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 26.Em error_table name 27 28followed by up to 256 entries of the form: 29 30.Em error_code name , 31" 32.Em string 33" 34 35and a final 36 37.Em end 38 39to indicate the end of the table. 40.Pp 41The name of the table is used to construct the name of a subroutine 42.Em initialize_XXXX_error_table 43which must be called in order for the 44.Xr com_err 3 45library to recognize the error table. 46.Pp 47The various error codes defined are assigned sequentially increasing 48numbers (starting with a large number computed as a hash function of 49the name of the table); thus for compatibility it is suggested that 50new codes be added only to the end of an existing table, and that no 51codes be removed from tables. 52.Pp 53The names defined in the table are placed into a C header file with 54preprocessor directives defining them as integer constants of up to 5532 bits in magnitude. 56.Pp 57A C source file is also generated which should be compiled and linked 58with the object files which reference these error codes; it contains 59the text of the messages and the initialization subroutine. Both C 60files have names derived from that of the original source file, with 61the ``.et'' suffix replaced by ``.c'' and ``.h''. 62.Pp 63A ``#'' in the source file is treated as a comment character, and all 64remaining text to the end of the source line will be ignored. 65.Sh BUGS 66Since 67.Nm compile_et 68uses a very simple parser based on 69.Xr yacc 1 , 70its error recovery leaves much to be desired. 71.Sh "SEE ALSO" 72.Xr yacc 1 , 73.Xr com_err 3 74.Pp 75.Rs 76.%A Ken Raeburn 77.%T "A Common Error Description Library for UNIX" 78.Re 79