address is used by socat for reading data, and the second
address for writing data. There is no way to specify an option only once for being applied
to both single addresses.
Usually, addresses are opened in read/write mode. When an address is part of a dual
address specification, or when option -u or -U is used, an address might be used only for
reading or for writing. Considering this is important with some address types.
With socat version 1.5.0 and higher, the lexical analysis tries to handle quotes and
parenthesis meaningfully and allows escaping of special characters. If one of the charac-
ters ( { [ ' is found, the corresponding closing character - ) } ] ' - is looked for; they
may also be nested. Within these constructs, socats special characters and strings : , !!
are not handled specially. All those characters and strings can be escaped with \ or
within ""
ADDRESS TYPES
This section describes the available address types with their keywords, parameters, and
semantics.
CREATE:<filename>
Opens <filename> with creat() and uses the file descriptor for writing. This
address type requires write-only context, because a file opened with creat cannot
be read from. <filename> must be a valid existing or not existing path. If <file-
name> is a named pipe, creat() might block; if <filename> refers to a socket, this
is an error.
Option groups: FD,REG,NAMED
Useful options: mode, user, group, unlink-early, unlink-late, append
See also: OPEN, GOPEN
EXEC:<command-line>
Forks a sub process that establishes communication with its parent process and
invokes the specified program with execvp(). <command-line> is a simple command
with arguments separated by single spaces. If the program name contains a '/', the
part after the last '/' is taken as ARGV[0]. If the program name is a relative
path, the execvp() semantics for finding the program via $PATH apply. After suc-
cessful program start, socat writes data to stdin of the process and reads from its
stdout using a UNIX domain socket generated by socketpair() per default. (example)
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,EXEC,FORK,TERMIOS
Useful options: path, fdin, fdout, chroot, su, su-d, nofork, pty, stderr, ctty,
setsid, pipes, login, sigint, sigquit
See also: SYSTEM
FD:<fdnum>
Uses the file descriptor <fdnum>. It must already exist as valid UN*X file descrip-
tor.
Option groups: FD (TERMIOS,REG,SOCKET)
See also: STDIO, STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR
GOPEN:<filename>
(Generic open) This address type tries to handle any file system entry except
directories usefully. <filename> may be a relative or absolute path. If it already
exists, its type is checked. In case of a UNIX domain socket, socat connects; if
connecting fails, socat assumes a datagram socket and uses sendto() calls. If the
entry is not a socket, socat opens it applying the O_APPEND flag. If it does not
exist, it is opened with flag O_CREAT as a regular file (example).
Option groups: FD,REG,SOCKET,NAMED,OPEN
See also: OPEN, CREATE, UNIX-CONNECT
IP-SENDTO:<host>:<protocol>
Opens a raw IP socket. Depending on host specification or option pf, IP procotol
version 4 or 6 is used. It uses <protocol> to send packets to <host> [IP address]
and receives packets from host, ignores packets from other hosts. Protocol 255
uses the raw socket with the IP header being part of the data.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6
Useful options: pf, ttl See also: IP4-SENDTO, IP6-SENDTO, IP-RECVFROM, IP-RECV,
UDP-SENDTO UNIX-SENDTO
IP4-SENDTO:<host>:<protocol>
Like IP-SENDTO, but always uses IPv4.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4
IP6-SENDTO:<host>:<protocol>
Like IP-SENDTO, but always uses IPv6.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6
IP-DATAGRAM:<address>:<protocol>
Sends outgoing data to the specified address which may in particular be a broadcast
or multicast address. Packets arriving on the local socket are checked if their
source addresses match eventual RANGE or TCPWRAP options. This address type can for
example be used for implementing symmetric or asymmetric broadcast or multicast
communications.
Option groups: FD, SOCKET, IP4, IP6, RANGE
Useful options: range, tcpwrap, broadcast, ip-multicast-loop, ip-multicast-ttl, ip-
multicast-if, ip-add-membership, ttl, tos, bind, pf
See also: IP4-DATAGRAM, IP6-DATAGRAM, IP-SENDTO, IP-RECVFROM, IP-RECV, UDP-DATAGRAM
IP4-DATAGRAM:<host>:<protocol>
Like IP-DATAGRAM, but always uses IPv4. (example)
Option groups: FD, SOCKET, IP4, RANGE
IP6-DATAGRAM:<host>:<protocol>
Like IP-DATAGRAM, but always uses IPv6. Please note that IPv6 does not know broad-
casts.
Option groups: FD, SOCKET, IP6, RANGE
IP-RECVFROM:<protocol>
Opens a raw IP socket of <protocol>. Depending on option pf, IP procotol version 4
or 6 is used. It receives one packet from an unspecified peer and may send one or
more answer packets to that peer. This mode is particularly useful with fork
option where each arriving packet - from arbitrary peers - is handled by its own
sub process. This allows a behaviour similar to typical UDP based servers like
ntpd or named. This address works well with IP-SENDTO address peers (see above).
Protocol 255 uses the raw socket with the IP header being part of the data.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,CHILD,RANGE
Useful options: pf, fork, range, ttl, broadcast
See also: IP4-RECVFROM, IP6-RECVFROM, IP-SENDTO, IP-RECV, UDP-RECVFROM, UNIX-
RECVFROM
IP4-RECVFROM:<protocol>
Like IP-RECVFROM, but always uses IPv4.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,CHILD,RANGE
IP6-RECVFROM:<protocol>
Like IP-RECVFROM, but always uses IPv6.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6,CHILD,RANGE
IP-RECV:<protocol>
Opens a raw IP socket of <protocol>. Depending on option pf, IP procotol version 4
or 6 is used. It receives packets from multiple unspecified peers and merges the
data. No replies are possible. It can be, e.g., addressed by socat IP-SENDTO
address peers. Protocol 255 uses the raw socket with the IP header being part of
the data.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,RANGE
Useful options: pf, range
See also: IP4-RECV, IP6-RECV, IP-SENDTO, IP-RECVFROM, UDP-RECV, UNIX-RECV
IP4-RECV:<protocol>
Like IP-RECV, but always uses IPv4.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,RANGE
IP6-RECV:<protocol>
Like IP-RECV, but always uses IPv6.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6,RANGE
OPEN:<filename>
Opens <filename> using the open() system call (example). This operation fails on
UNIX domain sockets.
Note: This address type is rarly useful in bidirectional mode.
Option groups: FD,REG,NAMED,OPEN
Useful options: creat, excl, noatime, nofollow, append, rdonly, wronly, lock, read-
bytes, ignoreeof
See also: CREATE, GOPEN, UNIX-CONNECT
OPENSSL:<host>:<port>
Tries to establish a SSL connection to <port> [TCP service] on <host> [IP address]
using TCP/IP version 4 or 6 depending on address specification, name resolution, or
option pf.
NOTE: The server certificate is only checked for validity against cafile or capath,
but not for match with the server's name or its IP address!
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,OPENSSL,RETRY
Useful options: cipher, method, verify, cafile, capath, certificate, bind, pf, con-
nect-timeout, sourceport, retry
See also: OPENSSL-LISTEN, TCP
OPENSSL-LISTEN:<port>
Listens on tcp <port> [TCP service]. The IP version is 4 or the one specified with
pf. When a connection is accepted, this address behaves as SSL server.
Note: You probably want to use the certificate option with this address.
NOTE: The client certificate is only checked for validity against cafile or capath,
but not for match with the client's name or its IP address!
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,LISTEN,OPENSSL,CHILD,RANGE,RETRY
Useful options: pf, cipher, method, verify, cafile, capath, certificate, fork,
bind, range, tcpwrap, su, reuseaddr, retry
See also: OPENSSL, TCP
PIPE:<filename>
If <filename> already exists, it is opened. If is does not exist, a named pipe is
created and opened. Beginning with socat version 1.4.3, the named pipe is removed
when the address is closed (but see option unlink-close
Note: When a pipe is used for both reading and writing, it works as echo service.
Note: When a pipe is used for both reading and writing, and socat tries to write
more bytes than the pipe can buffer (Linux 2.4: 2048 bytes), socat might block.
Consider using socat option, e.g., -b 2048
Option groups: FD,NAMED,OPEN
Useful options: rdonly, nonblock, group, user, mode, unlink-early
See also: unnamed pipe
PIPE Creates an unnamed pipe and uses it for reading and writing. It works as an echo,
because everything written to it appeares immediately as read data.
Note: When socat tries to write more bytes than the pipe can queue (Linux 2.4: 2048
bytes), socat might block. Consider, e.g., using option -b 2048
Option groups: FD
See also: named pipe
PROXY:<proxy>:<hostname>:<port>
Connects to an HTTP proxy server on port 8080 using TCP/IP version 4 or 6 depend-
ing on address specification, name resolution, or option pf, and sends a CONNECT
request for hostname:port. If the proxy grants access and succeeds to connect to
the target, data transfer between socat and the target can start. Note that the
traffic need not be HTTP but can be an arbitrary protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,HTTP,RETRY
Useful options: proxyport, ignorecr, proxyauth, resolve, crnl, bind, connect-time-
out, mss, sourceport, retry
See also: SOCKS, TCP
PTY Generates a pseudo terminal (pty) and uses its master side. Another process may
open the pty's slave side using it like a serial line or terminal. (example). If
both the ptmx and the openpty mechanisms are available, ptmx is used (POSIX).
Option groups: FD,NAMED,PTY,TERMIOS
Useful options: link, openpty, wait-slave, mode, user, group
See also: UNIX-LISTEN, PIPE, EXEC, SYSTEM
READLINE
Uses GNU readline and history on stdio to allow editing and reusing input lines
(example). This requires the GNU readline and history libraries. Note that stdio
should be a (pseudo) terminal device, otherwise readline does not seem to work.
