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MKSTR(1)		     General Commands Manual			MKSTR(1)

NAME
     mkstr -- create an error message file by massaging C source

SYNOPSIS
     mkstr [-] mesgfile prefix file ...

DESCRIPTION
     The mkstr utility creates a file containing error messages extracted from C
     source,  and  restructures  the same C source, to utilize the created error
     message file.  The intent of mkstr was to reduce the size of large programs
     and reduce swapping (see "BUGS" section below).

     The mkstr utility processes each of the specified files, placing a restruc-
     tured version of the input in a file whose name consists of  the  specified
     prefix and the original name.  A typical usage of mkstr 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  pistrings  and  restructured
     copies  of  the sources to be placed in files whose names are prefixed with
     "xx".

     Options:

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

     The  mkstr  utility finds error messages in the source by searching for the
     string `error("' in the input stream.  Each time it occurs,  the  C  string
     starting  at the `"' is stored in the message file followed by a null char-
     acter 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)
				   err(1, "%s", efilname);
		   }
		   if (lseek(efil, (off_t)a1, SEEK_SET) < 0 ||
		       read(efil, buf, 256) <= 0)
			   err(1, "%s", efilname);
		   printf(buf, a2, a3, a4);
	   }

SEE ALSO
     gencat(1), xstr(1), lseek(2)

HISTORY
     The mkstr utility first appeared in 1BSD.

AUTHORS
     Bill Joy and Chuck Haley, 1977.

BUGS
     The  mkstr  utility was intended for the limited architecture of the PDP 11
     family.  Very few programs actually use it.  The memory savings are  negli-
     gible in modern computers.

FreeBSD 15.1			  June 6, 2015				MKSTR(1)
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