addseverity(3C)

addseverity -- build a list of severity levels for an application for use with fmtmsg

Synopsis

   #include <fmtmsg.h>
   
   int addseverity(int severity, const char string);

Description

The addseverity function builds a list of severity levels for an application to be used with the message formatting facility, fmtmsg. severity is an integer value indicating the seriousness of the condition, and string is a pointer to a string describing the condition (string is not limited to a specific size).

If addseverity is called with an integer value that has not been previously defined, the function adds that new severity value and print string to the existing set of standard severity levels.

If addseverity is called with an integer value that has been previously defined, the function redefines that value with the new print string. Previously defined severity levels may be removed by supplying the NULL string. If addseverity is called with a negative number or an integer value of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, the function fails and returns -1. The values 0-4 are reserved for the standard severity levels and cannot be modified. Identifiers for the standard levels of severity are:

MM_HALT: indicates that the application has encountered a severe fault and is halting. Produces the print string HALT.
MM_ERROR: indicates that the application has detected a fault. Produces the print string ERROR.
MM_WARNING: indicates a condition that is out of the ordinary, that might be a problem, and should be watched. Produces the print string WARNING.
MM_INFO: provides information about a condition that is not in error. Produces the print string INFO.
MM_NOSEV: indicates that no severity level is supplied for the message.

Severity levels may also be defined at run time using the SEV_LEVEL environment variable [see fmtmsg(3C)].

Return values

addseverity returns MM_OK on success or MM_NOTOK on failure.

Usage

When the function addseverity is used as follows:

   addseverity(7,"ALERT")

the following call to fmtmsg:

   fmtmsg(MM_PRINT, "UX:cat", 7, "invalid syntax",
   	"refer to manual", "UX:cat:001")

produces:

   UX:cat: ALERT: invalid syntax
   TO FIX: refer to manual   UX:cat:001

References

fmtmsg(1), fmtmsg(3C), fprintf(3S), gettxt(3C)

Notices

A slightly different standard error message format and new developer interfaces, pfmt and addsev, have been introduced as the replacements for fmtmsg and addseverity. fmtmsg and addseverity will be removed at a future time.