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root/i-scream/projects/libukcprog/doc/ukcprog.3
Revision: 1.1
Committed: Sat Mar 29 16:30:32 2003 UTC (21 years, 7 months ago) by tdb
Branch: MAIN
Log Message:
libukcprog is now a seperate package. I doubt this will be much use to
anyone other than us, but I see no reason why we can't package it up
and distribute it. Obviously we can't attach the GPL to this, as we
don't own it.

File Contents

# User Rev Content
1 tdb 1.1 .\" $Id: ukcprog.3,v 1.18 1993/02/23 11:31:42 gjap Exp $ UKC
2     .\" .fX - print the argument in a fixed font
3     .de fX
4     \&\\$3\f(CR\\$1\fP\\$2
5     ..
6     .\" .Vs - start example
7     .de Vs
8     .LP
9     .ne 1i
10     .RS
11     .nf
12     .ft CR
13     ..
14     .\" .Ve - end example
15     .de Ve
16     .ft P
17     .fi
18     .hy 0
19     .RE
20     .LP
21     ..
22     .TH UKCPROG 3 "February 1991" "UKC Local"
23     .SH NAME
24     ukcprog \- Library of utilities for C programmers
25     .SH SYNOPSIS
26     .nf
27     .LP
28     In source code,
29     .Vs
30     #include <local/ukcprog.h>
31     .Ve
32     and link with
33     .Vs
34     cc ... -lukcprog
35     .Ve
36     .SH AVAILABILITY
37     .LP
38     .\"
39     .\" The following sentence motivated the port to MS-DOG.
40     .\"
41     This is a UKC library, available for the \s-1UNIX\s0 and \s-1VMS\s0
42     operating systems, and for MS-DOS.
43     .\"
44     .\" It was worth it ...
45     .\"
46     The source code is freely available so if you want to make
47     a source release of your application you can include a copy of the
48     source of this library as well.
49     To obtain a copy of the source code contact either of the authors
50     named below.
51     .SH DESCRIPTION
52     .LP
53     The ukcprog library contains generally useful low level routines.
54     The
55     .fX ukcprog.h
56     header file contains prototypes for the
57     routines as well as defining some useful macros and types.
58     .Vs
59     #ifdef __STDC__
60     #define PROTO(a) a
61     typedef void *voidptr;
62     #else
63     #define PROTO(a) ()
64     #define const
65     #define volatile
66     #define signed
67     typedef char *voidptr;
68     #endif
69     .Ve
70     .LP
71     The definitions of
72     .fX const ,
73     .fX volatile
74     and
75     .fX signed
76     allow these ANSI C keywords to be used in code which must be portable
77     to pre-ANSI C compilers.
78     .LP
79     The
80     .fX voidptr
81     typedef is similarly there to help with code for pre-ANSI compilers
82     which do not support the
83     .fX "void *" ' `
84     type.
85     Functions which are documented here as returning
86     .fX "void *" ' `
87     return
88     .fX "char *" ' `
89     when compiling with a non-ANSI C compiler.
90     .LP
91     The
92     .fX PROTO
93     macro is useful for declaring function prototypes
94     for use with ANSI C while still allowing the code to be compiled with
95     K&R compilers.
96     It is used thus:
97     .Vs
98     int myfunc PROTO((int arg1, char *arg2));
99     .Ve
100     With an ANSI C compiler this expands to
101     .Vs
102     int myfunc (int arg1, char *arg2);
103     .Ve
104     whereas a pre-ANSI compiler sees:
105     .Vs
106     int myfunc ();
107     .Ve
108     .LP
109     Note the double brackets; these are necessary to make all the parameters
110     a single argument to the
111     .fX PROTO
112     macro.
113     .Vs
114     #ifndef FALSE
115     #define FALSE 0
116     #endif
117     #ifndef TRUE
118     #define TRUE 1
119     #endif
120     #ifndef bool
121     #define bool int
122     #endif
123     .Ve
124     These define the commonly used
125     .fX TRUE
126     and
127     .fX FALSE
128     macros to their usual values.
