mkstr(1)                          SDK R4.11                         mkstr(1)


NAME
       mkstr - create an error message file by massaging C source

SYNOPSIS
       mkstr [ - ] messagefile prefix file ...

DESCRIPTION
       Mkstr is used to create files of error messages.  Its use 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.

       Mkstr will process each of the specified files, placing a massaged
       version of the input file in a file whose name consists of the
       specified prefix and the original name.  A typical usage of mkstr
       would be

            mkstr pistrings xx *.c

       This command would cause all the error messages from the C source
       files in the current directory to be placed in the file pistrings and
       processed copies of the source for these files to be placed in files
       whose names are prefixed with xx.

       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 null character and a new-line character; the null
       character terminates the message so it can be easily used when
       retrieved, the new-line character makes it possible to sensibly cat
       the error message file to see its contents.  The massaged copy of the
       input file then contains an lseek pointer into the file which can be
       used to retrieve the message, i.e.:

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

              error(a1, a2, a3, a4)
              {
                   char buf[256];

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

       The optional - causes the error messages to be placed at the end of
       the specified message file for recompiling part of a large mkstr-ed
       program.

EXAMPLE
       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.

SEE ALSO
       lseek(2), xstr(1).

AUTHORS
       William Joy and Charles Haley


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