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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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<title>IRC Services Technical Reference Manual - 6. Database handling</title>
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<body>
<h1 class="title" id="top">IRC Services Technical Reference Manual</h1>
<h2 class="section-title">6. Database handling</h2>
<p class="section-toc">
6-1. <a href="#s1">Databases in Services</a>
<br/>6-2. <a href="#s2">The database subsystem interface</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-2-1. <a href="#s2-1">Tables, records, and fields</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-2-2. <a href="#s2-2">Registering and unregistering tables</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-2-3. <a href="#s2-3">Loading and saving data</a>
<br/>6-3. <a href="#s3">Database modules</a>
<br/>6-4. <a href="#s4">Specific module details</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-1. <a href="#s4-1"><tt>database/standard</tt></a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-1-1. <a href="#s4-1-1">Data format</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-1-2. <a href="#s4-1-2">Module structure</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-2. <a href="#s4-2"><tt>database/version4</tt></a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-2-1. <a href="#s4-2-1">Data format</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-4-2-2. <a href="#s4-2-2">Module structure</a>
<br/>6-5. <a href="#s5">Auxiliary source files</a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-5-1. <a href="#s5-1"><tt>fileutil.c</tt>, <tt>fileutil.h</tt></a>
<br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6-5-2. <a href="#s5-2"><tt>extsyms.c</tt>, <tt>extsyms.h</tt></a>
</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="5.html">Previous section: IRC server interface</a> |
<a href="index.html">Table of Contents</a> |
<a href="7.html">Next section: Services pseudoclients</a></p>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<hr/>
<h3 class="subsection-title" id="s1">6-1. Databases in Services</h3>
<p>As with any program that handles large amounts of data, Services needs
a place to store nickname, channel, and other data. In Services, the
primary data storage method is in-memory lists and tables; however, since
these disappear when Services terminates, a more persistent method of
recording the data is required. This is implemented through the
<i>database subsystem</i>, briefly touched on in
<a href="2.html#s9-2">section 2-9-2</a>.</p>
<p>The primary reason for the use of such a two-layer structure is because
of the history of Services; as it was originally designed only for use on a
small network, the effort required to implement Services using a true
database management system was seen as excessive compared to the simplicity
of accessing data structures already in memory. As a result, little
thought was given to the structure or accessibility of the persistent data
files, which were seen as only an adjunct to the in-memory structures.
While this served well enough for a time, the system's inflexibility proved
cumbersome as more data was stored, and the file format's opaqueness caused
trouble for other programs attempting to access the data.</p>
<p>The latter problem of opaqueness was mostly resolved with the addition
of XML-based data import and export modules (<tt>misc/xml-import</tt> and
<tt>misc/xml-export</tt>, described in <a href="8.html#s4">section 8-4</a>).
The database system itself remained an issue through version 5.0, but has
been redesigned for version 5.1 to allow significantly more flexibility in
storing data, as described below. (The two-layer style has been retained,
however, primarily due to the difficulty of changing it&mdash;a complete
rewrite of Services would be required.)</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<hr/>
<h3 class="subsection-title" id="s2">6-2. The database subsystem interface</h3>
<p>In Services (as in any typical database system), data to be stored in
databases is organized into <i>tables</i>, <i>records</i>, and
<i>fields</i>. However, this organization is separate from the in-memory
representation of the data: rather than storing the actual data itself,
the "tables" handled by the database system hold information on <i>how to
access the data</i>. The actual operations of reading data from and
writing data to persistent storage are then performed using this
information, along with utility routines provided by the table's owner.</p>
<p>The core part of the database subsystem is in the source files
<tt>databases.c</tt> and <tt>databases.h</tt>.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s2-1">6-2-1. Tables, records, and fields</h4>
<p>A table, as used by the database subsystem, is defined by a
<tt>DBTable</tt> structure, which contains information about the fields
used in the table and utility routines used to create, delete, and access
