# Inet:getaddr/3 is supported?

**URL:** <https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528>\
**Category:** Questions / Help\
**Tags:** erlang-otp, inet\
**Created:** [April 3, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528 "2026-04-03T12:21:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![meox](https://erlangforums.com/user_avatar/erlangforums.com/meox/32/476_2.png) [@meox](https://erlangforums.com/u/meox)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/1 "2026-04-03T12:21:28Z")

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Is the inet:getaddr/3 supported?

we see that is exported by is marked with: “-doc false”

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**Author:** ![mmin](https://erlangforums.com/user_avatar/erlangforums.com/mmin/32/2193_2.png) [@mmin](https://erlangforums.com/u/mmin)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/2 "2026-04-03T12:48:08Z")

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Seems like [`-doc false` means that it’s exported for internal purposes (not to be used outside the app)](https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/7407#issuecomment-1923738253).

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**Author:** ![meox](https://erlangforums.com/user_avatar/erlangforums.com/meox/32/476_2.png) [@meox](https://erlangforums.com/u/meox)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/3 "2026-04-03T13:02:22Z")

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I don’t see any particular reason to consider it “internal”

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**Author:** ![meridi2n2](https://erlangforums.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@meridi2n2](https://erlangforums.com/u/meridi2n2)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 8:48am UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/4 "2026-04-08T08:48:39Z")

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Use `inet:getaddr/2` instead. That’s the supported version. The 3-arity one is internal.

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**Author:** ![meox](https://erlangforums.com/user_avatar/erlangforums.com/meox/32/476_2.png) [@meox](https://erlangforums.com/u/meox)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 9:30am UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/5 "2026-04-08T09:30:22Z")

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we need to use the timeout …  
otherwise I never ask it 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mmin](https://erlangforums.com/user_avatar/erlangforums.com/mmin/32/2193_2.png) [@mmin](https://erlangforums.com/u/mmin)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 9:39am UTC](https://erlangforums.com/t/inet-getaddr-3-is-supported/5528/6 "2026-04-08T09:39:05Z")

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I’d recommend opening an issue on GitHub on why exactly is it considered internal. More directly, open a PR where you’d remove `-doc false` attribute thus making that function “public”.