Option groups: FD,READLINE,TERMIOS
Useful options: history, noecho
See also: STDIO
SOCKS4:<socks-server>:<host>:<port>
Connects via <socks-server> [IP address] to <host> [IPv4 address] on <port> [TCP
service], using socks version 4 protocol over IP version 4 or 6 depending on
address specification, name resolution, or option pf (example).
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,SOCKS4,RETRY
Useful options: socksuser, socksport, sourceport, pf, retry
See also: SOCKS4A, PROXY, TCP
SOCKS4A:<socks-server>:<host>:<port>
like SOCKS4, but uses socks protocol version 4a, thus leaving host name resolution
to the socks server.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,SOCKS4,RETRY
STDERR Uses file descriptor 2.
Option groups: FD (TERMIOS,REG,SOCKET)
See also: FD
STDIN Uses file descriptor 0.
Option groups: FD (TERMIOS,REG,SOCKET)
Useful options: readbytes
See also: FD
STDIO Uses file descriptor 0 for reading, and 1 for writing.
Option groups: FD (TERMIOS,REG,SOCKET)
Useful options: readbytes
See also: FD
STDOUT Uses file descriptor 1.
Option groups: FD (TERMIOS,REG,SOCKET)
See also: FD
SYSTEM:<shell-command>
Forks a sub process that establishes communication with its parent process and
invokes the specified program with system(). Please note that <shell-command>
[string] must not contain ',' or "!!", and that shell meta characters may have to
be protected. After successful program start, socat writes data to stdin of the
process and reads from its stdout.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,EXEC,FORK,TERMIOS
Useful options: path, fdin, fdout, chroot, su, su-d, nofork, pty, stderr, ctty,
setsid, pipes, sigint, sigquit
See also: EXEC
TCP:<host>:<port>
Connects to <port> [TCP service] on <host> [IP address] using TCP/IP version 4 or 6
depending on address specification, name resolution, or option pf.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,TCP,RETRY
Useful options: crnl, bind, pf, connect-timeout, tos, mtudiscover, mss, nodelay,
nonblock, sourceport, retry, readbytes
See also: TCP4, TCP6, TCP-LISTEN, UDP, UNIX-CONNECT
TCP4:<host>:<port>
Like TCP, but only supports IPv4 protocol (example).
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,TCP,RETRY
TCP6:<host>:<port>
Like TCP, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6,TCP,RETRY
TCP-LISTEN:<port>
Listens on <port> [TCP service] and accepts a TCP/IP connection. The IP version is
4 or the one specified with pf. Note that opening this address usually blocks
until a client connects.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP4,IP6,TCP,RETRY
Useful options: crnl, fork, bind, range, tcpwrap, pf, backlog, mss, su, reuseaddr,
retry, retry
See also: TCP4-LISTEN, TCP6-LISTEN, UDP-LISTEN, UNIX-LISTEN, OPENSSL-LISTEN
TCP4-LISTEN:<port>
Like TCP-LISTEN, but only supports IPv4 protocol (example).
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP4,TCP,RETRY
TCP6-LISTEN:<port>
Like TCP-LISTEN, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Additional useful option: ipv6only
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP6,TCP,RETRY
TUN:<if-addr>/<bits>
Creates a Linux TUN/TAP device and assignes to it the address and netmask defined
by the parameters. The resulting network interface is ready for use by other pro-
cesses; socat serves its "wire side". This address requires read and write access
to the tunnel cloning device, usually /dev/net/tun.
Option groups: FD,NAMED,OPEN,TUN
Useful options: iff-up, tun-device, tun-name, tun-type, iff-no-pi
See also: ip-recv
UDP:<host>:<port>
Connects to <port> [UDP service] on <host> [IP address] using UDP/IP version 4 or 6
depending on address specification, name resolution, or option pf.
Please note that, due to UDP protocol properties, no real connection is estab-
lished; data has to be sent for `connecting' to the server, and no end-of-file con-
dition can be transported.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6
Useful options: ttl, tos, bind, sourceport, pf
See also: UDP4, UDP6, UDP-LISTEN, TCP, IP
UDP4:<host>:<port>
Like UDP, but only supports IPv4 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4
UDP6:<host>:<port>
Like UDP, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6
UDP-DATAGRAM:<address>:<port>
Sends outgoing data to the specified address which may in particular be a broadcast
or multicast address. Packets arriving on the local socket are checked for the cor-
rect remote port and if their source addresses match eventual RANGE or TCPWRAP
options. This address type can for example be used for implementing symmetric or
asymmetric broadcast or multicast communications.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,RANGE
Useful options: range, tcpwrap, broadcast, ip-multicast-loop, ip-multicast-ttl, ip-
multicast-if, ip-add-membership, ttl, tos, bind, sourceport, pf
See also: UDP4-DATAGRAM, UDP6-DATAGRAM, UDP-SENDTO, UDP-RECVFROM, UDP-RECV, UDP-
CONNECT, UDP-LISTEN, IP-DATAGRAM
UDP4-DATAGRAM:<address>:<port>
Like UDP-DATAGRAM, but only supports IPv4 protocol (example1, example2).
Option groups: FD, SOCKET, IP4, RANGE
UDP6-DATAGRAM:<address>:<port>
Like UDP-DATAGRAM, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, IP6,RANGE
UDP-LISTEN:<port>
Waits for a UDP/IP packet arriving on <port> [UDP service] and `connects' back to
sender. The accepted IP version is 4 or the one specified with option pf. Please
note that, due to UDP protocol properties, no real connection is established; data
has to arrive from the peer first, and no end-of-file condition can be transported.
Note that opening this address usually blocks until a client connects.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP4,IP6
Useful options: fork, bind, range, pf
See also: UDP, UDP4-LISTEN, UDP6-LISTEN, TCP-LISTEN
UDP4-LISTEN:<port>
Like UDP-LISTEN, but only support IPv4 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP4
UDP6-LISTEN:<port>
Like UDP-LISTEN, but only support IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,LISTEN,CHILD,RANGE,IP6
UDP-SENDTO:<host>:<port>
Communicates with the specified peer socket, defined by <port> [UDP service] on
<host> [IP address], using UDP/IP version 4 or 6 depending on address specifica-
tion, name resolution, or option pf. It sends packets to and receives packets from
that peer socket only. This address effectively implements a datagram client. It
works well with socat UDP-RECVFROM and UDP-RECV address peers.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6
Useful options: ttl, tos, bind, sourceport, pf
See also: UDP4-SENDTO, UDP6-SENDTO, UDP-RECVFROM, UDP-RECV, UDP-CONNECT, UDP-LIS-
TEN, IP-SENDTO
UDP4-SENDTO:<host>:<port>
Like UDP-SENDTO, but only supports IPv4 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4
UDP6-SENDTO:<host>:<port>
Like UDP-SENDTO, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6
UDP-RECVFROM:<port>
Creates a UDP socket on <port> [UDP service] using UDP/IP version 4 or 6 depending
on option pf. It receives one packet from an unspecified peer and may send one or
more answer packets to that peer. This mode is particularly useful with fork option
where each arriving packet - from arbitrary peers - is handled by its own sub pro-
cess. This allows a behaviour similar to typical UDP based servers like ntpd or
named. This address works well with socat SENDTO address peers.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,CHILD,RANGE
Useful options: fork, ttl, tos, bind, sourceport, pf
See also: UDP4-RECVFROM, UDP6-RECVFROM, UDP-SENDTO, UDP-RECV, UDP-CONNECT, UDP-LIS-
TEN, IP-RECVFROM, UNIX-RECVFROM
UDP4-RECVFROM:<port>
Like UDP-RECVFROM, but only supports IPv4 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,CHILD,RANGE
UDP6-RECVFROM:<port>
Like UDP-RECVFROM, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6,CHILD,RANGE
UDP-RECV:<port>
Creates a UDP socket on <port> [UDP service] using UDP/IP version 4 or 6 depending
on option pf. It receives packets from multiple unspecified peers and merges the
data. No replies are possible. It works well with, e.g., socat UDP-SENDTO address
peers; it behaves similar to a syslog server.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,IP6,RANGE
Useful options: fork, pf, bind, sourceport, ttl, tos
See also: UDP4-RECV, UDP6-RECV, UDP-SENDTO, UDP-RECVFROM, UDP-CONNECT, UDP-LISTEN,
IP-RECV, UNIX-RECV
UDP4-RECV:<port>
Like UDP-RECV, but only supports IPv4 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP4,RANGE
UDP6-RECV:<port>
Like UDP-RECV, but only supports IPv6 protocol.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET,IP6,RANGE
UNIX-CONNECT:<filename>
Connects to <filename> assuming it is a UNIX domain socket. If <filename> does not
exist, this is an error; if <filename> is not a UNIX domain socket, this is an
error; if <filename> is a UNIX domain socket, but no process is listening, this is
an error.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,RETRY, UNIX
) Useful options: bind
See also: UNIX-LISTEN, UNIX-SENDTO, TCP
UNIX-LISTEN:<filename>
Listens on <filename> using a UNIX domain stream socket and accepts a connection.
If <filename> exists and is not a socket, this is an error. If <filename> exists
and is a UNIX domain socket, binding to the address fails (use option unlink-
early!). Note that opening this address usually blocks until a client connects.
Beginning with socat version 1.4.3, the file system entry is removed when this
address is closed (but see option unlink-close) (example).
