4.3BSD-Reno/share/man/cat1/mkstr.0

MKSTR(1)		    UNIX Reference Manual		      MKSTR(1)

NNAAMMEE
     mmkkssttrr - create an error message file by massaging C source

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
     mmkkssttrr [--] _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_f_i_l_e _p_r_e_f_i_x _f_i_l_e ...

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
     MMkkssttrr creates files containing error messages extracted from C source,
     and restructures the same C source, to utilize the created error message
     file.  The intent of mmkkssttrr was to reduce the size of large programs and
     reduce swapping (see BUGS section below).

     MMkkssttrr processes each of the specified _f_i_l_e_s, placing a restructured ver-
     sion of the input in a file whose name consists of the specified _p_r_e_f_i_x
     and the original name.  A typical usage of mmkkssttrr is

	   mkstr pistrings xx *.c

     This command causes all the error messages from the C source files in the
     current directory to be placed in the file _p_i_s_t_r_i_n_g_s and restructured
     copies of the sources to be placed in files whose names are prefixed with
     _x_x.

     Options:

     --	   Error messages are placed at the end of the specified message file
	   for recompiling part of a large mmkkssttrr ed program.

     mmkkssttrr finds error messages in the source by searching for the string
     `error("' in the input stream.  Each time it occurs, the C string start-
     ing at the `"' is stored in the message file followed by a null character
     and a new-line character; The new source is restructured with lseek(2)
     pointers into the error message file for retrieval.
	   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 ;
		     }
		}
		if (lseek(efil, (long) a1, 0)  read(efil, buf, 256) <= 0)
		     goto oops;
		printf(buf, a2, a3, a4);
	   }

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
     lseek(2), xstr(1)

HHIISSTTOORRYY
     MMkkssttrr appeared in 3 BSD.

BBUUGGSS
     mmkkssttrr was intended for the limited architecture of the PDP 11 family.
     Very few programs in 4.4 BSD actually use it. The pascal interpreter,
     pi(1) and the editor, ex(1) are two programs that are built this way.  It
     is not an efficient method, the error messages should be stored in the
     program text.