MKSTR(1-SysV)       RISC/os Reference Manual        MKSTR(1-SysV)



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 pro-
     gram 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 con-
     sists of the specified prefix and the original name.  A typ-
     ical 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 mes-
     sage so it can be easily used when retrieved, the new-line
     character makes it possible to sensibly cat the error mes-
     sage 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;

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

               if (efil < 0) {
                    efil = open(efilname, 0);
                    if (efil < 0) {
          oops:
                         perror(efilname);
                         exit(1);
                    }



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MKSTR(1-SysV)       RISC/os Reference Manual        MKSTR(1-SysV)



               }
               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 mkstred program.

SEE ALSO
     lseek(2), xstr(1)











































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