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,LISTEN, CHILD,RETRY, UNIX
Useful options: fork, umask, mode, user, group, unlink-early
See also: UNIX-CONNECT, UNIX-RECVFROM, UNIX-RECV, TCP-LISTEN
UNIX-SENDTO:<filename>
Communicates with the specified peer socket, defined by [<filename>] assuming it is
a UNIX domain datagram socket. It sends packets to and receives packets from that
peer socket only. It works well with socat UNIX-RECVFROM and UNIX-RECV address
peers.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,UNIX
Useful options: bind
See also: UNIX-RECVFROM, UNIX-RECV, UNIX-CONNECT, UDP-SENDTO, IP-SENDTO
UNIX-RECVFROM:<filename>
Creates a UNIX domain datagram socket [<filename>]. Receives one packet and may
send one or more answer packets to that peer. This mode is particularly useful
with fork option where each arriving packet - from arbitrary peers - is handled by
its own sub process. This address works well with socat UNIX-SENDTO address peers.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,CHILD, UNIX
Useful options: fork
See also: UNIX-SENDTO, UNIX-RECV, UNIX-LISTEN, UDP-RECVFROM, IP-RECVFROM
UNIX-RECV:<filename>
Creates a UNIX domain datagram socket [<filename>]. Receives packets from multiple
unspecified peers and merges the data. No replies are possible. It can be, e.g.,
addressed by socat UNIX-SENDTO address peers. It behaves similar to a syslog
server. Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,UNIX
See also: UNIX-SENDTO, UNIX-RECVFROM, UNIX-LISTEN, UDP-RECV, IP-RECV
UNIX-CLIENT:<filename>
Communicates with the specified peer socket, defined by [<filename>] assuming it is
a UNIX domain socket. It first tries to connect and, if that fails, assumes it is
a datagram socket, thus supporting both types.
Option groups: FD,SOCKET, NAMED,UNIX
Useful options: bind
See also: UNIX-CONNECT, UNIX-SENDTO, GOPEN
ABSTRACT-CONNECT:<string>
ABSTRACT-LISTEN:<string>
ABSTRACT-SENDTO:<string>
ABSTRACT-RECVFROM:<string>
ABSTRACT-RECV:<string>
ABSTRACT-CLIENT:<string>
The ABSTRACT addresses are almost identical to the related UNIX addresses except
that they do not address file system based sockets but an alternate UNIX domain
address space. To archieve this the socket address strings are prefixed with "\0"
internally. This feature is available (only?) on Linux. Option groups are the same
as with the related UNIX addresses, except that the ABSTRACT addresses are not mem-
ber of the NAMED group.
ADDRESS OPTIONS
Address options can be applied to address specifications to influence the process of open-
ing the addresses and the properties of the resulting data channels.
For technical reasons not every option can be applied to every address type; e.g., apply-
ing a socket option to a regular file will fail. To catch most useless combinations as
early as in the open phase, the concept of option groups was introduced. Each option
belongs to one or more option groups. Options can be used only with address types that
support at least one of their option groups (but see option -g).
Address options have data types that their values must conform to. Every address option
consists of just a keyword or a keyword followed by "=value", where value must conform to
the options type. Some address options manipulate parameters of system calls; e.g.,
option sync sets the O_SYNC flag with the open() call. Other options cause a system or
library call; e.g., with option `ttl=value' the setsockopt(fd, SOL_IP, IP_TTL, value,
sizeof(int)) call is applied. Other options set internal socat variables that are used
during data transfer; e.g., `crnl' causes explicit character conversions. A few options
have more complex implementations; e.g., su-d (substuser-delayed) inquires some user and
group infos, stores them, and applies them later after a possible chroot() call.
If multiple options are given to an address, their sequence in the address specification
has (almost) no effect on the sequence of their execution/application. Instead, socat has
built in an option phase model that tries to bring the options in a useful order. Some
options exist in different forms (e.g., unlink, unlink-early, unlink-late) to control the
time of their execution.
If the same option is specified more than once within one address specification, with
equal or different values, the effect depends on the kind of option. Options resulting in
function calls like setsockopt() cause multiple invocations. With options that set parame-
ters for a required call like open() or set internal flags, the value of the last option
occurrence is effective.
The existence or semantics of many options are system dependent. Socat usually does NOT
try to emulate missing libc or kernel features, it just provides an interface to the
underlying system. So, if an operating system lacks a feature, the related option is sim-
ply not available on this platform.
The following paragraphs introduce just the more common address options. For a more com-
prehensive reference and to find information about canonical option names, alias names,
option phases, and platforms see file xio.help.
FD option group
This option group contains options that are applied to a UN*X style file descriptor, no
matter how it was generated. Because all current socat address types are file descriptor
based, these options may be applied to any address.
Note: Some of these options are also member of another option group, that provides an
other, non-fd based mechanism. For these options, it depends on the actual address type
and its option groups which mechanism is used. The second, non-fd based mechanism is pri-
oritized.
cloexec=<bool>
Sets the FD_CLOEXEC flag with the fcntl() system call to value <bool>. If set, the
file descriptor is closed on exec() family function calls. Socat internally handles
this flag for the fds it controls, so in most cases there will be no need to apply
this option.
setlk Tries to set a discretionary write lock to the whole file using the fcntl(fd,
F_SETLK, ...) system call. If the file is already locked, this call results in an
error. On Linux, when the file permissions for group are "S" (g-x,g+s), and the
file system is locally mounted with the "mand" option, the lock is mandatory, i.e.
prevents other processes from opening the file.
setlkw Tries to set a discretionary waiting write lock to the whole file using the
fcntl(fd, F_SETLKW, ...) system call. If the file is already locked, this call
blocks. See option setlk for information about making this lock mandatory.
setlk-rd
Tries to set a discretionary read lock to the whole file using the fcntl(fd,
F_SETLK, ...) system call. If the file is already write locked, this call results
in an error. See option setlk for information about making this lock mandatory.
setlkw-rd
Tries to set a discretionary waiting read lock to the whole file using the
fcntl(fd, F_SETLKW, ...) system call. If the file is already write locked, this
call blocks. See option setlk for information about making this lock mandatory.
flock-ex
Tries to set a blocking exclusive advisory lock to the file using the flock(fd,
LOCK_EX) system call. Socat hangs in this call if the file is locked by another
process.
flock-ex-nb
Tries to set a nonblocking exclusive advisory lock to the file using the flock(fd,
LOCK_EX|LOCK_NB) system call. If the file is already locked, this option results in
an error.
flock-sh
Tries to set a blocking shared advisory lock to the file using the flock(fd,
LOCK_SH) system call. Socat hangs in this call if the file is locked by another
process.
flock-sh-nb
Tries to set a nonblocking shared advisory lock to the file using the flock(fd,
LOCK_SH|LOCK_NB) system call. If the file is already locked, this option results in
an error.
lock Sets a blocking lock on the file. Uses the setlk or flock mechanism depending on
availability on the particular platform. If both are available, the POSIX variant
(setlkw) is used.
user=<user>
Sets the <user> (owner) of the stream. If the address is member of the NAMED
option group, socat uses the chown() system call after opening the file or binding
to the UNIX domain socket (race condition!). Without filesystem entry, socat sets
the user of the stream using the fchown() system call. These calls might require
root privilege.
user-late=<user>
Sets the owner of the fd to <user> with the fchown() system call after opening or
connecting the channel. This is useful only on file system entries.
group=<group>
Sets the <group> of the stream. If the address is member of the NAMED option
group, socat uses the chown() system call after opening the file or binding to the
UNIX domain socket (race condition!). Without filesystem entry, socat sets the
group of the stream with the fchown() system call. These calls might require group
membership or root privilege.
group-late=<group>
Sets the group of the fd to <group> with the fchown() system call after opening or
connecting the channel. This is useful only on file system entries.
mode=<mode>
Sets the <mode> [mode_t] (permissions) of the stream. If the address is member of
the NAMED option group and uses the open() or creat() call, the mode is applied
with these. If the address is member of the NAMED option group without using these
system calls, socat uses the chmod() system call after opening the filesystem entry
or binding to the UNIX domain socket (race condition!). Otherwise, socat sets the
mode of the stream using fchmod(). These calls might require ownership or root
privilege.
perm-late=<mode>
Sets the permissions of the fd to value <mode> [mode_t] using the fchmod() system
call after opening or connecting the channel. This is useful only on file system
entries.
append=<bool>
Always writes data to the actual end of file. If the address is member of the OPEN
option group, socat uses the O_APPEND flag with the open() system call (example).
Otherwise, socat applies the fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, O_APPEND) call.
nonblock=<bool>
Tries to open or use file in nonblocking mode. Its only effects are that the con-
nect() call of TCP addresses does not block, and that opening a named pipe for
reading does not block. If the address is member of the OPEN option group, socat
uses the O_NONBLOCK flag with the open() system call. Otherwise, socat applies the
fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK) call.
binary Opens the file in binary mode to avoid implicit line terminator conversions (Cyg-
win).
text Opens the file in text mode to force implicit line terminator conversions (Cygwin).
noinherit
Does not keep this file open in a spawned process (Cygwin).
cool-write
Takes it easy when write fails with EPIPE or ECONNRESET and logs the message with
notice level instead of error. This prevents the log file from being filled with
useless error messages when socat is used as a high volume server or proxy where
clients often abort the connection.
This option is experimental.
end-close
Changes the (address dependent) method of ending a connection to just close the
file descriptors. This is useful when the connection is to be reused by or shared
with other processes (example).
