=head1 NAME

nbdkit_error, nbdkit_verror,
nbdkit_set_error - return an error from nbdkit plugins

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 #include <nbdkit-plugin.h>

 void nbdkit_error (const char *fs, ...);
 void nbdkit_verror (const char *fs, va_list args);

 void nbdkit_set_error (int err);

=head1 DESCRIPTION

If there is an error in your plugin, the plugin should call
C<nbdkit_error> to report an error message.  Then the callback should
return the appropriate error indication, eg. C<NULL> or C<-1>.

C<nbdkit_error> works like L<printf(3)>.  C<nbdkit_verror> works like
L<vprintf(3)>.

For convenience, C<nbdkit_error> preserves the value of C<errno>, and
also supports the glibc extension of a single C<%m> in a format string
expanding to C<strerror(errno)>, even on platforms that don't support
that natively.

=head2 Example

 int
 my_pread (void *handle, void *buf, uint32_t count, uint64_t offset,
           uint32_t flags)
 {
   char *bounce_buffer = malloc (SECTOR_SIZE);
   if (bounce_buffer == NULL) {
     nbdkit_error ("malloc: %m");
     return -1;
   }
   //...
 }

=head2 Setting errno

For callbacks which serve data to the client, the plugin may call
C<nbdkit_set_error> to influence the errno that will be sent back to
the client.

If the call to C<nbdkit_set_error> is omitted while serving data, then
the global variable C<errno> may be used.  For plugins which have
C<.errno_is_preserved != 0> the server will use C<errno>.  In plugins
written in non-C languages, we usually cannot trust that C<errno> will
be preserved when returning from that language to C.  In that case,
either the plugin must call C<nbdkit_set_error> or hard-coded C<EIO>
is used.

=head2 Interaction with I<--log> option

The nbdkit I<--log> option controls where error messages are sent.
The default is to send error messages to stderr, unless nbdkit forks
into the background in which case they are sent to syslog.  For more
information read the description in L<nbdkit(1)>.

=head2 Timestamps

C<nbdkit_error> does not timestamp messages.  To add timestamps, see
L<nbdkit_timestamp(3)>.

=head1 LANGUAGE BINDINGS

Most language bindings do not expose these functions explicitly.
Instead you are expected to throw an exception on error which is
implicitly turned into a call to C<nbdkit_error>.  Read the
documentation for the language binding to find out how errors are
handled.

=head1 HISTORY

C<nbdkit_error> and C<nbdkit_verror> were present in nbdkit 0.1.0.
C<nbdkit_set_error> was added in nbdkit 1.2.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<nbdkit(1)>,
L<nbdkit_debug(3)>,
L<nbdkit_timestamp(3)>,
L<nbdkit-plugin(3)>,
L<nbdkit-filter(3)>.

=head1 AUTHORS

Eric Blake

Richard W.M. Jones

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright Red Hat
