FMTMSG(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FMTMSG(1)
NAME
fmtmsg - display a message on stderr or system console
SYNOPSIS
fmtmsg [-c class] [-u subclass] [-l label] [-s severity] [-t
tag] [-a action] text
DESCRIPTION
Based on a message's classification component, fmtmsg either
writes a formatted message to stderr or writes a formatted
message to the console.
A formatted message consists of up to five standard com-
ponents as defined below. The classification and subclass
components are not displayed as part of the standard mes-
sage, but rather define the source of the message and direct
the display of the formatted message. The valid options
are:
c class Describes the source of the message. Valid key-
words are:
hard The source of the condition is
hardware.
soft The source of the condition is
software.
firm The source of the condition is
firmware.
u subclass A list of keywords (separated by commas) that
further defines the message and directs the
display of the message. Valid keywords are:
appl The condition originated in an
application. This keyword should
not be used in combination with
either util or opsys.
util The condition originated in a
utility. This keyword should not
be used in combination with either
appl or opsys.
opsys The message originated in the ker-
nel. This keyword should not be
used in combination with either
appl or util.
recov The application will recover from
the condition. This keyword
should not be used in combination
with nrecov.
nrecov The application will not recover
from the condition. This keyword
should not be used in combination
Printed 11/19/92 Page 1
FMTMSG(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FMTMSG(1)
with recov.
print Print the message to the standard
error stream stderr.
console Write the message to the system
console. print, console, or both
may be used.
l label Identifies the source of the message.
s severity Indicates the seriousness of the error. The
keywords and definitions of the standard levels
of severity are:
halt The application has encountered a
severe fault and is halting.
error The application has detected a
fault.
warn The application has detected a
condition that is out of the ordi-
nary and might be a problem.
info The application is providing
information about a condition that
is not in error.
t tag The string containing an identifier for the mes-
sage.
a action A text string describing the first step in the
error recovery process. This string must be
written so that the entire action argument is
interpreted as a single argument. fmtmsg pre-
cedes each action string with the TO FIX: pre-
fix.
text A text string describing the condition. Must be
written so that the entire text argument is
interpreted as a single argument.
The environment variables MSGVERB and SEV_LEVEL control the
behavior of fmtmsg. MSGVERB is set by the administrator in
the /etc/profile for the system. Users can override the
value of MSGVERB set by the system by resetting MSGVERB in
their own .profile files or by changing the value in their
current shell session. SEV_LEVEL can be used in shell
scripts.
MSGVERB tells fmtmsg which message components to select when
writing messages to stderr. The value of MSGVERB is a colon
separated list of optional keywords. MSGVERB can be set as
follows:
Page 2 Printed 11/19/92
FMTMSG(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FMTMSG(1)
MSGVERB=[keyword[:keyword[:...]]]
export MSGVERB
Valid keywords are: label, severity, text, action, and tag.
If MSGVERB contains a keyword for a component and the
component's value is not the component's null value, fmtmsg
includes that component in the message when writing the mes-
sage to stderr. If MSGVERB does not include a keyword for a
message component, that component is not included in the
display of the message. The keywords may appear in any
order. If MSGVERB is not defined, if its value is the null
string, if its value is not of the correct format, or if it
contains keywords other than the valid ones listed above,
fmtmsg selects all components.
MSGVERB affects only which message components are selected
for display. All message components are included in console
messages.
SEV_LEVEL defines severity levels and associates print
strings with them for use by fmtmsg. The standard severity
levels shown below cannot be modified. Additional severity
levels can be defined, redefined, and removed.
0 (no severity is used)
1 HALT
2 ERROR
3 WARNING
4 INFO
SEV_LEVEL is set as follows:
SEV_LEVEL=[description[:description[:...]]]
export SEV_LEVEL
description is a comma-separated list containing three
fields:
description=severity_keyword,level,printstring
severity_keyword is a character string used as the keyword
with the s severity option to fmtmsg.
level is a character string that evaluates to a positive
integer (other than 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, which are reserved for
the standard severity levels). If the keyword
severity_keyword is used, level is the severity value passed
on to fmtmsg(3C).
printstring is the character string used by fmtmsg in the
standard message format whenever the severity value level is
used.
Printed 11/19/92 Page 3
FMTMSG(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FMTMSG(1)
If SEV_LEVEL is not defined, or if its value is null, no
severity levels other than the defaults are available. If a
description in the colon separated list is not a comma
separated list containing three fields, or if the second
field of a comma separated list does not evaluate to a posi-
tive integer, that description in the colon separated list
is ignored.
DIAGNOSTICS
The exit codes for fmtmsg are the following:
0 All the requested functions were executed success-
fully.
1 The command contains a syntax error, an invalid
option, or an invalid argument to an option.
2 The function executed with partial success, how-
ever the message was not displayed on stderr.
4 The function executed with partial success, how-
ever the message was not displayed on the system
console.
32 No requested functions were executed successfully.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: The following example of fmtmsg produces a com-
plete message in the standard message format and displays it
to the standard error stream:
fmtmsg -c soft -u recov,print,appl -l UX:cat -s error
-t UX:cat:001 -a "refer to manual" "invalid syntax"
produces:
UX:cat: ERROR: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual UX:cat:138
Example 2: When the environment variable MSGVERB is set as
follows:
MSGVERB=severity:text:action
and Example 1 is used, fmtmsg produces:
ERROR: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual
Example 3: When the environment variable SEV_LEVEL is set
as follows:
Page 4 Printed 11/19/92
FMTMSG(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FMTMSG(1)
SEV_LEVEL=note,5,NOTE
the following fmtmsg command:
fmtmsg -c soft -u print -l UX:cat -s note -a "refer to
manual" "invalid syntax"
produces:
UX:cat: NOTE: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual
and displays the message on stderr.
SEE ALSO
addseverity(3C), fmtmsg(3C) in the Programmer's Reference
Manual.
Printed 11/19/92 Page 5