records in the table. The structure is defined (in <tt>databases.h</tt>,
along with all other database-related structures and declarations) as
follows:</p>
<dl>
<dt><tt>const char *<b>name</b></tt></dt>
<dd>The name for the table. This is used to identify the table to
the database system, and is generally used as a filename or other
identifier for the copy of the table in persistent storage. The
name must be unique among all registered tables.</dd>
<dt><tt>DBField *<b>fields</b></tt></dt>
<dd>A pointer to an array of <tt>DBField</tt> structures describing the
fields in the table, terminated by an entry with
<tt>DBField.name</tt> set to <tt>NULL</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>void *(*<b>newrec</b>)()</tt></dt>
<dd>Returns a newly allocated record to place data in. This function
is guaranteed to never be called for more than one record
simultaneously (in other words, a call to <tt>newrec()</tt> is
guaranteed to be followed by a call to either <tt>insert()</tt> or
<tt>freerec()</tt>), so this routine may return a pointer to a
static buffer instead than actually allocating memory if doing so
is more convenient (see the description of the
<tt>nickserv/access</tt> module in <a href="7.html#s3-2">section
7-3-2</a> for an example of such usage).</dd>
<dt><tt>void (*<b>insert</b>)(void *<i>record</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Inserts a record into the table. This function is called by the
database subsystem to insert a new record into the table after it
has been successfully loaded. The record passed in is no longer
valid after the function returns.</dd>
<dt><tt>void (*<b>freerec</b>)(void *<i>record</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Frees resources used by a record. This function is called by the
database subsystem if an error occurs while loading a record,
before the record has been inserted into the table.</dd>
<dt><tt>void *(*<b>first</b>)()</tt></dt>
<dd>Returns a pointer to the first record in the table.</dd>
<dt><tt>void *(*<b>next</b>)()</tt></dt>
<dd>Returns a pointer to the next record in the table after the last
one returned by <tt>first()</tt> or <tt>next()</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int (*<b>postload</b>)()</tt></dt>
<dd>Called by the database subsystem after all records have been loaded.
This can be used to, <i>e.g.,</i> implement data integrity checks
which can only be performed after all data has been loaded. If the
routine returns zero, the load operation is treated as a failure.
This field may be <tt>NULL</tt> if no post-load routine is
required.</dd>
</dl>
<p>As can be seen from this structure, the actual records themselves are
not stored in the <tt>DBTable</tt> structure, but are rather left to the
table's owner to store as appropriate. For example, the ChanServ
pseudoclient module stores the data for each record in a
<tt>ChannelInfo</tt> structure.</p>
<p>The field data, stored in <tt>DBField</tt> structures, likewise does
not hold actual data, only instructions on how to access it. The
<tt>DBField</tt> structure contains:</p>
<dl>
<dt><tt>const char *<b>name</b></tt></dt>
<dd>The name for the field. Typically the same as the field identifier
used in the program.</dd>
<dt><tt>DBType <b>type</b></tt></dt>
<dd>The type of the field. Valid types are defined in
<tt>databases.h</tt>:
<ul><li><tt><b>DBTYPE_INT<i>n</i></b></tt>,
<tt><b>DBTYPE_UINT<i>n</i></b></tt>:
Signed and unsigned integer values of different bit lengths
(8, 16, or 32).</li>
<li><tt><b>DBTYPE_TIME</b></tt>: A <tt>time_t</tt> value.</li>
<li><tt><b>DBTYPE_STRING</b></tt>: A string (<tt>char&nbsp;*</tt>)
value, which can be <tt>NULL</tt>.</li>
<li><tt><b>DBTYPE_BUFFER</b></tt>: A fixed-length buffer. The
buffer size is given in <tt>DBField.length</tt>.</li>
<li><tt><b>DBTYPE_PASSWORD</b></tt>: A <tt>Password</tt> value,
as defined in <tt>encrypt.h</tt>.</li>
</ul></dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>offset</b></tt></dt>
<dd>The offset in bytes from the start of the record to the location
where the field's value is stored. For records stored in a
<tt>struct</tt>, this can be obtained using the standard
<tt>offsetof()</tt> macro; for example, the offset of this member
in a <tt>DBField</tt> structure is given by:
<div class="code">offsetof(DBField, offset)</div></dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>length</b></tt></dt>
<dd>For <tt>DBTYPE_BUFFER</tt> fields, this gives the length of the
buffer, in bytes. This value is ignored for other field types.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>load_only</b></tt></dt>
<dd>If nonzero, the field is not saved to persistent storage. This is
intended to facilitate changes in table format, as described
below.</dd>
<dt><tt>void <b>get</b>(const void *<i>record</i>, void **<i>value_ret</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>If not <tt>NULL</tt>, provides a function to retrieve the field's
value; the database subsystem will call this function instead of
simply accessing the data stored in the field.
