xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fmtmsg.3 (revision 2e3f49888ec8851bafb22011533217487764fdb0)
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26.Dd August 5, 2002
27.Dt FMTMSG 3
28.Os
29.Sh NAME
30.Nm fmtmsg
31.Nd display a detailed diagnostic message
32.Sh LIBRARY
33.Lb libc
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.In fmtmsg.h
36.Ft int
37.Fo fmtmsg
38.Fa "long classification" "const char *label" "int severity"
39.Fa "const char *text" "const char *action" "const char *tag"
40.Fc
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Fn fmtmsg
44function displays a detailed diagnostic message, based on
45the supplied arguments, to
46.Dv stderr
47and/or the system console.
48.Pp
49The
50.Fa classification
51argument is the bitwise inclusive
52.Tn OR
53of zero or one of the manifest constants from
54each of the classification groups below.
55The Output classification group is an exception since both
56.Dv MM_PRINT
57and
58.Dv MM_CONSOLE
59may be specified.
60.Bl -tag -width indent
61.It Output
62.Bl -tag -width ".Dv MM_CONSOLE"
63.It Dv MM_PRINT
64Output should take place on
65.Dv stderr .
66.It Dv MM_CONSOLE
67Output should take place on the system console.
68.El
69.It "Source of Condition (Major)"
70.Bl -tag -width ".Dv MM_CONSOLE"
71.It Dv MM_HARD
72The source of the condition is hardware related.
73.It Dv MM_SOFT
74The source of the condition is software related.
75.It Dv MM_FIRM
76The source of the condition is firmware related.
77.El
78.It "Source of Condition (Minor)"
79.Bl -tag -width ".Dv MM_CONSOLE"
80.It Dv MM_APPL
81The condition was detected at the application level.
82.It Dv MM_UTIL
83The condition was detected at the utility level.
84.It Dv MM_OPSYS
85The condition was detected at the operating system level.
86.El
87.It Status
88.Bl -tag -width ".Dv MM_CONSOLE"
89.It Dv MM_RECOVER
90The application can recover from the condition.
91.It Dv MM_NRECOV
92The application is unable to recover from the condition.
93.El
94.El
95.Pp
96Alternatively, the
97.Dv MM_NULLMC
98manifest constant may be used to specify no classification.
99.Pp
100The
101.Fa label
102argument indicates the source of the message.
103It is made up of two fields separated by a colon
104.Pq Ql \&: .
105The first field can be up to 10 bytes,
106and the second field can be up to 14 bytes.
107The
108.Dv MM_NULLLBL
109manifest constant may be used to specify no label.
110.Pp
111The
112.Fa severity
113argument identifies the importance of the condition.
114One of the following manifest constants should be used for this argument.
115.Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Dv MM_WARNING"
116.It Dv MM_HALT
117The application has confronted a serious fault and is halting.
118.It Dv MM_ERROR
119The application has detected a fault.
120.It Dv MM_WARNING
121The application has detected an unusual condition,
122that could be indicative of a problem.
123.It Dv MM_INFO
124The application is providing information about a non-error condition.
125.It Dv MM_NOSEV
126No severity level supplied.
127.El
128.Pp
129The
130.Fa text
131argument details the error condition that caused the message.
132There is no limit on the size of this character string.
133The
134.Dv MM_NULLTXT
135manifest constant may be used to specify no text.
136.Pp
137The
138.Fa action
139argument details how the error-recovery process should begin.
140Upon output,
141.Fn fmtmsg
142will prefix
143.Qq Li "TO FIX:"
144to the beginning of the
145.Fa action
146argument.
147The
148.Dv MM_NULLACT
149manifest constant may be used to specify no action.
150.Pp
151The
152.Fa tag
153argument should reference online documentation for the message.
154This usually includes the
155.Fa label
156and a unique identifying number.
157An example tag is
158.Qq Li BSD:ls:168 .
159The
160.Dv MM_NULLTAG
161manifest constant may be used to specify no tag.
162.Sh RETURN VALUES
163The
164.Fn fmtmsg
165function returns
166.Dv MM_OK
167upon success,
168.Dv MM_NOMSG
169to indicate output to
170.Dv stderr
171failed,
172.Dv MM_NOCON
173to indicate output to the system console failed, or
174.Dv MM_NOTOK
175to indicate output to
176.Dv stderr
177and the system console failed.
178.Sh ENVIRONMENT
179The
180.Ev MSGVERB
181(message verbosity)
182environment variable specifies which arguments to
183.Fn fmtmsg
184will be output to
185.Dv stderr ,
186and in which order.
187.Ev MSGVERB
188should be a colon
189.Pq Ql \&:
190separated list of identifiers.
191Valid identifiers include:
192.Li label , severity , text , action ,
193and
194.Li tag .
195If invalid identifiers are specified or incorrectly separated,
196the default message verbosity and ordering will be used.
197The default ordering is equivalent to a
198.Ev MSGVERB
199with a value of
200.Qq Li label:severity:text:action:tag .
201.Sh EXAMPLES
202The code:
203.Bd -literal -offset indent
204fmtmsg(MM_UTIL | MM_PRINT, "BSD:ls", MM_ERROR,
205    "illegal option -- z", "refer to manual", "BSD:ls:001");
206.Ed
207.Pp
208will output:
209.Bd -literal -offset indent
210BSD:ls: ERROR: illegal option -- z
211TO FIX: refer to manual BSD:ls:001
212.Ed
213.Pp
214to
215.Dv stderr .
216.Pp
217The same code, with
218.Ev MSGVERB
219set to
220.Qq Li "text:severity:action:tag" ,
221produces:
222.Bd -literal -offset indent
223illegal option -- z: ERROR
224TO FIX: refer to manual BSD:ls:001
225.Ed
226.Sh SEE ALSO
227.Xr err 3 ,
228.Xr exit 3 ,
229.Xr strerror 3
230.Sh STANDARDS
231The
232.Fn fmtmsg
233function conforms to
234.St -p1003.1-2001 .
235.Sh HISTORY
236The
237.Fn fmtmsg
238function first appeared in
239.Fx 5.0 .
240.Sh BUGS
241Specifying
242.Dv MM_NULLMC
243for the
244.Fa classification
245argument makes little sense, since without an output specified,
246.Fn fmtmsg
247is unable to do anything useful.
248.Pp
249In order for
250.Fn fmtmsg
251to output to the system console, the effective
252user must have appropriate permission to write to
253.Pa /dev/console .
254This means that on most systems
255.Fn fmtmsg
256will return
257.Dv MM_NOCON
258unless the effective user is root.
259