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This section explains library routines that allow a C programmer to describe arbitrary data structures in a machine-independent fashion. The eXternal Data Representation (XDR) standard is the backbone of the Remote Procedure Call package, in the sense that data for remote procedure calls is transmitted using the standard. XDR library routines should be used to transmit data that is accessed (read or written) by more than one type of machine.
This chapter contains a guide to accessing currently available XDR streams, information on defining new streams and data types, and a formal definition of the XDR standard. XDR was designed to work across different languages, operating systems, and machine architectures. Most users, particularly RPC users, need only the information in the sections ``Compiling programs that contain XDR routines'', ``Creating portable data with XDR'', and ``XDR library primitives''. Programmers wishing to implement RPC and XDR on new machines will need the information in the sections ``XDR stream access'', ``XDR streams implementation'', and ``XDR standard''. Advanced topics, not necessary for all implementations, are covered in the section ``Advanced topics -- linked lists''.