129     The definitions are protected in case these are already defined.
130     The
131     .fX bool
132     macro is intended to be used to declared variables
133     that are conceptually boolean.
134     A
135     .fX #define
136     is used rather than a typedef because there might already be a typedef
137     for
138     .fX bool .
139     .Vs
140     #ifdef __STDC__
141     #define CAT(a,b) a ## b
142     #else
143     #define _IDENT(a) a
144     #define CAT(a,b) _IDENT(a)b
145     #endif /* !__STDC__ */
146     .Ve
147     The
148     .fX CAT
149     macro can be used to glue two tokens together in the same way as
150     the ANSI C
151     .fX ##
152     operator.
153     .fX CAT
154     also works with many (but not all) pre-ANSI C preprocessors.
155     .Vs
156     void panic(const char *message)
157     .sp
158     typedef void (*panic_handler_t)(const char *message);
159     panic_handler_t install_panic_handler(panic_hander_t handler)
160     .Ve
161     By default
162     .fX panic()
163     produces a message on stderr of the form
164     .Vs
165     fatal internal error: \fIsomething\fP (aborting)...
166     .Ve
167     It then calls
168     .fX abort(3)
169     to produce a core dump.
170     Alternative `panic handlers' can be installed using
171     .fX install_panic_handler()
172     which returns the previous handler.
173     Panic handlers can perform tidy-up tasks, such as
174     removing temporary files or calling
175     .fX chdir(2)
176     to arrange for
177     the core to land in a safe place.
178     If a panic handler is called and returns then the default
179     action is carried out.
180     .Vs
181     void *e_malloc(size_t size)
182     void *e_realloc(void *old, size_t size)
183     char *strsave(const char *str)
184     .Ve
185     .fX e_malloc()
186     and
187     .fX e_realloc()
188     are error-checking versions
189     of the corresponding routines in the standard C library.
190     They call
191     .fX panic()
192     if the request fails.
193     .fX e_realloc()
194     behaves according to the ANSI specification for
195     .fX realloc() ;
196     that is, if
197     .fX old
198     is NULL it behaves like
199     .fX malloc()
200     and if size is 0, it behaves like
201     .fX free() .
202     .fX strsave()
203     allocates some memory using
204     .fX e_malloc() ,
205     copies
206     .fX str
207     into it, and returns a pointer to the copy.
208     .Vs
209     char *fpgetline(FILE *fp)
210     .Ve
211     .fX fpgetline()
212     reads characters from the standard IO stream
213     .fX fp
214     until a newline character or EOF is encountered.
215     .fX fpgetline()
216     returns
217     .fX NULL
218     if EOF or an error occurred before any characters were read;
219     otherwise it returns a pointer to the NUL terminated line.
220     .fX fpgetline()
221     never adds a newline to the buffer.
222     The user can check for a missing final newline in a file by checking
223     the EOF flag of the stream pointer when
224     .fX fpgetline()
225     returns a non-NULL pointer.
226     .LP
227     When
228     .fX fpgetline()
229     returns
230     .fX NULL
231     the caller should check with
232     .fX ferror(3)
233     whether the cause was EOF or an error reading the stream
234     .fX fp .
235     .LP
236     .fX fpgetline()
237     returns a pointer to a static buffer that is resized as necessary
238     to handle long lines.
239     The caller can modify the contents of the buffer but must not free
240     it or realloc it.
241     The buffer is valid only until the next call of
242     .fX fpgetline() .
243     .Vs
244     char *config_trim_line(char *line)
245     .Ve
246     .fX config_trim_line()
247     trims comments and white space in place from a line.
248     First it scans for the first
249     .fX # ' `
250     character in the line.
251     If there is one it is removed along with any following characters.
252     Then leading and trailing whitespace characters (as defined by
253     .IR isspace (3))
254     are removed.
255     .fX config_trim_line()
256     returns a pointer to the trimmed line (which will point into the line
257     that it was given).
258     .LP
259     A typical use of this routine is to skip blank lines and comments from
260     a configuration file.