<tt><i>record</i></tt> is a pointer to the record structure, and
<tt><i>value_ret</i></tt> points to a buffer to receive the value;
the buffer will be large enough to hold the data type specified by
<tt>DBField.type</tt>. (For strings, store a <tt>char&nbsp;*</tt>
value in <tt>*<i>value_ret</i></tt>; the string will <i>not</i> be
freed after use, so a static buffer or other method is needed to
avoid memory leaks if the string is generated dynamically.)</dd>
<dt><tt>void <b>put</b>(void *<i>record</i>, const void *<i>value</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>If not <tt>NULL</tt>, provides a function to set the field's value;
the database system will call this function instead of simply
storing the loaded data into the field. <tt><i>record</i></tt> is
a pointer to the record structure which is to receive the data, and
<tt><i>value</i></tt> points to the data itself, in the format
given by <tt>DBField.type</tt>. (For strings, this is a
<tt>char&nbsp;*</tt> value which may be <tt>NULL</tt>; if not
<tt>NULL</tt>, the string has been allocated with <tt>malloc()</tt>
and will not be freed by the database subsystem, so you will need
to free it if you do not store the pointer directly into the
record.)</dd>
</dl>
<p>This structure is designed with the assumption that data will be stored
in some structured type in memory; if no <tt>get()</tt> or <tt>put()</tt>
routine is provided, the database subsystem will simply access the memory
location derived by adding the field's offset to the record pointer
returned by the table's record access functions (<tt>newrec()</tt>,
<tt>first()</tt>, or <tt>next()</tt>). If this is not sufficient, however,
the table owner can define <tt>get()</tt> and/or <tt>put()</tt> functions
for accessing the data.</p>
<p>One member of the <tt>DBField</tt> structure that deserves particular
mention is the <tt>load_only</tt> member. If a field's <tt>load_only</tt>
value is nonzero, then the field will be ignored when the database is saved
to persistent storage. This can be used to handle changes in the format of
a table; if the old field is left defined with <tt>load_only</tt> nonzero
and a <tt>put()</tt> routine provided, that routine will be called whenever
a record with the old field is loaded, allowing the old field's value to be
processed as necessary to fit the new table format. Alternatively, the old
field can be left in the in-memory structure, and code added to the table's
<tt>insert()</tt> routine to handle the data translation.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s2-2">6-2-2. Registering and unregistering tables</h4>
<p>In order for a database table to be loaded from and saved to persistent
storage, it must first be registered with the database subsystem by calling
the <tt>register_dbtable()</tt> routine; the complementary
<tt>unregister_dbtable()</tt> routine must be called when the table is no
longer needed (for example, when the module owning the table exits). The
routines' prototypes are as follows:</p>
<div class="code">int <b>register_dbtable</b>(DBTable *<i>table</i>)
void <b>unregister_dbtable</b>(DBTable *<i>table</i>)</div>
<p>Both routines take a pointer to the <tt>DBTable</tt> structure
describing the table to be registered or unregistered. The
<tt>register_dbtable()</tt> routine returns nonzero on success, zero on
failure.</p>
<p>Note that <tt>register_dbtable()</tt> assumes that the in-memory table
is empty, and has no facility to signal the database owner to clear the
table before data is loaded. The database owner must ensure that the table
is empty or take whatever other precautions are appropriate before
registering the table.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s2-3">6-2-3. Loading and saving data</h4>
<p>Data loading and saving is performed on a per-table basis when the table
is registered or unregistered, respectively; thus data is immediately
available for use when <tt>register_dbtable()</tt> returns successfully,
and any changes made to the data after <tt>unregister_dbtable()</tt> is
called will not be reflected in persistent storage. There is also an
auxiliary routine, <tt>save_all_dbtables()</tt>, which causes all
registered tables to be saved (synced) to persistent storage immediately:</p>
<div class="code">int <b>save_all_dbtables</b>()</div>
<p>This routine returns one of the following values:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>1</b> if all database tables were saved with no errors, or if no
tables are registered.</li>
<li><b>0</b> if some tables were saved successfully, but errors occured on
at least one table.</li>
<li><b>-1</b> if no tables were saved successfully.</li>
</ul>
<p>This routine is called by the main loop (via the <tt>save_data_now()</tt>
helper routine) at periodic intervals or when explicitly requested, as
described in <a href="2.html#s3-3">section 2-3-3</a>.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<hr/>
<h3 class="subsection-title" id="s3">6-3. Database modules</h3>
<p>The core portion of the database subsystem only provides the interface
for persistent storage of databases; the actual work of transferring data
to and front persistent storage is performed by <i>database modules</i>.