Normally, socket connections will be ended with shutdown(2) which terminates the
socket even if it is shared by multiple processes. close(2) "unlinks" the socket
from the process but keeps it active as long as there are still links from other
processes.
Similarly, when an address of type EXEC or SYSTEM is ended, socat usually will
explicitely kill the sub process. With this option, it will just close the file
descriptors.
NAMED option group
These options work on file system entries.
See also options user, group, and mode.
user-early=<user>
Changes the <user> (owner) of the file system entry before accessing it, using the
chown() system call. This call might require root privilege.
group-early=<group>
Changes the <group> of the file system entry before accessing it, using the chown()
system call. This call might require group membership or root privilege.
perm-early=<mode>
Changes the <mode> [mode_t] of the file system entry before accessing it, using the
chmod() system call. This call might require ownership or root privilege.
umask=<mode>
Sets the umask of the process to <mode> [mode_t] before accessing the file system
entry (useful with UNIX domain sockets!). This call might affect all further opera-
tions of the socat process!
unlink-early
Unlinks (removes) the file before opening it and even before applying user-early
etc.
unlink Unlinks (removes) the file before accessing it, but after user-early etc.
unlink-late
Unlinks (removes) the file after opening it to make it inaccessible for other pro-
cesses after a short race condition.
unlink-close
Removes the addresses file system entry when closing the address. For named pipes,
listening unix domain sockets, and the symbolic links of pty addresses, the default
is 1; for created files, opened files, generic opened files, and client unix domain
sockets the default is 0.
OPEN option group
The OPEN group options allow to set flags with the open() system call. E.g., option
`creat' sets the O_CREAT flag.
See also options append and nonblock.
creat=<bool>
Creates the file if it does not exist (example).
dsync=<bool>
Blocks write() calls until metainfo is physically written to media.
excl=<bool>
With option creat, if file exists this is an error.
largefile=<bool>
On 32 bit systems, allows a file larger than 2^31 bytes.
noatime
Sets the O_NOATIME options, so reads do not change the access timestamp.
noctty=<bool>
Does not make this file the controlling terminal.
nofollow=<bool>
Does not follow symbolic links.
nshare=<bool>
Does not allow to share this file with other processes.
rshare=<bool>
Does not allow other processes to open this file for writing.
rsync=<bool>
Blocks write() until metainfo is physically written to media.
sync=<bool>
Blocks write() until data is physically written to media.
rdonly=<bool>
Opens the file for reading only.
wronly=<bool>
Opens the file for writing only.
trunc Truncates the file to size 0 during opening it.
REG and BLK option group
These options are usually applied to a UN*X file descriptor, but their semantics make
sense only on a file supporting random access.
seek=<offset>
Applies the lseek(fd, <offset>, SEEK_SET) (or lseek64) system call, thus position-
ing the file pointer absolutely to <offset> [off_t or off64_t].
seek-cur=<offset>
Applies the lseek(fd, <offset>, SEEK_CUR) (or lseek64) system call, thus position-
ing the file pointer <offset> [off_t or off64_t] bytes relatively to its current
position (which is usually 0).
seek-end=<offset>
Applies the lseek(fd, <offset>, SEEK_END) (or lseek64) system call, thus position-
ing the file pointer <offset> [off_t or off64_t] bytes relatively to the files cur-
rent end.
ftruncate=<offset>
Applies the ftruncate(fd, <offset>) (or ftruncate64 if available) system call, thus
truncating the file at the position <offset> [off_t or off64_t].
secrm=<bool>
unrm=<bool>
compr=<bool>
ext2-sync=<bool>
immutable=<bool>
ext2-append=<bool>
nodump=<bool>
ext2-noatime=<bool>
journal-data=<bool>
notail=<bool>
dirsync=<bool>
These options change non standard file attributes on operating systems and file
systems that support these features, like Linux with ext2fs, ext3fs, or reiserfs.
See man 1 chattr for information on these options. Please note that there might be
a race condition between creating the file and applying these options.
PROCESS option group
Options of this group change the process properties instead of just affecting one data
channel. For EXEC and SYSTEM addresses and for LISTEN and CONNECT type addresses with
option FORK, these options apply to the child processes instead of the main socat process.
chroot=<directory>
Performs a chroot() operation to <directory> after processing the address (exam-
ple). This call might require root privilege.
chroot-early=<directory>
Performs a chroot() operation to <directory> before opening the address. This call
might require root privilege.
setgid=<group>
Changes the primary <group> of the process after processing the address. This call
might require root privilege.
setgid-early=<group>
Changes the primary <group> of the process before opening the address. This call
might require root privilege.
setuid=<user>
Changes the <user> (owner) of the process after processing the address. This call
might require root privilege.
setuid-early=<user>
Changes the <user> (owner) of the process before opening the address. This call
might require root privilege.
su=<user>
Changes the <user> (owner) and groups of the process after processing the address
(example). This call might require root privilege.
su-d=<user>
Short name for substuser-delayed. Changes the <user> (owner) and groups of the
process after processing the address (example). The user and his groups are
retrieved before a possible chroot(). This call might require root privilege.
setpgid=<pid_t>
Makes the process a member of the specified process group <pid_t>. If no value is
given, or if the value is 0 or 1, the process becomes leader of a new process
group.
setsid Makes the process the leader of a new session (example).
READLINE option group
These options apply to the readline address type.
history=<filename>
Reads and writes history from/to <filename> (example).
noprompt
Since version 1.4.0, socat per default tries to determine a prompt - that is then
passed to the readline call - by remembering the last incomplete line of the out-
put. With this option, socat does not pass a prompt to readline, so it begins line
editing in the first column of the terminal.
noecho=<pattern>
Specifies a regular pattern for a prompt that prevents the following input line
from being displayed on the screen and from being added to the history. The prompt
is defined as the text that was output to the readline address after the lastest
newline character and before an input character was typed. The pattern is a regular
expression, e.g. "^[Pp]assword:.*$" or "([Uu]ser:|[Pp]assword:)". See regex(7) for
details. (example)
prompt=<string>
Passes the string as prompt to the readline function. readline prints this prompt
when stepping through the history. If this string matches a constant prompt issued
by an interactive program on the other socat address, consistent look and feel can
be archieved.
APPLICATION option group
This group contains options that work at data level. Note that these options only apply
to the "raw" data transferred by socat, but not to protocol data used by addresses like
PROXY.
cr Converts the default line termination character NL ('\n', 0x0a) to/from CR ('\r',
0x0d) when writing/reading on this channel.
crnl Converts the default line termination character NL ('\n', 0x0a) to/from CRNL
("\r\n", 0x0d0a) when writing/reading on this channel (example). Note: socat sim-
ply strips all CR characters.
ignoreeof
When EOF occurs on this channel, socat ignores it and tries to read more data (like
"tail -f") (example).
readbytes=<bytes>
socat reads only so many bytes from this address (the address provides only so many
bytes for transfer and pretends to be at EOF afterwards). Must be greater than 0.
lockfile=<filename>
If lockfile exists, exits with error. If lockfile does not exist, creates it and
continues, unlinks lockfile on exit.
waitlock=<filename>
If lockfile exists, waits until it disappears. When lockfile does not exist, cre-
ates it and continues, unlinks lockfile on exit.
SOCKET option group
These options are intended for all kinds of sockets, e.g. IP or UNIX domain. Most are
applied with a setsockopt() call.
bind=<sockname>
Binds the socket to the given socket address using the bind() system call. The form
of <sockname> is socket domain dependent: IP4 and IP6 allow the form [host-
name|hostaddress][:(service|port)] (example), UNIX domain sockets require <file-
name>.
connect-timeout=<seconds>
Abort the connection attempt after <seconds> [timeval] with error status.
interface=<interface>
Binds the socket to the given <interface>. This option might require root privi-
lege.
broadcast
For datagram sockets, allows sending to broadcast addresses and receiving packets
addressed to broadcast addresses.
bsdcompat
Emulates some (old?) bugs of the BSD socket implementation.
debug Enables socket debugging.
dontroute
Only communicates with directly connected peers, does not use routers.
keepalive
Enables sending keepalives on the socket.
linger=<seconds>
Blocks shutdown() or close() until data transfers have finished or the given time-
out [int] expired.
oobinline
Places out-of-band data in the input data stream.
priority=<priority>
Sets the protocol defined <priority> [<int>] for outgoing packets.
rcvbuf=<bytes>
Sets the size of the receive buffer after the socket() call to <bytes> [int]. With
TCP sockets, this value corresponds to the socket's maximal window size.
rcvbuf-late=<bytes>
Sets the size of the receive buffer when the socket is already connected to <bytes>
[int]. With TCP sockets, this value corresponds to the socket's maximal window
size.
rcvlowat=<bytes>
Specifies the minimum number of received bytes [int] until the socket layer will
pass the buffered data to socat.
rcvtimeo=<seconds>
Sets the receive timeout [timeval].
reuseaddr
Allows other sockets to bind to an address even if parts of it (e.g. the local
port) are already in use by socat (example).
sndbuf=<bytes>
Sets the size of the send buffer after the socket() call to <bytes> [int].
sndbuf-late=<bytes>
Sets the size of the send buffer when the socket is connected to <bytes> [int].
sndlowat=<bytes>
Specifies the minimum number of bytes in the send buffer until the socket layer
will send the data to <bytes> [int].
sndtimeo=<seconds>
Sets the send timeout to seconds [timeval].
type=<type>
Sets the type of the socket, usually as argument to the socket() or socketpair()
call, to <type> [int]. Under Linux, 1 means stream oriented socket, 2 means data-
gram socket, and 3 means raw socket.
pf=<string>
Forces the use of the specified IP version. <string> can be something like "ip4" or
"ip6".
