README

ipinfo README

Copyright (c) 2010 Maurice Makaay
See the end for copying conditions

libipinfo
---------

This library provides routines that can be used for parsing, classifying
and formatting IP addresses.

The provided interface functions (all defined in <ipinfo.h>) are:

 - ipinfo_parse()

     For parsing IPv4 (decimal dotted-quad) and IPv6 (RFC4291)
     address strings, optionally extended with a prefix length
     or (in case of IPv4) subnet mask notation.

     This method serves a different scope than the inet_pton() and
     getaddrinfo() calls, because the address parser will not only
     report that an address could not be parsed, but it will also
     reports exactly why this is the case. This makes this library
     more useful for IP address validation tasks than the standard
     system calls.

     This function does not need to know what kind of address is
     expected. It will determine whether it is handling and IPv4
     or and IPv6 address on its own.

 - ipinfo_format()

     This function provides formatting functionality. The input is
     a parsed address (as produced by ipinfo_parse()) and a formatting
     type. The function will create a formatted string, based on the
     requested formatting type.


ipinfo
------

This command line tool makes use of the libipinfo library for all its
IP address parsing, classification and formatting.


Portability
-----------

 - The library was written in a thread-safe manner, so you can use it
   in multi-threaded applications.
 - Vanilla C was used for all coding.
 - Both the library and the command line utility are stand-alone and
   do not depend other (networking) libraries.

For these reasons, this package should work on a wide range of platforms.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
This package is licensed under the MIT license.
See the file COPYING.

Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
notice and this notice are preserved.