The standard database modules are located in the <tt>modules/database</tt>
directory.</p>
<p>A database module registers itself with the core part of the subsystem
by calling <tt>register_dbmodule()</tt>; as with tables, the module must
unregister itself with the complementary <tt>unregister_dbmodule()</tt>
when exiting:</p>
<div class="code">int <b>register_dbmodule</b>(DBModule *<i>module</i>)
void <b>unregister_dbmodule</b>(DBModule *<i>module</i>)</div>
<p>Only one database module may be registered; if a second module tries to
register itself, <tt>register_dbmodule()</tt> will return an error (zero).</p>
<p>The <tt>DBModule</tt> structure passed to these functions contains two
function pointers:</p>
<div class="code">int (*<b>load_table</b>)(DBTable *<i>table</i>)
int (*<b>save_table</b>)(DBTable *<i>table</i>)</div>
<p>As the names suggest, <tt>load_table()</tt> is called to load a table
from persistent storage, and <tt>save_table()</tt> is called to save a
table to persistent storage. Both routines should return nonzero on
success, zero on failure.</p>
<p>Since the <tt>DBTable</tt> structures representing registered database
tables are passed directly to these two routines, the module must take care
to observe the restrictions and requirements on calling the table's
function pointers documented in <a href="#s2">section 6-2</a> above, such
as not calling <tt>newrec()</tt> twice without an intervening
<tt>insert()</tt> or <tt>freerec()</tt> and ensuring that <tt>postload()</tt>
is called when a table has been loaded. <i>Implementation note: A better
implementation might hide the DBTable structure from database modules,
providing an interface that ensures the rules are followed.</i></p>
<p>To simplify data access logic and avoid bugs caused by misuse of data
fields, database modules should use the <tt>get_dbfield()</tt> and
<tt>put_dbfield()</tt> routines to read and write fields in database
records. These routines are declared as:</p>
<div class="code">void <b>get_dbfield</b>(const void *<i>record</i>, const DBField *<i>field</i>, void *<i>buffer</i>)
void <b>put_dbfield</b>(void *<i>record</i>, const DBField *<i>field</i>, const void *<i>value</i>)</div>
<p>The routines will automatically call the field's <tt>get()</tt> or
<tt>put()</tt> routine if one is supplied, or else copy the field's value
to or from the supplied buffer.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<hr/>
<h3 class="subsection-title" id="s4">6-4. Specific module details</h3>
<p>Services includes two standard database modules. The first,
<tt>database/standard</tt>, is (as the name implies) intended to be the
standard module for use with version 5.1; it stores each table in a binary
data file. The second module, <tt>database/version4</tt>, uses the same
file format as was used in Services versions 4.x and 5.0, and is intended
for compatibility when testing Services 5.1 or converting databases to the
new format. (It is not possible to have one module handle loading and a
different module handle saving, so data must first be exported to XML using
the <tt>version4</tt> module and then imported using the <tt>standard</tt>
module in the latter case.)</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s4-1">6-4-1. <tt>database/standard</tt></h4>
<h5 class="subsubsubsection-title" id="s4-1-1">6-4-1-1. Data format</h5>
<p>This module stores each table in a file whose name is constructed by
replacing all non-alphanumeric characters (except hyphens and underscores)
by underscores and appending "<tt>.sdb</tt>". The file format consists of
three main sections, described below. In all cases, numeric data is
written in big-endian format (with the most-significant byte first);
strings are stored as a 16-bit length in bytes followed by the specified
number of bytes of string data (including a terminating null byte), with a
<tt>NULL</tt> string indicated by a length value of zero.