UNIX option group
These options apply to UNIX domain based addresses.
unix-tightsocklen=[0|1]
On socket operations, pass a socket address length that does not include the whole
struct sockaddr_un record but (besides other components) only the relevant part of
the filename or abstract string. Default is 1.
IP4 and IP6 option groups
These options can be used with IPv4 and IPv6 based sockets.
tos=<tos>
Sets the TOS (type of service) field of outgoing packets to <tos> [byte] (see RFC
791).
ttl=<ttl>
Sets the TTL (time to live) field of outgoing packets to <ttl> [byte].
ipoptions=<data>
Sets IP options like source routing. Must be given in binary form, recommended for-
mat is a leading "x" followed by an even number of hex digits. This option may be
used multiple times, data are appended. E.g., to connect to host 10.0.0.1 via some
gateway using a loose source route, use the gateway as address parameter and set a
loose source route using the option ipoptions=x8307040a000001.
IP options are defined in RFC 791.
mtudiscover=<0|1|2>
Takes 0, 1, 2 to never, want, or always use path MTU discover on this socket.
ip-add-membership=<multicast-address:interface-address>
ip-add-membership=<multicast-address:interface-name>
ip-add-membership=<multicast-address:interface-index>
ip-add-membership=<multicast-address:interface-address:interface-name>
ip-add-membership=<multicast-address:interface-address:interface-index>
Makes the socket member of the specified multicast group. This is currently only
implemented for IPv4. The option takes the IP address of the multicast group and
info about the desired network interface. The most common syntax is the first one,
while the others are only available on systems that provide struct mreqn (Linux).
The indices of active network interfaces can be shown using the utility procan.
ip-multicast-if=<hostname>
Specifies hostname or address of the network interface to be used for multicast
traffic.
ip-multicast-loop=<bool>
Specifies if outgoing multicast traffic should loop back to the interface.
ip-multicast-ttl=<byte>
Sets the TTL used for outgoing multicast traffic. Default is 1.
res-debug
res-aaonly
res-usevc
res-primary
res-igntc
res-recurse
res-defnames
res-stayopen
res-dnsrch
These options set the corresponding resolver (name resolution) option flags.
Append "=0" to clear a default option. See man resolver(5) for more information on
these options. Note: these options are valid only for the address they are applied
to.
IP6 option group
These options can only be used on IPv6 based sockets. See IP options for options that can
be applied to both IPv4 and IPv6 sockets.
ipv6only=<bool>
Sets the IPV6_V6ONLY socket option. If 0, the TCP stack will also accept connec-
tions using IPv4 protocol on the same port. The default is system dependent.
TCP option group
These options may be applied to TCP sockets. They work by invoking setsockopt() with the
appropriate parameters.
cork Doesn't send packets smaller than MSS (maximal segment size).
defer-accept
While listening, accepts connections only when data from the peer arrived.
keepcnt=<count>
Sets the number of keepalives before shutting down the socket to <count> [int].
keepidle=<seconds>
Sets the idle time before sending the first keepalive to <seconds> [int].
keepintvl=<seconds>
Sets the interval between two keepalives to <seconds> [int].
linger2=<seconds>
Sets the time to keep the socket in FIN-WAIT-2 state to <seconds> [int].
mss=<bytes>
Sets the MSS (maximum segment size) after the socket() call to <bytes> [int]. This
value is then proposed to the peer with the SYN or SYN/ACK packet (example).
mss-late=<bytes>
Sets the MSS of the socket after connection has been established to <bytes> [int].
nodelay
Turns off the Nagle algorithm for measuring the RTT (round trip time).
rfc1323
Enables RFC1323 TCP options: TCP window scale, round-trip time measurement (RTTM),
and protect against wrapped sequence numbers (PAWS) (AIX).
stdurg Enables RFC1122 compliant urgent pointer handling (AIX).
syncnt=<count>
Sets the maximal number of SYN retransmits during connect to <count> [int].
md5sig Enables generation of MD5 digests on the packets (FreeBSD).
noopt Disables use of TCP options (FreeBSD, MacOSX).
nopush sets the TCP_NOPUSH socket option (FreeBSD, MacOSX).
sack-disable
Disables use the selective acknowledge feature (OpenBSD).
signature-enable
Enables generation of MD5 digests on the packets (OpenBSD).
abort-threshold=<milliseconds>
Sets the time to wait for an answer of the peer on an established connection (HP-
UX).
conn-abort-threshold=<milliseconds>
Sets the time to wait for an answer of the server during the initial connect (HP-
UX).
keepinit
Sets the time to wait for an answer of the server during connect() before giving
up. Value in half seconds, default is 150 (75s) (Tru64).
paws Enables the "protect against wrapped sequence numbers" feature (Tru64).
sackena
Enables selective acknowledge (Tru64).
tsoptena
Enables the time stamp option that allows RTT recalculation on existing connections
(Tru64).
UDP and TCP option groups
Here we find options that are related to the network port mechanism and that thus can be
used with UDP and TCP, client and server addresses.
sourceport=<port>
For outgoing (client) TCP and UDP connections, it sets the source <port> using an
extra bind() call. With TCP or UDP listen addresses, socat immediately shuts down
the connection if the client does not use this sourceport (example).
lowport
Outgoing (client) TCP and UDP connections with this option use an unused random
source port between 640 and 1023 incl. On UNIX class operating systems, this
requires root privilege, and thus indicates that the client process is authorized
by local root. TCP and UDP listen addresses with this option immediately shut down
the connection if the client does not use a sourceport <= 1023. This mechanism can
provide limited authorization under some circumstances.
SOCKS option group
When using SOCKS type addresses, some socks specific options can be set.
socksport=<tcp service>
Overrides the default "socks" service or port 1080 for the socks server port with
<TCP service>.
socksuser=<user>
Sends the <user> [string] in the username field to the socks server. Default is the
actual user name ($LOGNAME or $USER) (example).
HTTP option group
Options that can be provided with HTTP type addresses. The only HTTP address currently
implemented is proxy-connect.
proxyport=<TCP service>
Overrides the default HTTP proxy port 8080 with <TCP service>.
ignorecr
The HTTP protocol requires the use of CR+NL as line terminator. When a proxy server
violates this standard, socat might not understand its answer. This option directs
socat to interprete NL as line terminator and to ignore CR in the answer. Neverthe-
less, socat sends CR+NL to the proxy.
proxyauth=<username>:<password>
Provide "basic" authentication to the proxy server. The argument to the option is
used with a "Proxy-Authorization: Base" header in base64 encoded form.
Note: username and password are visible for every user on the local machine in the
process list; username and password are transferred to the proxy server unencrypted
(base64 encoded) and might be sniffed.
resolve
Per default, socat sends to the proxy a CONNECT request containing the target host-
name. With this option, socat resolves the hostname locally and sends the IP
address. Please note that, according to RFC 2396, only name resolution to IPv4
addresses is implemented.
RANGE option group
These options check if a connecting client should be granted access. They can be applied
to listening and receiving network sockets. tcp-wrappers options fall into this group.
range=<address-range>
After accepting a connection, tests if the peer is within range. For IPv4
addresses, address-range takes the form address/bits, e.g. 10.0.0.0/8, or
address:mask, e.g. 10.0.0.0:255.0.0.0 (example); for IPv6, it is
[ip6-address/bits], e.g. [::1/128]. If the client address does not match, socat
issues a warning and keeps listening/receiving.
tcpwrap[=<name>]
Uses Wietse Venema's libwrap (tcpd) library to determine if the client is allowed
to connect. The configuration files are /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny per
default, see "man 5 hosts_access" for more information. The optional <name> (type
string) is passed to the wrapper functions as daemon process name (example). If
omitted, the basename of socats invocation (argv[0]) is passed. If both tcpwrap
and range options are applied to an address, both conditions must be fulfilled to
allow the connection.
allow-table=<filename>
Takes the specified file instead of /etc/hosts.allow.
deny-table=<filename>
Takes the specified file instead of /etc/hosts.deny.
tcpwrap-etc=<directoryname>
Looks for hosts.allow and hosts.deny in the specified directory. Is overridden by
options hosts-allow and hosts-deny.
LISTEN option group
Options specific to listening sockets.
backlog=<count>
Sets the backlog value passed with the listen() system call to <count> [int].
Default is 5.
CHILD option group
Options for addresses with multiple connections via child processes.
fork After establishing a connection, handles its channel in a child process and keeps
the parent process attempting to produce more connections, either by listening or
by connecting in a loop (example).
OPENSSL-CONNECT and OPENSSL-LISTEN differ in when they actually fork off the child:
OPENSSL-LISTEN forks before the SSL handshake, while OPENSSL-CONNECT forks after-
wards. RETRY and FOREVER options are not inherited by the child process.
EXEC option group
Options for addresses that invoke a program.
path=<string>
Overrides the PATH environment variable for searching the program with <string>.
This $PATH value is effective in the child process too.
login Prefixes argv[0] for the execvp() call with '-', thus making a shell behave as
login shell.