261     .Vs
262     typedef void (*errf_ofunc_t)(const char *string);
263     .sp
264     void errf(const char *fmt, ...)
265     char *strf(const char *fmt, ...)
266     .sp
267     errf_ofunc_t errf_set_ofunc(errf_ofunc_t func)
268     const char *errf_set_prefix(const char *prefix)
269     const char *errf_get_prefix(void)
270     void_errf_set_progname(const char *progname)
271     const char *errf_get_progname(void)
272     char *formf(char *buffer, int buffer_size,
273     const char *format, va_list args)
274     void errf_usage(const char *usage)
275     .Ve
276     These routines form the basis of a generalised error handling system.
277     .fX errf()
278     formats an error message, much like
279     .fX printf(3) ,
280     but then passes the formatted text to the `current output function'.
281     The default output function appends a newline to the message and
282     sends it to stderr.
283     An alternative output function can be installed with
284     .fX errf_set_ofunc() ;
285     it returns the old one which can be re-installed as required.
286     The default output function can optionally prefix the message with
287     a fixed string; this can be inserted with
288     .fX errf_set_prefix() .
289     A pointer to the current prefix is returned by
290     .fX errf_get_prefix() .
291     By convention, this prefix is derived from the name of the program.
292     .fX errf_set_progname()
293     is a convenience routine which, when passed
294     .fX argv[0] ,
295     munges it in an operating system specific way to produce the program name
296     and sets the prefix to something that looks `nice'.
297     A pointer to the program name (after munging) can be obtained by
298     .fX errf_get_progname().
299     A usage line can be sent to the current output function by
300     .fX errf_usage() ;
301     it prefixes
302     .Vs
303     Usage: \fIprogname\fP
304     .Ve
305     to its argument, and exits with status 1.
306     .LP
307     .fX strf()
308     formats a string in the same way as
309     .fX errf() ,
310     but returns a pointer to a buffer obtained from
311     .fX malloc(3)
312     that
313     contains the result.
314     .LP
315     .fX formf()
316     is used in the internal implementation of
317     .fX errf()
318     and
319     .fX strf()
320     and
321     .fX logf()
322     (see below) and is not for the faint-hearted.
323     It is made visible because it is useful if you need to implement
324     other
325     .fX errf() "-style"
326     functions.
327     In addition to the normal format conversions,
328     .fX formf()
329     provides
330     .fX %m ' `
331     which inserts an error message
332     corresponding to the current value of
333     .fX errno
334     into the output string.
335     .Vs
336     int logf_set_ofile PROTO((const char *filename, const char *prefix));
337     void logf(int level, const char *fmt, ...)
338     int logf_set_level PROTO((int level));
339     void logf_errf_ofunc PROTO((const char *str));
340     .Ve
341     These routines are an alternative to
342     .I syslog (3)
343     for applications that need to log messages to a specified file.
344     .fX logf()
345     handles the
346     .fX fmt
347     format string and arguments in the same same way as
348     .fX errf() .
349     If there has been no prior call to
350     .fX logf_set_ofile ()
351     (see below) the message is
352     displayed on stderr, prefixed with the current date and time.
353     If the output
354     .I is
355     going to a file,
356     .fX logf()
357     tries to ensure that messages from multiple processes to a single log
358     file are interleaved correctly.
359     .LP
360     The
361     .fX level
362     argument specifies the class of the message; it is one of
363     .fX LG_DEBUG ,
364     .fX LG_INFO ,
365     or
366     .fX LG_ERR
367     (which are in increasing numerical order).
368     Messages at a level less than the current log level are discarded.
369     The default log level is
370     .fX LG_INFO ;
371     it can be set using
372     .fX logf_set_level() ,
373     which also returns the previous log level.
374     The log levels
375     .fX LG_ALL
376     and
377     .fX LG_LOG
378     are valid only in calls to
379     .fX logf_set_level() ;
380     .fX LG_ALL
381     means log all messages and
382     .fX LG_LOG
383     means log only messages relating to
384     .fX logf()
385     itself.
