xref: /freebsd/lib/libpathconv/abs2rel.3 (revision dd41de95a84d979615a2ef11df6850622bf6184e)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Shigio Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
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26.\"  $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd Dec 15, 1997"
29.Dt ABS2REL 3
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm abs2rel
33.Nd make a relative path name from an absolute path name
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Ft "char *"
36.Fn abs2rel "const char *path" "const char *base" "char *result" "size_t size"
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The
39.Fn abs2rel
40function makes a relative path name from an absolute path name
41.Fa path
42based on a directory
43.Fa base
44and copies the resulting path name into the memory referenced by
45.Fa result .
46The
47.Fa result
48argument must refer to a buffer capable of storing at least
49.Fa size
50characters.
51
52The resulting path name may include symbolic links.
53The
54.Fn abs2rel
55function doesn't check whether or not any path exists.
56.Sh "RETURN VALUES"
57The
58.Fn abs2rel
59function returns relative path name on success.
60If an error occurs,
61it returns
62.Dv NULL .
63.Sh ERRORS
64The
65.Fn abs2rel
66function may fail and set the external variable
67.Va errno
68to indicate the error.
69.Bl -tag -width Er
70.It Bq Er EINVAL
71The
72.Fa base
73directory isn't an absolute path name or the
74.Fa size
75argument is zero.
76.It Bq Er ERANGE
77The
78.Fa size
79argument is greater than zero but smaller than the length of the pathname plus 1.
80.Sh EXAMPLE
81    char result[MAXPATHLEN];
82    char *path = abs2rel("/usr/src/sys", "/usr/local/lib", result, MAXPATHLEN);
83
84yields:
85
86    path == "../../src/sys"
87
88Similarly,
89
90    path1 = abs2rel("/usr/src/sys", "/usr", result, MAXPATHLEN);
91    path2 = abs2rel("/usr/src/sys", "/usr/src/sys", result, MAXPATHLEN);
92
93yields:
94
95    path1 == "src/sys"
96    path2 == "."
97
98.Sh BUGS
99If the
100.Fa base
101directory includes symbolic links,
102the
103.Fn abs2rel
104function produces the wrong path.
105For example, if '/sys' is a symbolic link to '/usr/src/sys',
106
107    char *path = abs2rel("/usr/local/lib", "/sys", result, MAXPATHLEN);
108
109yields:
110
111    path == "../usr/local/lib"         /* It's wrong!! */
112
113You should convert the base directory into a real path in advance.
114.Pp
115
116    path = abs2rel("/sys/kern", realpath("/sys", resolvedname), result, MAXPATHLEN);
117
118yields:
119
120    path == "../../../sys/kern"        /* It's correct but ... */
121
122That is correct, but a little redundant.
123If you wish get the simple answer 'kern', do the following.
124
125    path = abs2rel(realpath("/sys/kern", r1), realpath("/sys", r2),
126								result, MAXPATHLEN);
127
128The
129.Fn realpath
130function assures correct result, but don't forget that
131.Fn realpath
132requires that all but the last component of the path exist.
133.Sh "SEE ALSO"
134.Xr rel2abs 3
135.Sh AUTHORS
136Shigio Yamaguchi (shigio@tamacom.com)
137