FORK option group
EXEC or SYSTEM addresses invoke a program using a child process and transfer data between
socat and the program. The interprocess communication mechanism can be influenced with the
following options. Per default, a socketpair() is created and assigned to stdin and stdout
of the child process, while stderr is inherited from the socat process, and the child pro-
cess uses file descriptors 0 and 1 for communicating with the main socat process.
nofork Does not fork a subprocess for executing the program, instead calls execvp() or
system() directly from the actual socat instance. This avoids the overhead of
another process between the program and its peer, but introduces a lot of restric-
tions:
o this option can only be applied to the second socat address.
o it cannot be applied to a part of a dual address.
o the first socat address cannot be OPENSSL or READLINE
o socat options -b, -t, -D, -l, -v, -x become useless
o for both addresses, options ignoreeof, cr, and crnl become useless
o for the second address (the one with option nofork), options append, cloexec,
flock, user, group, mode, nonblock, perm-late, setlk, and setpgid cannot be
applied. Some of these could be used on the first address though.
pipes Creates a pair of unnamed pipes for interprocess communication instead of a socket
pair.
openpty
Establishes communication with the sub process using a pseudo terminal created with
openpty() instead of the default (socketpair or ptmx).
ptmx Establishes communication with the sub process using a pseudo terminal created by
opening /dev/ptmx or /dev/ptc instead of the default (socketpair).
pty Establishes communication with the sub process using a pseudo terminal instead of a
socket pair. Creates the pty with an available mechanism. If openpty and ptmx are
both available, it uses ptmx because this is POSIX compliant (example).
ctty Makes the pty the controlling tty of the sub process (example).
stderr Directs stderr of the sub process to its output channel by making stderr a dup() of
stdout (example).
fdin=<fdnum>
Assigns the sub processes input channel to its file descriptor <fdnum> instead of
stdin (0). The program started from the subprocess has to use this fd for reading
data from socat (example).
fdout=<fdnum>
Assigns the sub processes output channel to its file descriptor <fdnum> instead of
stdout (1). The program started from the subprocess has to use this fd for writing
data to socat (example).
sighup, sigint, sigquit
Has socat pass an eventual signal of this type to the sub process. If no address
has this option, socat terminates on these signals.
TERMIOS option group
For addresses that work on a tty (e.g., stdio, file:/dev/tty, exec:...,pty), the terminal
parameters defined in the UN*X termios mechanism are made available as address option
parameters. Please note that changes of the parameters of your interactive terminal
remain effective after socat's termination, so you might have to enter "reset" or "stty
sane" in your shell afterwards. For EXEC and SYSTEM addresses with option PTY, these
options apply to the pty by the child processes.
b0 Disconnects the terminal.
b19200 Sets the serial line speed to 19200 baud. Some other rates are possible; use some-
thing like socat -hh |grep ' b[1-9]' to find all speeds supported by your implemen-
tation.
Note: On some operating systems, these options may not be available. Use ispeed or
ospeed instead.
echo=<bool>
Enables or disables local echo (example).
icanon=<bool>
Sets or clears canonical mode, enabling line buffering and some special characters.
raw Sets raw mode, thus passing input and output almost unprocessed (example).
ignbrk=<bool>
Ignores or interpretes the BREAK character (e.g., ^C)
brkint=<bool>
bs0
bs1
bsdly=<0|1>
clocal=<bool>
cr0
cr1
cr2
cr3
Sets the carriage return delay to 0, 1, 2, or 3, respectively. 0 means no delay,
the other values are terminal dependent.
crdly=<0|1|2|3>
cread=<bool>
crtscts=<bool>
cs5
cs6
cs7
cs8
Sets the character size to 5, 6, 7, or 8 bits, respectively.
csize=<0|1|2|3>
cstopb=<bool>
Sets two stop bits, rather than one.
dsusp=<byte>
Sets the value for the VDSUSP character that suspends the current foreground pro-
cess and reactivates the shell (all except Linux).
echoctl=<bool>
Echos control characters in hat notation (e.g. ^A)
echoe=<bool>
echok=<bool>
echoke=<bool>
echonl=<bool>
echoprt=<bool>
eof=<byte>
eol=<byte>
eol2=<byte>
erase=<byte>
discard=<byte>
ff0
ff1
ffdly=<bool>
flusho=<bool>
hupcl=<bool>
icrnl=<bool>
iexten=<bool>
igncr=<bool>
ignpar=<bool>
imaxbel=<bool>
inlcr=<bool>
inpck=<bool>
intr=<byte>
isig=<bool>
ispeed=<unsigned-int>
Set the baud rate for incoming data on this line.
See also: ospeed, b19200
istrip=<bool>
iuclc=<bool>
ixany=<bool>
ixoff=<bool>
ixon=<bool>
kill=<byte>
lnext=<byte>
min=<byte>
nl0 Sets the newline delay to 0.
nl1
nldly=<bool>
noflsh=<bool>
ocrnl=<bool>
ofdel=<bool>
ofill=<bool>
olcuc=<bool>
onlcr=<bool>
onlret=<bool>
onocr=<bool>
opost=<bool>
Enables or disables output processing; e.g., converts NL to CR-NL.
ospeed=<unsigned-int>
Set the baud rate for outgoing data on this line.
See also: ispeed, b19200
parenb=<bool>
Enable parity generation on output and parity checking for input.
parmrk=<bool>
parodd=<bool>
pendin=<bool>
quit=<byte>
reprint=<byte>
sane Brings the terminal to something like a useful default state.
start=<byte>
stop=<byte>
susp=<byte>
swtc=<byte>
tab0
tab1
tab2
tab3
tabdly=<unsigned-int>
time=<byte>
tostop=<bool>
vt0
vt1
vtdly=<bool>
werase=<byte>
xcase=<bool>
xtabs
PTY option group
These options are intended for use with the pty address type.
link=<filename>
Generates a symbolic link that points to the actual pseudo terminal (pty). This
might help to solve the problem that ptys are generated with more or less unpre-
dictable names, making it difficult to directly access the socat generated pty
automatically. With this option, the user can specify a "fix" point in the file
hierarchy that helps him to access the actual pty (example). Beginning with socat
version 1.4.3, the symbolic link is removed when the address is closed (but see
option unlink-close).
wait-slave
Blocks the open phase until a process opens the slave side of the pty. Usually,
socat continues after generating the pty with opening the next address or with
entering the transfer loop. With the wait-slave option, socat waits until some pro-
cess opens the slave side of the pty before continuing. This option only works if
the operating system provides the poll() system call. And it depends on an undocu-
mented behaviour of pty's, so it does not work on all operating systems. It has
successfully been tested on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and on Tru64 with openpty.
pty-interval=<seconds>
When the wait-slave option is set, socat periodically checks the HUP condition
using poll() to find if the pty's slave side has been opened. The default polling
interval is 1s. Use the pty-interval option [timeval] to change this value.
OPENSSL option group
These options apply to the openssl and openssl-listen address types.
cipher=<cipherlist>
Selects the list of ciphers that may be used for the connection. See the man page
of ciphers, section CIPHER LIST FORMAT, for detailed information about syntax, val-
ues, and default of <cipherlist>.
Several cipher strings may be given, separated by ':'. Some simple cipher strings:
3DES Uses a cipher suite with triple DES.
MD5 Uses a cipher suite with MD5.
aNULL Uses a cipher suite without authentication.
NULL Does not use encryption.
HIGH Uses a cipher suite with "high" encryption. Note that the peer must support the
selected property, or the negotiation will fail.
method=<ssl-method>
Sets the protocol version to be used. Valid strings (not case sensitive) are:
SSLv2 Select SSL protocol version 2.
SSLv3 Select SSL protocol version 3.
SSLv23 Select SSL protocol version 2 or 3. This is the default when this option is not
provided.
TLSv1 Select TLS protocol version 1.
verify=<bool>
Controls check of the peer's certificate. Default is 1 (true). Disabling verify
might open your socket for everyone, making the encryption useless!
cert=<filename>
Specifies the file with the certificate and private key for authentication. The
certificate must be in OpenSSL format (*.pem). With openssl-listen, use of this
option is strongly recommended. Except with cipher aNULL, "no shared ciphers" error
will occur when no certificate is given.
key=<filename>
Specifies the file with the private key. The private key may be in this file or in
the file given with the cert option. The party that has to proof that it is the
owner of a certificate needs the private key.
dhparams=<filename>
Specifies the file with the Diffie Hellman parameters. These parameters may also be
in the file given with the cert option in which case the dhparams option is not
needed.
cafile=<filename>
Specifies the file with the trusted (root) authority certificates. The file must be
in PEM format and should contain one or more certificates. The party that checks
the authentication of its peer trusts only certificates that are in this file.
capath=<dirname>
Specifies the directory with the trusted (root) certificates. The directory must
contain certificates in PEM format and their hashes (see OpenSSL documentation)
egd=<filename>
On some systems, openssl requires an explicit source of random data. Specify the
socket name where an entropy gathering daemon like egd provides random data, e.g.
/dev/egd-pool.
pseudo On systems where openssl cannot find an entropy source and where no entropy gather-
ing daemon can be utilized, this option activates a mechanism for providing pseudo
entropy. This is archieved by taking the current time in microseconds for feeding
the libc pseudo random number generator with an initial value. openssl is then
feeded with output from random() calls.
NOTE:This mechanism is not sufficient for generation of secure keys!
fips Enables FIPS mode if compiled in. For info about the FIPS encryption implementation
standard see http://oss-institute.org/fips-faq.html. This mode might require that
the involved certificates are generated with a FIPS enabled version of openssl.
Setting or clearing this option on one socat address affects all OpenSSL addresses
of this process.
RETRY option group
Options that control retry of some system calls, especially connection attempts.
retry=<num>
Number of retries before the connection or listen attempt is aborted. Default is
0, which means just one attempt.
interval=<timespec>
Time between consecutive attempts (seconds, [timespec]). Default is 1 second.
forever
Performs an unlimited number of retry attempts.