386     .LP
387     .fX logf_set_ofile()
388     sets the output file for
389     .fX logf()
390     messages.
391     If the log file does not exist
392     .fX logf_set_ofile()
393     attempts to create it; otherwise it is opened for writing (without
394     discarding any existing contents).
395     If the attempt to create or open the file fails,
396     .fX logf_set_ofile()
397     gives an error message and returns -1, otherwise it returns zero.
398     If the
399     .fX prefix
400     argument is not
401     .fX NULL ,
402     the string specified is prepended to all future log messages.
403     .fX logf_set_ofile()
404     makes a copy of the string so it need not be preserved after the call.
405     .LP
406     .fX logf_errf_ofunc()
407     logs the message
408     .fX str
409     at level
410     .fX LG_ERR .
411     It can be passed as an output function to
412     .fX errf_set_ofunc()
413     to arrange that all error messages are sent to a log file.
414     .Ve
415     .fX ssplit()
416     splits a string into a vector of words, treating
417     occurrences in the string of any of the characters in the
418     .fX delimiters
419     string as word separators.
420     .LP
421     If the delimiters string starts with a NUL character then multiple
422     adjacent delimiters and leading delimiters generate zero length fields.
423     Otherwise, leading delimiter characters are skipped and multiple adjacent
424     delimiters are treated as a single delimiter.
425     Thus
426     .Vs
427     char **words = ssplit(line, " \\t");
428     .Ve
429     will to a shell-like split of a command line into words, and
430     .Vs
431     char **fields = ssplit(pwline, "\\0:");
432     .Ve
433     would be good for splitting lines from the password file.
434     .LP
435     .fX ssplit()
436     returns a
437     .fX NULL
438     terminated vector of words.
439     The space for this vector and the pointed to words is allocated with
440     a (single) call to
441     .fX e_malloc() .
442     .fX ssplit()
443     thus never returns
444     .fX NULL ;
445     it aborts the program
446     by calling
447     .fX panic()
448     if memory runs out.
449     .LP
450     The vector returned by
451     .fX ssplit()
452     should be freed when it is finished
453     with by passing it to
454     .fX free() .
455     .Vs
456     int get_host_addr(const char *hostname, struct in_addr *p_addr)
457     .Ve
458     .fX get_host_addr()
459     looks up the IP address of
460     .fX hostname
461     using
462     .IR gethostbyaddr (3).
463     If the lookup succeeds it sets
464     .fX *p_addr
465     to the IP address of the host in network byte order.
466     If the lookup fails it gives an error message with
467     .fX errf()
468     and returns -1.
469     If
470     .fX hostname
471     consists of four decimal numbers separated by dots then
472     .fX get_host_addr
473     parses this as an IP quad and does not call
474     .IR gethostbyname .
475     .Vs
476     int get_service_port(const char *servname, int *p_port)
477     .Ve
478     .fX get_service_port
479     looks up the port number of the TCP service
480     .fX servname
481     using
482     .IR getservbyname (3).
483     If it succeeds it sets
484     .fX *p_port
485     to the port number in network byte order.
486     Otherwise it gives an error message with
487     .fX errf()
488     and returns -1.
489     If
490     .fX servname
491     is an \s-2ASCII\s0 decimal number then
492     .fX get_service_port()
493     returns that number (again in network byte order).
494     .Vs
495     ebuf_t *ebuf_create(bool errors_are_fatal);
496     void ebuf_reset(ebuf_t *eb);
497     ebuf_t *ebuf_start(ebuf_t *eb, bool errors_are_fatal);
498     int ebuf_add(ebuf_t *eb, const char *buf, int count);
499     char *ebuf_get(ebuf_t *eb, int *p_len);
500     void ebuf_free(ebuf_t *eb);
501     .Ve
502     These routines implement variable sized contiguous buffers to which data
503     can be appended at any time.
504     .fX ebuf_create()
505     creates a new zero length buffer.
506     The
507     .fX errors_are_fatal
508     parameter controls the handling of errors; if it is
509     .fX TRUE
510     then all of the routines will call
511     .fX panic()
512     on failure.
