mkstr(1)                                                 mkstr(1)



NAME
     mkstr - creates an error message file by massaging C  source
     programs

SYNOPSIS
     mkstr [-] messagefile prefix file...

ARGUMENTS
     -    Causes the error messages to be placed at the end of
          the specified message file for recompiling part of a
          large mkstred program.

     file Specifies the file to be processed.

     messagefile
          Specifies the file into which the error messages are
          placed.

     prefix
          Specifies the prefix for the output file.  The name of
          the output file consists of the prefix (prefix) and the
          original filename (file).

DESCRIPTION
     mkstr is used to create files of error messages.  Using it
     can make programs with large numbers of error diagnostics
     much smaller, and reduce system overhead in running the
     program as the error messages do not have to be constantly
     swapped in and out.

     The mkstr program will process each specified file, placing
     a massaged version of the input file in a file whose name
     consists of the specified prefix and the original name.

     To process the error messages in the source to the message
     file mkstr keys on the string error(" in the input stream.
     Each time it occurs, the C string starting at the " is
     placed in the message file followed by a newline character
     and a null character; the null character terminates the
     message so it can be easily used when retrieved, the newline
     character makes it possible to sensibly cat the error
     message file to see its contents.  The massaged copy of the
     input file then contains a lseek pointer into the file,
     which can be used to retrieve the message, i.e.:

        char efilname[] = "/usr/lib/pi_strings";
        int  efil = -1;

     You have to write the error-handling function yourself.  The
     following is an example:

        error(a1, a2, a3, a4)



January 1992                                                    1

mkstr(1)                                                 mkstr(1)



        {
                char buf[256];
                if (efil < 0) {
                        efil = open(efilname, 0);
                        if (efil < 0) {
        oops:
                                perror(efilname);
                                exit(1);
                        }
                }
                if (lseek(efil, (long) a1, 0) < 0L
                || read(efil, buf, 256) <= 0)
                        goto oops;
                printf(buf, a2, a3, a4);
        }


EXAMPLES
     If the current directory has files a.c and b.c, then

        mkstr exs x *.c

     would create a new file exs, which holds all the error
     messages extracted from the source files a.c and b.c, as
     well as two new source files xa.c and xb.c, which no longer
     contain the extracted error messages.

LIMITATIONS
     All the arguments except the name of the file to be
     processed are unnecessary.

FILES
     /bin/mkstr
          Executable file

SEE ALSO
     cc(1), xstr(1)

     lseek(2) in A/UX Programmer's Reference
















2                                                    January 1992