TUN option group
Options that control Linux TUN/TAP interface device addresses.
tun-device=<device-file>
Instructs socat to take another path for the TUN clone device. Default is
/dev/net/tun.
tun-name=<if-name>
Gives the resulting network interface a specific name instead of the system gener-
ated (tun0, tun1, etc.)
tun-type=[tun|tap]
Sets the type of the TUN device; use this option to generate a TAP device. See the
Linux docu for the difference between these types. When you try to establish a
tunnel between two TUN devices, their types should be the same.
iff-no-pi
Sets the IFF_NO_PI flag which controls if the device includes additional packet
information in the tunnel. When you try to establish a tunnel between two TUN
devices, these flags should have the same values.
iff-up Sets the TUN network interface status UP. Strongly recommended.
iff-broadcast
Sets the BROADCAST flag of the TUN network interface.
iff-debug
Sets the DEBUG flag of the TUN network interface.
iff-loopback
Sets the LOOPBACK flag of the TUN network interface.
iff-pointopoint
Sets the POINTOPOINT flag of the TUN device.
iff-notrailers
Sets the NOTRAILERS flag of the TUN device.
iff-running
Sets the RUNNING flag of the TUN device.
iff-noarp
Sets the NOARP flag of the TUN device.
iff-promisc
Sets the PROMISC flag of the TUN device.
iff-allmulti
Sets the ALLMULTI flag of the TUN device.
iff-master
Sets the MASTER flag of the TUN device.
iff-slave
Sets the SLAVE flag of the TUN device.
iff-multicast
Sets the MULTICAST flag of the TUN device.
iff-portsel
Sets the PORTSEL flag of the TUN device.
iff-automedia
Sets the AUTOMEDIA flag of the TUN device.
iff-dynamic
Sets the DYNAMIC flag of the TUN device.
DATA VALUES
This section explains the different data types that address parameters and address options
can take.
address-range
Is currently only implemented for IPv4 and IPv6. See address-option `range'
bool "0" or "1"; if value is omitted, "1" is taken.
byte An unsigned int number, read with strtoul(), lower or equal to UCHAR_MAX.
command-line
A string specifying a program name and its arguments, separated by single spaces.
data A raw data specification following dalan syntax. The only documented form is a
string starting with 'x' followed by an even number of hex digits.
directory
A string with usual UN*X directory name semantics.
facility
The name of a syslog facility in lower case characters.
fdnum An unsigned int type, read with strtoul(), specifying a UN*X file descriptor.
filename
A string with usual UN*X filename semantics.
group If the first character is a decimal digit, the value is read with strtoul() as
unsigned integer specifying a group id. Otherwise, it must be an existing group
name.
int A number following the rules of the strtol() function with base "0", i.e. decimal
number, octal number with leading "0", or hexadecimal number with leading "0x". The
value must fit into a C int.
interface
A string specifying the device name of a network interface, e.g. "eth0".
IP address
An IPv4 address in numbers-and-dots notation, an IPv6 address in hex notation
enclosed in brackets, or a hostname that resolves to an IPv4 or an IPv6 address.
Examples: 127.0.0.1, [::1], www.dest-unreach.org, dns1
IPv4 address
An IPv4 address in numbers-and-dots notation or a hostname that resolves to an IPv4
address.
Examples: 127.0.0.1, www.dest-unreach.org, dns2
IPv6 address
An iPv6 address in hexnumbers-and-colons notation enclosed in brackets, or a host-
name that resolves to an IPv6 address.
Examples: [::1], [1234:5678:9abc:def0:1234:5678:9abc:def0], ip6name.domain.org
long A number read with strtol(). The value must fit into a C long.
long long
A number read with strtoll(). The value must fit into a C long long.
off_t An implementation dependend signed number, usually 32 bits, read with strtol or
strtoll.
off64_t
An implementation dependend signed number, usually 64 bits, read with strtol or
strtoll.
mode_t An unsigned integer, read with strtoul(), specifying mode (permission) bits.
pid_t A number, read with strtol(), specifying a process id.
port A uint16_t (16 bit unsigned number) specifying a TCP or UDP port, read with str-
toul().
protocol
An unsigned 8 bit number, read with strtoul().
size_t An unsigned number with size_t limitations, read with strtoul.
sockname
A socket address. See address-option `bind'
string A sequence of characters, not containing '\0' and, depending on the position within
the command line, ':', ',', or "!!". Note that you might have to escape shell meta
characters in the command line.
TCP service
A service name, not starting with a digit, that is resolved by getservbyname(), or
an unsigned int 16 bit number read with strtoul().
timeval
A double float specifying seconds; the number is mapped into a struct timeval, con-
sisting of seconds and microseconds.
timespec
A double float specifying seconds; the number is mapped into a struct timespec,
consisting of seconds and nanoseconds.
UDP service
A service name, not starting with a digit, that is resolved by getservbyname(), or
an unsigned int 16 bit number read with strtoul().
unsigned int
A number read with strtoul(). The value must fit into a C unsigned int.
user If the first character is a decimal digit, the value is read with strtoul() as
unsigned integer specifying a user id. Otherwise, it must be an existing user name.
EXAMPLES
socat - TCP4:www.domain.org:80
Transfers data between STDIO (-) and a TCP4 connection to port 80 of host
www.domain.org. This example results in an interactive connection similar to telnet
or netcat. The stdin terminal parameters are not changed, so you may close the
relay with ^D or abort it with ^C.
socat -d -d READLINE,history=$HOME/.http_history \
TCP4:www.domain.org:www,crnl
This is similar to the previous example, but you can edit the current line in a
bash like manner (READLINE) and use the history file .http_history; socat prints
messages about progress (-d -d). The port is specified by service name (www), and
correct network line termination characters (crnl) instead of NL are used.
socat TCP4-LISTEN:www TCP4:www.domain.org:www
Installs a simple TCP port forwarder. With TCP4-LISTEN it listens on local port
"www" until a connection comes in, accepts it, then connects to the remote host
(TCP4) and starts data transfer. It will not accept a second connection.
socat -d -d -lmlocal2 \
TCP4-LISTEN:80,bind=myaddr1,reuseaddr,fork,su=nobody,range=10.0.0.0/8 \
TCP4:www.domain.org:80,bind=myaddr2
TCP port forwarder, each side bound to another local IP address (bind). This exam-
ple handles an almost arbitrary number of parallel or consecutive connections by
fork'ing a new process after each accept(). It provides a little security by su'ing
to user nobody after forking; it only permits connections from the private 10 net-
work (range); due to reuseaddr, it allows immediate restart after master process's
termination, even if some child sockets are not completely shut down. With -lmlo-
cal2, socat logs to stderr until successfully reaching the accept loop. Further
logging is directed to syslog with facility local2.
socat TCP4-LISTEN:5555,fork,tcpwrap=script \
EXEC:/bin/myscript,chroot=/home/sandbox,su-d=sandbox,pty,stderr
A simple server that accepts connections (TCP4-LISTEN) and fork's a new child pro-
cess for each connection; every child acts as single relay. The client must match
the rules for daemon process name "script" in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny,
otherwise it is refused access (see "man 5 hosts_access"). For EXEC'uting the pro-
gram, the child process chroot's to /home/sandbox, su's to user sandbox, and then
starts the program /home/sandbox/bin/myscript. Socat and myscript communicate via a
pseudo tty (pty); myscript's stderr is redirected to stdout, so its error messages
are transferred via socat to the connected client.
socat EXEC:"mail.sh target AT domain.com",fdin=3,fdout=4 \
TCP4:mail.relay.org:25,crnl,bind=alias1.server.org,mss=512
mail.sh is a shell script, distributed with socat, that implements a simple SMTP
client. It is programmed to "speak" SMTP on its FDs 3 (in) and 4 (out). The fdin
and fdout options tell socat to use these FDs for communication with the program.
Because mail.sh inherits stdin and stdout while socat does not use them, the script
can read a mail body from stdin. Socat makes alias1 your local source address
(bind), cares for correct network line termination (crnl) and sends at most 512
data bytes per packet (mss).
socat - /dev/ttyS0,raw,echo=0,crnl
Opens an interactive connection via the serial line, e.g. for talking with a modem.
raw and echo set ttyS0's terminal parameters to practicable values, crnl converts
to correct newline characters. Consider using READLINE instead of `-'.
socat UNIX-LISTEN:/tmp/.X11-unix/X1,fork \
SOCKS4:host.victim.org:127.0.0.1:6000,socksuser=nobody,sourceport=20
With UNIX-LISTEN, socat opens a listening UNIX domain socket /tmp/.X11-unix/X1.
This path corresponds to local XWindow display :1 on your machine, so XWindow
client connections to DISPLAY=:1 are accepted. Socat then speaks with the SOCKS4
server host.victim.org that might permit sourceport 20 based connections due to an
FTP related weakness in its static IP filters. Socat pretends to be invoked by
socksuser nobody, and requests to be connected to loopback port 6000 (only weak
sockd configurations will allow this). So we get a connection to the victims XWin-
dow server and, if it does not require MIT cookies or Kerberos authentication, we
can start work. Please note that there can only be one connection at a time,
because TCP can establish only one session with a given set of addresses and ports.
socat -u /tmp/readdata,seek-end=0,ignoreeof -
This is an example for unidirectional data transfer (-u). Socat transfers data from
file /tmp/readdata (implicit address GOPEN), starting at its current end (seek-
end=0 lets socat start reading at current end of file; use seek=0 or no seek option
to first read the existing data) in a "tail -f" like mode (ignoreeof). The "file"
might also be a listening UNIX domain socket (do not use a seek option then).