513     .LP
514    
515     .fX ebuf_add()
516     appends
517     .fX count
518     bytes of memory pointed at by
519     .fX data
520     to the buffer
521     .fX eb
522     (which must have been created using
523     .fX ebuf_create() ).
524     .fX ebuf_add()
525     returns zero on success.
526     On failure it panics or returns
527     .fX -1
528     (depending on the setting of
529     .fX errors_are_fatal
530     in the call of
531     .fX ebuf_create()).
532     .LP
533     .fX ebuf_get()
534     returns a pointer to the current contents of
535     .fX eb ;
536     if the
537     .fX p_len
538     parameter is not
539     .fX NULL
540     the current length of the buffer in bytes is stored there.
541     The returned buffer and length are only valid up to the next call of
542     .fX ebuf_add() ,
543     .fX ebuf_reset()
544     or
545     .fX ebuf_free().
546     .LP
547     .fX ebuf_reset()
548     frees the data associated with
549     .fX eb
550     and resets the length to zero.
551     Furthur calls of
552     .fX ebuf_add()
553     can be used to add fresh data to
554     .fX eb .
555     .fX ebuf_free()
556     frees and destroys
557     .fX eb .
558     .LP
559     .fX ebuf_start()
560     is a convenience routine which either creates or resets a buffer.
561     If
562     .fX eb
563     is
564     .fX NULL
565     it calls
566     .fX ebuf_create()
567     with the supplied value of
568     .fX errors_are_fatal .
569     If
570     .fX eb
571     is not
572     .fX NULL
573     then it is passed to
574     .fX ebuf_reset().
575     The routine is intended to be used like for static buffers in the following
576     way:
577     .Vs
578     void foo(void)
579     {
580     static ebuf_t *eb = NULL;
581    
582     eb = ebuf_start(eb, TRUE);
583     ...
584     }
585     .Ve
586     The first time the function is called the buffer is created; on subsequent
587     calls it is reset.
588     .Vs
589     alloc_pool_t *alloc_create_pool(void)
590     .sp
591     void *alloc(alloc_pool_t *ap, int nbytes)
592     void *alloc_ck(alloc_pool_t *ap, int nbytes)
593     .Ve
594     .fX alloc_create_pool()
595     creates a memory allocation `pool' and
596     returns a handle referring to it.
597     .fX alloc()
598     allocates memory like
599     .fX malloc(3)
600     but from the
601     specified pool rather from the general malloc arena.
602     .fX alloc()
603     calls
604     .fX e_malloc()
605     to obtain memory in reasonably
606     large chunks when necessary.
607     This means that it never returns
608     .fX NULL ;
609     the program is aborted
610     via
611     .fX panic()
612     if there is insufficient memory to satisfy the
613     request.
614     The alternative interface
615     .fX alloc_ck()
616     returns
617     .fX NULL
618     if
619     it runs out of memory; it is otherwise identical to
620     .fX alloc() .
621     Memory obtained with
622     .fX alloc()
623     cannot be freed individually; only
624     entire pools can be freed.
625     .Vs
626     void alloc_free_pool(alloc_pool_t *ap)
627     void alloc_reset_pool(alloc_pool_t *ap)
628     .Ve
629     .fX alloc_free_pool()
630     frees an alloc pool, releasing all memory
631     allocated from it with
632     .fX alloc() .
633     The pool is no longer valid after this call.
634     .fX alloc_reset_pool()
635     conceptually frees all the memory associated with
636     a pool but does not return it via
637     .fX free() .
638     The pool remains valid and subsequent calls to
639     .fX alloc()
640     allocate
641     memory from the existing memory associated with the pool if possible.
642     .LP
643     These routines are suitable for applications which make lots of small
644     allocations for a data structure which is to be freed in one go.
645     .fX alloc()
646     is much faster than
647     .fX malloc()
648     as it does not do
649     the bookkeeping to support individual freeing of allocated memory.
650     It also has no space overhead other than that necessary to correctly
651     align objects in memory.