<i>Implementation note: This obviously limits the length of a string to
65,534 bytes. This is the result of reusing the string reading and writing
routines used for the old file format; while it has not proved to be a
problem to date, it is nonetheless an unnecessary artificial
limitation.</i></p>
<dl>
<dt><b>The file header</b></dt>
<dd><p>The file header contains basic information about the file, in the
following four fields:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b>File format version:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
A value which identifies the file format in use. This is
always the constant <tt>NEWDB_VERSION</tt>; the upper 24
bits of this value contain the ASCII string "<tt>ISD</tt>",
identifying the file as an <b>I</b>RC <b>S</b>ervices
<b>D</b>atabase, and the lower 8 bits contain a format
version number, currently 1.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Header size:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The total size of the header, in bytes. Currently 16.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Field list offset:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The offset in bytes from the start of the file to the field
list, described below.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Record data offset:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The offset in bytes from the start of the file to the
record data, described below.</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><b>The field list</b></dt>
<dd><p>The field list contains information about the fields in the data
table and how they are stored in the file. The field list can be
stored anywhere in the file, but the current implementation writes
it immediately after the file header. The field list consists of a
header followed by a variable number of field entries. The header
contains the following three values:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b>Field list size:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The total size of the field list, in bytes.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Number of fields:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The number of fields in the field list.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Record data size:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The size in bytes of the fixed part of a single record's
data. This is the portion of the record data which is
always stored in the same format, excluding variable-length
data such as strings.</li>
</ul>
<p>For each field, the following data is recorded:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b>Field data size:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The size in bytes of the data as stored in the fixed part
of the record data. All fields are stored consecutively in
the order they appear in the field list, with no padding;
thus the offset of a field's data is equal to the sum of
the sizes of all previous fields.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Field type:</b> <i>(16-bit integer)</i>
The type of the field. The value is one of the
<tt>DBTYPE_*</tt> constants defined in <tt>databaess.h</tt>.
<i>Implementation note: This is a bad idea; it would be
better to explicitly define constants in <tt>standard.c</tt>
to avoid problems arising from changes in the values of the
constants.</i></li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Field name:</b> <i>(string)</i>
The name of the field.</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><b>The record data</b></dt>
<dd><p>The last section of the file contains the actual data for each
record in the table. To avoid the potential for a corrupt record
to render all following records unreadable (if, for example, the
length of a string is incorrect), the actual record data is
preceded by a <i>record descriptor table</i>, which contains a
file offset pointer and total length for each record's data.</p>
<p>In order to simplify the writing of database files, the record
descriptor table is allowed to be fragmented into multiple parts.
