.\" Copyright (c) 1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

.\" Student Information Processing Board.  All rights reserved.

.\"

.\" util/et/compile_et.1

.\"

.TH COMPILE_ET 1 "22 Nov 1988" SIPB

.SH NAME

compile_et \- error table compiler

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B compile_et

[

.B \-\-textdomain

.I domain

[

.B \-\-localedir

.I dir

] ]

file

.SH DESCRIPTION

.B Compile_et

converts a table listing error-code names and associated messages into

a C source file suitable for use with the

.IR com_err (3)

library.

The source file name must end with a suffix of ``.et''; the file

consists of a declaration supplying the name (up to four characters

long) of the error-code table:

.B error_table

.I name

followed by up to 256 entries of the form:

.B error_code

.I name,

"

.I string

"

and a final

.B end

to indicate the end of the table.

The name of the table is used to construct the name of a subroutine

.I initialize_XXXX_error_table

which must be called in order for the

.I com_err

library to recognize the error table.

The various error codes defined are assigned sequentially increasing

numbers (starting with a large number computed as a hash function of

the name of the table); thus for compatibility it is suggested that

new codes be added only to the end of an existing table, and that no

codes be removed from tables.

The names defined in the table are placed into a C header file with

preprocessor directives defining them as integer constants of up to

32 bits in magnitude.

A C source file is also generated which should be compiled and linked

with the object files which reference these error codes; it contains

the text of the messages and the initialization subroutine.  Both C

files have names derived from that of the original source file, with

the ``.et'' suffix replaced by ``.c'' and ``.h''.

A ``#'' in the source file is treated as a comment character, and all

remaining text to the end of the source line will be ignored.

If a text domain is provided with the

.B \-\-textdomain

option, error messages will be looked up in the specified domain with

.BR gettext .

If a locale directory is also provided with the

.B \-\-localedir

option, the text domain will be bound to the specified locale

directory with

.B bindtextdomain

when the error table is initialized.

.SH BUGS

Since

.B compile_et

uses a very simple parser based on

.IR yacc (1),

its error recovery leaves much to be desired.

.\" .IR for manual entries

.\" .PP for paragraph breaks

.SH "SEE ALSO"

com_err (3).

Ken Raeburn, "A Common Error Description Library for UNIX".