XFN Interface Library Functions                         xfn(3XFN)

NAME
     xfn - overview of the XFN interface

DESCRIPTION
     The primary service provided by a federated naming system is
     to map a  composite name to a reference. A composite name is
     composed of name components from one or more naming systems.
     A  reference  consists  of  one  or  more  communication end
     points. An additional service provided by a federated naming
     system  is  to  provide access to attributes associated with
     named objects. This extension is to  satisfy  most  applica-
     tions'  additional  naming service  needs without cluttering
     the basic naming service model. XFN is a programming  inter-
     face for a federated naming service.

     To use the XFN interface, include the  xfn/xfn.h header file
     and link the application with  -lxfn.

     The  xfn/xfn.h header file contains the  interface  declara-
     tions for:

        o  the XFN base context interface,

        o  the XFN base attribute interface,

        o  status object and status codes used by  operations  in
           these two interfaces,

        o  abstract  data  types  passed  as  parameters  to  and
           returned as values from operations in these two inter-
           faces, and

        o  the interface for the XFN standard  syntax  model  for
           parsing compound names.

FILES
     /usr/include/xfn/xfn.h

SEE ALSO
     FN_ctx_t(3XFN),   FN_status_t(3XFN),   xfn_attributes(3XFN),
     xfn_composite_names(3XFN),         xfn_compound_names(3XFN),
     xfn_status_codes(3XFN), fns(5), fns_policies(5)

NOTES
     The implementation of XFN in this Solaris release  is  based
     on  the  X/Open preliminary specification. It is likely that
     there will be minor changes to these interfaces  to  reflect
     changes in the final version of this specification. The next
     minor release of Solaris will offer binary compatibility for
     applications  developed using the current interfaces. As the
     interfaces evolve toward  standardization,  it  is  possible
     that  future  releases  of Solaris will require minor source

SunOS 5.8            Last change: 4 Nov 1994                    1

XFN Interface Library Functions                         xfn(3XFN)

     code  changes  to  applications  that  have  been  developed
     against the preliminary specification.

SunOS 5.8            Last change: 4 Nov 1994                    2