Each partial table consists of an 8-byte header containing:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b>Next table pointer:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The absolute file offset (in bytes) of the next record
descriptor table. Set to zero for the last table in the
file.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Table length:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The length of this record descriptor table in bytes,
including the header.</li>
</ul>
<p>The remainder of the table is filled with 8-byte record
descriptors, each containing:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b>Record data pointer:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The absolute file offset of the record's data.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b>Record data length:</b> <i>(32-bit integer)</i>
The length of the record's data in bytes.</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that the header has the same format as a record descriptor,
so the entire descriptor table can be treated as an array of
descriptors in which the first entry points to the next table
rather than a particular record.</p>
<p>The record data pointed to by each descriptor consists, in turn,
of a fixed-length part and a variable-length part. The
fixed-length part (also referred to in the field list description
above) contains all data which is of a fixed length for every
record; this includes all numeric data, as well as a 32-bit data
offset pointer for strings (see below). Variable-length data is
stored immediately after the fixed-length part of the data, in
arbitrary order.</p>
<p>The various field types are stored as follows (where not
explicitly mentioned, the value is stored entirely in the
fixed-length part of the record data):</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>DBTYPE_INT<i>n</i></tt>,
<tt>DBTYPE_UINT<i>n</i></tt>:</b> The value is stored
using the requisite number of bytes (1, 2, or 4, depending
on the data type size).</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>DBTYPE_TIME</tt>:</b>
The value is stored as a 64-bit integer.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>DBTYPE_STRING</tt>:</b>
A 32-bit data offset is stored in the fixed-length part;
this is a byte offset relative to the start of the record
data, and points to the location of the actual string data
(a16-bit length followed by character data), stored in the
variable-length part of the record.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>DBTYPE_BUFFER</tt>:</b>
The value is stored using the number of bytes specified by
<tt>DBField.length</tt>.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>DBTYPE_PASSWORD</tt>:</b>
The value is stored as a data offset pointing to the string
giving the cipher name (<tt>Password.cipher</tt>) followed
by a fixed buffer of <tt>PASSMAX</tt> bytes. The cipher
name itself is stored in the variable-length part, like
other strings.</li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h5 class="subsubsubsection-title" id="s4-1-2">6-4-1-2. Module structure</h5>
<p>Database loading and saving are handled by the routines
<tt>standard_load_table()</tt> and <tt>standard_save_table()</tt>,
respectively. (The <tt>standard_</tt> prefix comes from the module name,
and is included to avoid potential name clashes with other database
modules, which would complicate debugging.) Each of these routines calls
three subroutines to handle each of the three parts of a database file
described in <a href="#s4-1-1">section 6-4-1-1</a> above.</p>
<p>The <tt>SAFE()</tt> preprocessor macro defined at the top of the file is
used in read and write operations to check for a premature end-of-file (on
read) or a write error (on write) and abort the routine in these cases.</p>
<p>Three helper functions used in loading and saving are defined first:</p>
<dl>
<dt><tt>TableInfo *<b>create_tableinfo</b>(const DBTable *<i>table</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Generates a <tt>TableInfo</tt> structure corresponding to the given
database table. The <tt>TableInfo</tt> structure is defined at the
top of the file, and includes the size of each field as stored in
memory and on disk, as well as the location of each field within
the record's data as written to disk. (This latter value,
<tt>offset</tt>, is set to -1 by this routine, since it is
initialized differently when loading than when saving.)</dd>
<dt><tt>void <b>free_tableinfo</b>(TableInfo *<i>ti</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Frees a <tt>TableInfo</tt> structure created by
<tt>create_tableinfo()</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>const char *<b>make_filename</b>(const DBTable *<i>table</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Generates the filename corresponding to the table name for the
given table. The returned filename string is stored in a static
buffer, which will be overwritten by subsequent calls.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Following these routines is <tt>standard_load_table()</tt>, along with
its helper routines <tt>read_file_header()</tt>, <tt>read_field_list()</tt>,
and <tt>read_records()</tt>. When called, <tt>standard_load_table()</tt>
takes the following actions:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced">Generates a <tt>TableInfo</tt> structure for the
database table.</li>
<li class="spaced">Opens the file corresponding to the table, using
<tt>open_db()</tt> from <tt>fileutil.c</tt>(see
<a href="#s5-1">section 6-5-1</a>).</li>
<li class="spaced">Calls <tt>read_file_header()</tt> to read in the file
header.</li>
<li class="spaced">Seeks to the beginning of the field list, and calls
<tt>read_field_list()</tt> to read it in.</li>
<li class="spaced">Seeks to the beginning of the record data, and calls
<tt>read_records()</tt> to read it in.</li>
</ul>
<p><tt>read_file_header()</tt> is fairly straightforward; it simply reads
in the four header fields, checks the version number and header size to
ensure that they have appropriate values, and returns the field list and
record data offsets in the variable references passed in.</p>
<p><tt>read_field_list()</tt> is slightly more complex; since there is no
guarantee that the record structure stored in the file will match that
given by the <tt>DBTable</tt> structure, the routine must match fields in
the file to those in the structure. <tt>read_field_list()</tt> iterates
through the fields in the loaded table, searching the <tt>TableInfo</tt>
structure for a matching field (the name, type, and field size must all
match); if found, the record data offset is recorded in the
<tt>TableInfo</tt> structure, while unknown fields are simply ignored.
