explain_open_or_die(3)

💖 explain_open_or_die — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the Library Functions Manual, and it's literally all about explain_open_or_die(3) — yes the whole manual name is folded in right there, we're doing this properly 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

explain_open_or_die — open a file and, if it goes sideways, tell you about it (and then dip out)

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <fcntl.h>
#include <libexplain/open.h>

int explain_open_or_die(const char *pathname, int flags, int mode);

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: you hand over a pathname for a file, and open() gives you back a file descriptor — which is just a tiny little non-negative integer you use for all your follow-up system calls like read(2), write(2), lseek(2), fcntl(2), etc. no cap, that's the whole deal 💅

and the way that the file descriptor returned by a successful call is the lowest-numbered file descriptor not currently open for the process? iconic. that's just how it works, periodt.

for more info you're gonna wanna peek at open(2) — go read it, iykyk 📖

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🎀 RETURN VALUE 🎀

• on success — you get the new file descriptor back. slay. 🎉
• on error — here's where it gets real: a description of the error gets pulled in via explain_open(3), and it gets printed on stderr. then the process is terminated via a call to the exit(EXIT_FAILURE) function. so like... it does not survive this. it's giving "we're done here" 💀

fr fr, this one does not return on error — it exits. plan accordingly bestie.

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

libexplain version 1.4 Copyright (C) 2008 Peter Miller

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🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Written by Peter Miller <pmiller@opensource.org.au> — shoutout to the icon who made this 🫶

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and that's the whole page bestie, tysm for reading 💖 this was explain_open_or_die(3) from libexplain version 1.4, copyright 2008, and yeah — that's the vibe. bye bestie, mwah 💅✨