UNIX® System V Network Programming

12. STREAMS Multiplexors

STREAMS multiplexors provide a way to route messages between different streams. Also known as a multiplexing driver, a STREAMS multiplexor (hereafter referred to simply as a “multiplexor”) is just a special-purpose software driver. This chapter describes how to use and write multiplexors. The bulk of the chapter is a program description of a multiplexor supporting the Transport Provider Interface. Such a driver is known as a transport provider.

12.1. Introduction

Strictly speaking, most ordinary STREAMS drivers do some sort of multiplexing. The Ethernet driver presented in Chapter 10, for example, multiplexes packets between multiple streams and a single I/O device. STREAMS multiplexing drivers, however, are distinguished ...