path: root/contrib/com_err/com_err.3

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.\" $Id$
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.\" This manpage was contributed by Gregory McGarry.
.\"
.Dd July  7, 2005
.Dt COM_ERR 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm com_err ,
.Nm com_err_va ,
.Nm error_message ,
.Nm error_table_name ,
.Nm init_error_table ,
.Nm set_com_err_hook ,
.Nm reset_com_err_hook ,
.Nm add_to_error_table ,
.Nm initialize_error_table_r
.Nm free_error_table ,
.Nm com_right
.Nd common error display library
.Sh LIBRARY
Common Error Library (libcom_err, -lcom_err)
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <stdio.h>
.Fd #include <stdarg.h>
.Fd #include <com_err.h>
.Fd #include \&"XXX_err.h\&"
.Pp
typedef void (*errf)(const char *, long, const char *, ...);
.Ft void
.Fn com_err "const char *whoami" "long code" "const char *format" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn com_err_va "const char *whoami" "long code" "const char *format" "..."
.Ft const char *
.Fn error_message "long code"
.Ft const char *
.Fn error_table_name "int num"
.Ft int
.Fn init_error_table "const char **msgs" "long base" "int count"
.Ft errf
.Fn set_com_err_hook "errf func"
.Ft errf
.Fn reset_com_err_hook ""
.Ft void
.Fn add_to_error_table "struct et_list *new_table"
.Ft void
.Fn initialize_error_table_r "struct et_list **et_list" "const char **msgs" "int base" "long count"
.Ft void
.Fn free_error_table "struct et_list *"
.Ft const char *
.Fn com_right "struct et_list *list" long code"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
library provides a common error-reporting mechanism for defining and
accessing error codes and descriptions for application software
packages.  Error descriptions are defined in a table and error codes
are used to index the table.  The error table, the descriptions and
the error codes are generated using
.Xr compile_et 1 .
.Pp
The error table is registered with the
.Nm
library by calling its initialisation function defined in its header
file.  The initialisation function is generally defined as
.Fn initialize_<name>_error_table ,
where
.Em name
is the name of the error table.
.Pp
If a thread-safe version of the library is needed
.Fn initialize_<name>_error_table_r
that internally calls
.Fn initialize_error_table_r
instead be used.
.Pp
Any variable which is to contain an error code should be declared
.Em <name>_error_number
where
.Em name
is the name of the error table.
.Sh FUNCTIONS
The following functions are available to the application developer:
.Bl -tag -width compact
.It Fn com_err "whoami" "code" "format" "..."
Displays an error message on standard error composed of the
.Fa whoami
string, which should specify the program name, followed by an error
message generated from
.Fa code ,
and a string produced using the
.Xr printf 3
.Fa format
string and any following arguments.  If
.Fa format
is NULL, the formatted message will not be
printed.  The argument
.Fa format
may not be omitted.
.It Fn com_err_va "whoami" "code" "format" "va_list args"
This routine provides an interface, equivalent to
.Fn com_err ,
which may be used by higher-level variadic functions (functions which
accept variable numbers of arguments).
.It Fn error_message "code"
Returns the character string error message associate with
.Fa code .
If
.Fa code is associated with an unknown error table, or if
.Fa code
is associated with a known error table but is not in the table, a
string of the form `Unknown code XXXX NN' is returned, where XXXX is
the error table name produced by reversing the compaction performed on
the error table number implied by that error code, and NN is the
offset from that base value.
.Pp
Although this routine is available for use when needed, its use should
be left to circumstances which render
.Fn com_err
unusable.
.Pp
.Fn com_right
returns the error string just like
.Fa com_err
but in a thread-safe way.
.Pp
.It Fn error_table_name "num"
Convert a machine-independent error table number
.Fa num
into an error table name.
.It Fn init_error_table "msgs" "base" "count"
Initialise the internal error table with the array of character string
error messages in
.Fa msgs
of length
.Fa count .
The error codes are assigned incrementally from
.Fa base .
This function is useful for using the error-reporting mechanism with
custom error tables that have not been generated with
.Xr compile_et 1 .
Although this routine is available for use when needed, its use should
be restricted.
.Pp
.Fn initialize_error_table_r
initialize the
.Fa et_list
in the same way as
.Fn init_error_table ,
but in a thread-safe way.
.Pp
.It Fn set_com_err_hook "func"
Provides a hook into the
.Nm
library to allow the routine
.Fa func
to be dynamically substituted for
.Fn com_err .
After
.Fn set_com_err_hook
 has been called, calls to
.Fn com_err
will turn into calls to the new hook routine.  This function is
intended to be used in daemons to use a routine which calls
.Xr syslog 3 ,
or in a window system application to pop up a dialogue box.
.It Fn reset_com_err_hook ""
Turns off the hook set in
.Fn set_com_err_hook .
.It Fn add_to_error_table "new_table"
Add the error table, its messages strings and error codes in
.Fa new_table
to the internal error table.
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following is an example using the table defined in
.Xr compile_et 1 :
.Pp
.Bd -literal
	#include <stdio.h>
	#include <stdarg.h>
	#include <syslog.h>

	#include "test_err.h"

	void
	hook(const char *whoami, long code,
		const char *format, va_list args)
	{
		char buffer[BUFSIZ];
		static int initialized = 0;

		if (!initialized) {
			openlog(whoami, LOG_NOWAIT, LOG_DAEMON);
			initialized = 1;
		}
		vsprintf(buffer, format, args);
		syslog(LOG_ERR, "%s %s", error_message(code), buffer);
	}

	int
	main(int argc, char *argv[])
	{
		char *whoami = argv[0];

		initialize_test_error_table();
		com_err(whoami, TEST_INVAL, "before hook");
		set_com_err_hook(hook);
		com_err(whoami, TEST_IO, "after hook");
		return (0);
	}
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr compile_et 1