1.\" Copyright (c) 1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2.\" Student Information Processing Board. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" $FreeBSD$ 5.\" 6.Dd November 22, 1988 7.Os 8.Dt COMPILE_ET 1 9.Sh NAME 10.Nm compile_et 11.Nd error table compiler 12.Sh SYNOPSIS 13.Nm compile_et 14.Ar file 15.Sh DESCRIPTION 16.Nm Compile_et 17converts a table listing error-code names and associated messages into 18a C source file suitable for use with the 19.Xr com_err 3 20library. 21.Pp 22The source file name must end with a suffix of ``.et''; the file 23consists of a declaration supplying the name (up to four characters 24long) of the error-code table: 25.Pp 26.Em error_table name 27.Pp 28followed by up to 256 entries of the form: 29.Pp 30.Em error_code name , 31.No \(dq Ns Em string Ns \(dq 32.Pp 33and a final 34.Pp 35.Em end 36.Pp 37to indicate the end of the table. 38.Pp 39The name of the table is used to construct the name of a subroutine 40.Em initialize_XXXX_error_table 41which must be called in order for the 42.Xr com_err 3 43library to recognize the error table. 44.Pp 45The various error codes defined are assigned sequentially increasing 46numbers (starting with a large number computed as a hash function of 47the name of the table); thus for compatibility it is suggested that 48new codes be added only to the end of an existing table, and that no 49codes be removed from tables. 50.Pp 51The names defined in the table are placed into a C header file with 52preprocessor directives defining them as integer constants of up to 5332 bits in magnitude. 54.Pp 55A C source file is also generated which should be compiled and linked 56with the object files which reference these error codes; it contains 57the text of the messages and the initialization subroutine. 58Both C 59files have names derived from that of the original source file, with 60the ``.et'' suffix replaced by ``.c'' and ``.h''. 61.Pp 62A ``#'' in the source file is treated as a comment character, and all 63remaining text to the end of the source line will be ignored. 64.Sh BUGS 65Since 66.Nm compile_et 67uses a very simple parser based on 68.Xr yacc 1 , 69its error recovery leaves much to be desired. 70.Sh SEE ALSO 71.Xr yacc 1 , 72.Xr com_err 3 73.Rs 74.%A Ken Raeburn 75.%T "A Common Error Description Library for UNIX" 76.Re 77