(sleep 5; echo PASSWORD; sleep 5; echo ls; sleep 1) |
socat - EXEC:'ssh -l user server',pty,setsid,ctty
EXEC'utes an ssh session to server. Uses a pty for communication between socat and
ssh, makes it ssh's controlling tty (ctty), and makes this pty the owner of a new
process group (setsid), so ssh accepts the password from socat.
socat -u TCP4-LISTEN:3334,reuseaddr,fork \
OPEN:/tmp/in.log,creat,append
Implements a simple network based message collector. For each client connecting to
port 3334, a new child process is generated (option fork). All data sent by the
clients are append'ed to the file /tmp/in.log. If the file does not exist, socat
creat's it. Option reuseaddr allows immediate restart of the server process.
socat READLINE,noecho='[Pp]assword:' EXEC:'ftp ftp.server.com',pty,setsid,ctty
Wraps a command line history (READLINE) around the EXEC'uted ftp client utility.
This allows editing and reuse of FTP commands for relatively comfortable browsing
through the ftp directory hierarchy. The password is echoed! pty is required to
have ftp issue a prompt. Nevertheless, there may occur some confusion with the
password and FTP prompts.
(socat PTY,link=$HOME/dev/vmodem0,raw,echo=0,waitslave EXEC:'"ssh modem-
server.us.org socat - /dev/ttyS0,nonblock,raw,echo=0"')
Generates a pseudo terminal device (PTY) on the client that can be reached under
the symbolic link $HOME/dev/vmodem0. An application that expects a serial line or
modem can be configured to use $HOME/dev/vmodem0; its traffic will be directed to a
modemserver via ssh where another socat instance links it with /dev/ttyS0.
socat TCP4-LISTEN:2022,reuseaddr,fork \
PROXY:proxy:www.domain.org:22,proxyport=3128,proxyauth=user:pass
starts a forwarder that accepts connections on port 2022, and directs them through
the proxy daemon listening on port 3128 (proxyport) on host proxy, using the CON-
NECT method, where they are authenticated as "user" with "pass" (proxyauth). The
proxy should establish connections to host www.domain.org on port 22 then.
socat - SSL:server:4443,cafile=server.crt,cert=client.pem
is an OpenSSL client that tries to establish a secure connection to an SSL server.
Option cafile specifies a file that contains trust certificates: we trust the
server only when it presents one of these certificates and proofs that it owns the
related private key. Otherwise the connection is terminated. With cert a file
containing the client certificate and the associated private key is specified. This
is required in case the server wishes a client authentication; many Internet
servers do not.
The first address ('-') can be replaced by almost any other socat address.
socat OPENSSL-LISTEN:4443,reuseaddr,pf=ip4,fork,cert=server.pem,cafile=client.crt PIPE
is an OpenSSL server that accepts TCP connections, presents the certificate from
the file server.pem and forces the client to present a certificate that is verified
against cafile.crt.
The second address ('PIPE') can be replaced by almost any other socat address.
For instructions on generating and distributing OpenSSL keys and certificates see
the additional socat docu socat-openssl.txt.
echo |socat -u - file:/tmp/bigfile,create,largefile,seek=100000000000
creates a 100GB sparse file; this requires a file system type that supports this
(ext2, ext3, reiserfs, jfs; not minix, vfat). The operation of writing 1 byte might
take long (reiserfs: some minutes; ext2: "no" time), and the resulting file can
consume some disk space with just its inodes (reiserfs: 2MB; ext2: 16KB).
socat tcp-l:7777,reuseaddr,fork system:'filan -i 0 -s >&2',nofork
listens for incoming TCP connections on port 7777. For each accepted connection,
invokes a shell. This shell has its stdin and stdout directly connected to the TCP
socket (nofork). The shell starts filan and lets it print the socket addresses to
stderr (your terminal window).
echo -en '\0\14\0\0' |socat -u - file:/usr/bin/squid.exe,seek=0x00074420
functions as primitive binary editor: it writes the 4 bytes 000 014 000 000 to the
executable /usr/bin/squid at offset 0x00074420 (this is a real world patch to make
the squid executable from Cygwin run under Windows, actual per May 2004).
socat - tcp:www.blackhat.org:31337,readbytes=1000
connects to an unknown service and prevents being flooded.
socat -U TCP:target:9999,end-close TCP-L:8888,reuseaddr,fork
merges data arriving from different TCP streams on port 8888 to just one stream to
target:9999. The end-close option prevents the child processes forked off by the
second address from terminating the shared connection to 9999 (close(2) just
unlinks the inode which stays active as long as the parent process lives; shut-
down(2) would actively terminate the connection).
socat - UDP4-DATAGRAM:192.168.1.0:123,sp=123,broadcast,range=192.168.1.0/24
sends a broadcast to the network 192.168.1.0/24 and receives the replies of the
timeservers there. Ignores NTP packets from hosts outside this network.
socat - IP4-DATAGRAM:255.255.255.255:44,broadcast,range=10.0.0.0/8
sends a broadcast to the local network(s) using protocol 44. Accepts replies from
the private address range only.
socat - UDP4-DATAGRAM:224.255.0.1:6666,bind=:6666,ip-add-membership=224.255.0.1:eth0
transfers data from stdin to the specified multicast address using UDP. Both local
and remote ports are 6666. Tells the interface eth0 to also accept multicast pack-
ets of the given group. Multiple hosts on the local network can run this command,
so all data sent by any of the hosts will be received by all the other ones. Note
that there are many possible reasons for failure, including IP-filters, routing
issues, wrong interface selection by the operating system, bridges, or a badly con-
figured switch.
socat TCP:host2:4443 TUN:192.168.255.1/24,up
establishes one side of a virtual (but not private!) network with host2 where a
similar process might run, with TCP-L and tun address 192.168.255.2. They can reach
each other using the addresses 192.168.255.1 and 192.168.255.2. Substitute the TCP
link with an SSL connection protected by client and server authentication (see
OpenSSL client and server).
DIAGNOSTICS
Socat uses a logging mechanism that allows to filter messages by severity. The severities
provided are more or less compatible to the appropriate syslog priority. With one or up to
four occurrences of the -d command line option, the lowest priority of messages that are
issued can be selected. Each message contains a single uppercase character specifying the
messages severity (one of F, E, W, N, I, or D)
FATAL: Conditions that require unconditional and immediate program termination.
ERROR: Conditions that prevent proper program processing. Usually the program is termi-
nated (see option -s).
WARNING:
Something did not function correctly or is in a state where correct further pro-
cessing cannot be guaranteed, but might be possible.
NOTICE:
Interesting actions of the program, e.g. for supervising socat in some kind of
server mode.
INFO: Description of what the program does, and maybe why it happens. Allows to monitor
the lifecycles of file descriptors.
DEBUG: Description of how the program works, all system or library calls and their
results.
Log messages can be written to stderr, to a file, or to syslog.
On exit, socat gives status 0 if it terminated due to EOF or inactivity timeout, with a
positive value on error, and with a negative value on fatal error.
FILES
/usr/bin/socat
/usr/bin/filan
/usr/bin/procan
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
SOCAT_DEFAULT_LISTEN_IP
(Values 4 or 6) Sets the IP version to be used for listen, recv, and recvfrom
addresses if no pf (protocol-family) option is given. Is overridden by socat
options -4 or -6.
SOCAT_PREFERRED_RESOLVE_IP
(Values 0, 4, or 6) Sets the IP version to be used when resolving target host names
when version is not specified by address type, option pf (protocol-family), or
address format. If name resolution does not return a matching entry, the first
result (with differing IP version) is taken. With value 0, socat always selects the
first record and its IP version.
SOCAT_FORK_WAIT
Specifies the time (seconds) to sleep the parent and child processes after success-
ful fork(). Useful for debugging.
HOSTNAME
Is used to determine the hostname for logging (see -lh).
LOGNAME
Is used as name for the socks client user name if no socksuser is given.
With options su and su-d, LOGNAME is set to the given user name.
USER Is used as name for the socks client user name if no socksuser is given and LOGNAME
is empty.
With options su and su-d, USER is set to the given user name.
SHELL With options su and su-d, SHELL is set to the login shell of the given user.
PATH Can be set with option path for exec and system addresses.
HOME With options su and su-d, HOME is set to the home directory of the given user.
CREDITS
The work of the following groups and organizations was invaluable for this project:
The FSF (GNU, http://www.fsf.org/ project with their free and portable development soft-
ware and lots of other useful tools and libraries.
The Linux developers community (http://www.linux.org/) for providing a free, open source
operating system.
The Open Group (http://www.unix-systems.org/) for making their standard specifications
available on the Internet for free.
VERSION
This man page describes version 1.6.0 of socat.
BUGS
Addresses cannot be nested, so a single socat process cannot, e.g., drive ssl over socks.
Address option ftruncate without value uses default 1 instead of 0.
Verbose modes (-x and/or -v) display line termination characters inconsistently when
address options cr or crnl are used: They show the data after conversion in either direc-
tion.
The data transfer blocksize setting (-b) is ignored with address readline.
Send bug reports to <socat AT dest-unreach.org>
SEE ALSO
nc(1), netcat6(1), sock(1), rinetd(8), cage(1), socks.conf(5), openssl(1), stunnel(8),
pty(1), rlwrap(1), setsid(1)
Socat home page http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/
AUTHOR
Gerhard Rieger <rieger AT dest-unreach.org>
socat Feb 2008 socat(1)
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