652     .LP
653     .fX alloc_create_pool()
654     is a lightweight routine \- it involves a
655     single call to
656     .fX malloc()
657     plus some assignments to initialise the
658     pool header structure.
659     It is thus reasonable to use the
660     .fX alloc()
661     routines in situations where
662     there are only going to be a few tens of calls to
663     .fX alloc() .
664     .Vs
665     bool alloc_set_default_debug_flag(bool val)
666     bool alloc_set_debug_flag(alloc_pool_t *ap, bool val)
667     .Ve
668     By default all memory obtained with
669     .fX alloc()
670     and related routines
671     is initialised to the repeated byte
672     .fX 0x53 .
673     When memory is freed (with
674     .fX alloc_free_pool() ,
675     .fX alloc_reset_pool()
676     or
677     .fX alloc_release() )
678     it is set
679     to the repeated byte
680     .fX 0x42 .
681     This is intended to trap erroneous use of uninitialised data and data
682     that has been freed \- newly allocated memory contains obvious garbage
683     and freed memory is immediately stamped on.
684     .LP
685     Of course these safety features cost speed, so they can be turned off
686     globally or per-pool.
687     .fX alloc_set_debug_flag()
688     sets the debugging flag for a pool; memory
689     will be initialised to garbage and stamped on when freed only of the flag
690     is non-zero.
691     .fX alloc_set_default_debug_flag()
692     sets the value of the flag used
693     for pools created from then on with
694     .fX alloc_create_pool() .
695     Both routines return the previous value of the flag they set.
696     .Vs
697     char *allocstr(alloc_pool_t *ap, int nbytes)
698     char *allocstr_ck(alloc_pool_t *ap, int nbytes)
699     .Ve
700     .fX allocstr()
701     is like
702     .fX alloc()
703     except that it assumes that
704     no alignment is required.
705     It is thus suitable only for allocating space for strings.
706     .fX allocstr()
707     is implemented such that interspersed calls to
708     .fX alloc()
709     and
710     .fX allocstr()
711     will pack both
712     the strings and the other objects tightly in memory with no space
713     wasted on alignment.
714     .fX allocstr()
715     never returns
716     .fX NULL
717     \- it panics like
718     .fX alloc()
719     if there is no memory.
720     .fX allocstr_ck()
721     is the same as
722     .fX allocstr()
723     except that
724     it returns
725     .fX NULL
726     if there is no memory.
727     .Vs
728     char *alloc_strdup(alloc_pool_t *ap, const char *s)
729     .Ve
730     .fX alloc_strdup()
731     is a convenience routine that returns a pointer
732     to a copy of a string allocated using
733     .fX allocstr() .
734     Note that it will never return
735     .fX NULL
736     as it uses
737     .fX allocstr()
738     rather than
739     .fX allocstr_ck() .
740     .Vs
741     alloc_mark_t *alloc_mark(alloc_pool_t *ap)
742     void alloc_release(alloc_pool_t *ap, alloc_mark_t *am)
743     .Ve
744     .fX alloc_mark()
745     returns an opaque handle that `remembers' the
746     current position in an alloc pool.
747     A subsequent call to
748     .fX alloc_release()
749     conceptually frees all
750     memory allocated from the pool since the corresponding call of
751     .fX alloc_mark() .
752     Subsequent calls to
753     .fX alloc()
754     et al will reuse the freed memory.
755     A call to
756     .fX alloc_release()
757     renders invalid any marks that were
758     returned after the
759     .fX alloc_mark()
760     call that returned the mark
761     being passed to
762     .fX alloc_release() .
763     .Vs
764     const char *ukcprog_version(void)
765     .Ve
766     .fX ukcprog_version()
767     returns a string giving the current version number of the library.
768     .SH BUGS
769     This library treads rather freely on the name space.
770     .SH AUTHORS
771     .LP
772     Godfrey Paul (gjap@ukc.ac.uk)
773     .br
774     Mark Russell (mtr@ukc.ac.uk)
775     .sp
776     Computing Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury.