1 @deftypefn Extension struct pex_obj *pex_init (int @var{flags}, const char *@var{pname}, const char *@var{tempbase})
3 Prepare to execute one or more programs, with standard output of each
4 program fed to standard input of the next. This is a system
5 independent interface to execute a pipeline.
7 @var{flags} is a bitwise combination of the following:
11 @vindex PEX_RECORD_TIMES
12 @item PEX_RECORD_TIMES
13 Record subprocess times if possible.
17 Use pipes for communication between processes, if possible.
19 @vindex PEX_SAVE_TEMPS
21 Don't delete temporary files used for communication between
26 @var{pname} is the name of program to be executed, used in error
27 messages. @var{tempbase} is a base name to use for any required
28 temporary files; it may be @code{NULL} to use a randomly chosen name.
32 @deftypefn Extension const char *pex_run (struct pex_obj *@var{obj}, int @var{flags}, const char *@var{executable}, char * const *@var{argv}, const char *@var{outname}, const char *@var{errname}, int *@var{err})
34 Execute one program in a pipeline. On success this returns
35 @code{NULL}. On failure it returns an error message, a statically
38 @var{obj} is returned by a previous call to @code{pex_init}.
40 @var{flags} is a bitwise combination of the following:
46 This must be set on the last program in the pipeline. In particular,
47 it should be set when executing a single program. The standard output
48 of the program will be sent to @var{outname}, or, if @var{outname} is
49 @code{NULL}, to the standard output of the calling program. This
50 should not be set if you want to call @code{pex_read_output}
51 (described below). After a call to @code{pex_run} with this bit set,
52 @var{pex_run} may no longer be called with the same @var{obj}.
56 Search for the program using the user's executable search path.
60 @var{outname} is a suffix. See the description of @var{outname},
63 @vindex PEX_STDERR_TO_STDOUT
64 @item PEX_STDERR_TO_STDOUT
65 Send the program's standard error to standard output, if possible.
67 @vindex PEX_BINARY_INPUT
68 @vindex PEX_BINARY_OUTPUT
69 @item PEX_BINARY_INPUT
70 @itemx PEX_BINARY_OUTPUT
71 The standard input (output) of the program should be read (written) in
72 binary mode rather than text mode. These flags are ignored on systems
73 which do not distinguish binary mode and text mode, such as Unix. For
74 proper behavior these flags should match appropriately--a call to
75 @code{pex_run} using @code{PEX_BINARY_OUTPUT} should be followed by a
76 call using @code{PEX_BINARY_INPUT}.
79 @var{executable} is the program to execute. @var{argv} is the set of
80 arguments to pass to the program; normally @code{@var{argv}[0]} will
81 be a copy of @var{executable}.
83 @var{outname} is used to set the name of the file to use for standard
84 output. There are two cases in which no output file will be used: 1)
85 if @code{PEX_LAST} is not set in @var{flags}, and @code{PEX_USE_PIPES}
86 was set in the call to @code{pex_init}, and the system supports pipes;
87 2) if @code{PEX_LAST} is set in @var{flags}, and @var{outname} is
88 @code{NULL}. Otherwise the code will use a file to hold standard
89 output. If @code{PEX_LAST} is not set, this file is considered to be
90 a temporary file, and it will be removed when no longer needed, unless
91 @code{PEX_SAVE_TEMPS} was set in the call to @code{pex_init}.
93 There are two cases to consider when setting the name of the file to
96 First case: @code{PEX_SUFFIX} is set in @var{flags}. In this case
97 @var{outname} may not be @code{NULL}. If the @var{tempbase} parameter
98 to @code{pex_init} was not @code{NULL}, then the output file name is
99 the concatenation of @var{tempbase} and @var{outname}. If
100 @var{tempbase} was @code{NULL}, then the output file name is a random
101 file name ending in @var{outname}.
103 Second case: @code{PEX_SUFFIX} was not set in @var{flags}. In this
104 case, if @var{outname} is not @code{NULL}, it is used as the output
105 file name. If @var{outname} is @code{NULL}, and @var{tempbase} was
106 not NULL, the output file name is randomly chosen using
107 @var{tempbase}. Otherwise the output file name is chosen completely
110 @var{errname} is the file name to use for standard error output. If
111 it is @code{NULL}, standard error is the same as the caller.
112 Otherwise, standard error is written to the named file.
114 On an error return, the code sets @code{*@var{err}} to an @code{errno}
115 value, or to 0 if there is no relevant @code{errno}.
119 @deftypefn Extension FILE * pex_read_output (struct pex_obj *@var{obj}, int @var{binary})
121 Returns a @code{FILE} pointer which may be used to read the standard
122 output of the last program in the pipeline. When this is used,
123 @code{PEX_LAST} should not be used in a call to @code{pex_run}. After
124 this is called, @code{pex_run} may no longer be called with the same
125 @var{obj}. @var{binary} should be non-zero if the file should be
126 opened in binary mode. Don't call @code{fclose} on the returned file;
127 it will be closed by @code{pex_free}.
131 @deftypefn Extension int pex_get_status (struct pex_obj *@var{obj}, int @var{count}, int *@var{vector})
133 Returns the exit status of all programs run using @var{obj}.
134 @var{count} is the number of results expected. The results will be
135 placed into @var{vector}. The results are in the order of the calls
136 to @code{pex_run}. Returns 0 on error, 1 on success.
140 @deftypefn Extension int pex_get_times (struct pex_obj *@var{obj}, int @var{count}, struct pex_time *@var{vector})
142 Returns the process execution times of all programs run using
143 @var{obj}. @var{count} is the number of results expected. The
144 results will be placed into @var{vector}. The results are in the
145 order of the calls to @code{pex_run}. Returns 0 on error, 1 on
148 @code{struct pex_time} has the following fields: @code{user_seconds},
149 @code{user_microseconds}, @code{system_seconds},
150 @code{system_microseconds}. On systems which do not support reporting
151 process times, all the fields will be set to @code{0}.
155 @deftypefn Extension void pex_free (struct pex_obj @var{obj})
157 Clean up and free all data associated with @var{obj}.
161 @deftypefn Extension const char *pex_one (int @var{flags}, const char *@var{executable}, char * const *@var{argv}, const char *@var{pname}, const char *@var{outname}, const char *@var{errname}, int *@var{status}, int *@var{err})
163 An interface to @code{pex_init} to permit the easy execution of a
164 single program. The return value and most of the parameters are as
165 for a call to @code{pex_run}. @var{flags} is restricted to a
166 combination of @code{PEX_SEARCH}, @code{PEX_STDERR_TO_STDOUT}, and
167 @code{PEX_BINARY_OUTPUT}. @var{outname} is interpreted as if
168 @code{PEX_LAST} were set. On a successful return, *@var{status} will
169 be set to the exit status of the program.
173 @deftypefn Extension int pexecute (const char *@var{program}, char * const *@var{argv}, const char *@var{this_pname}, const char *@var{temp_base}, char **@var{errmsg_fmt}, char **@var{errmsg_arg}, int flags)
175 This is the old interface to execute one or more programs. It is
176 still supported for compatibility purposes, but is no longer
181 @deftypefn Extension int pwait (int @var{pid}, int *@var{status}, int @var{flags})
183 Another part of the old execution interface.