<i>Implementation note: As a side effect of this handling, fields like
nicknames, channel names, and passwords will cease to be recognized if the
relevant buffer sizes are changed, thus the note in <tt>defs.h</tt> about
backing up the data before changing the constants.</i></p>
<p><tt>read_records()</tt> reads in and loops through the record descriptor
tables, continuing until an empty descriptor, signifying the end of the
table, is found. In order to avoid duplication of code, the descriptor
table is loaded (when necessary) at the beginning of the loop; however,
since the descriptor table must be loaded before the end-of-data check can
be made, the loop termination check is performed in the middle of the loop,
immediately after the descriptor table loading. The <tt>recnum</tt> loop
variable indicates the current index in the descriptor table, with 1
meaning the first record descriptor (after the header) and 0 meaning that a
new table has to be loaded; the modulo arithmetic in the loop variable
update expression ensures that when the index reaches the end of the table,
it will be reset to zero, causing the next table to be loaded.</p>
<p>The table-saving routine <tt>standard_save_table()</tt> and its
subroutines <tt>write_file_header()</tt>, <tt>write_field_list()</tt>, and
<tt>write_records()</tt> operate in essentially the same way, although they
are slightly simpler because there is no need to check for invalid data, as
must be done while reading. The other point worth mentioning is that
<tt>open_db()</tt> automatically writes the version number given as the
third parameter into the file, so there is no need for
<tt>write_file_header()</tt> to do so. <i>Implementation note: Yes, this
is ugly; see <a href="#s5-1">section 6-5-1</a> for an explanation.</i></p>
<p>Finally, the source file concludes with the standard module variables
and routines, along with the <tt>DBModule</tt> structure required for
registering the database module. However, for this module they are
enclosed by <tt>#ifndef&nbsp;INCLUDE_IN_VERSION4</tt> and <tt>#endif</tt>;
this is so that the source file can be directly included in the
<tt>database/version4</tt> module (see <a href="#s4-2-2">section
6-4-2-2</a> below) without causing identifier conflicts or other
problems.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s4-2">6-4-2. <tt>database/version4</tt></h4>
<p>This module is intended as a compatibility/transition module, and (as
the name implies) supports database files in the format used by 4.x
versions of Services, as well as the extended form of that format used in
version 5.0. These versions did not support generic database tables, so
any such tables which do not correspond to tables used in version 4/5
format files are simply written out in the same format used with the
<tt>database/standard</tt> module.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h5 class="subsubsubsection-title" id="s4-2-1">6-4-2-1. Data format</h5>
<p>The pre-5.1 data file format is a rather complex beast, an extended form
of the original database files which were simply binary dumps of the
structures used in memory. The format is not documented outside of the
code that implements it, and even I (the developer) often have to refer to
the code when analyzing a database file from these versions.</p>
<p>The database files used encompass all of the data handled by the
standard pseudoclients, but the files are generally split by pseudoclient
name rather than individual table: for example, the nickname, nickname
group, and memo data are all stored in the same database. This, again,
derives from the fact that such data was at one time all stored as part of
the same structure (even now, memos are stored in the nickname group
structure rather than having their own separate table in memory). The list
of files and the tables they encompass follows:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>nick.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>nick</tt>,
<tt>nickgroup</tt>, <tt>nick-access</tt>, <tt>nick-autojoin</tt>,
<tt>memo</tt>, and <tt>memo-ignore</tt> tables.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>chan.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>chan</tt>,
<tt>chan-access</tt>, and <tt>chan-akick</tt> tables.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>oper.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>oper</tt>
table.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>news.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>news</tt>
table.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>akill.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>akill</tt> and
<tt>exclude</tt> tables.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>exception.db</tt></b> contains the
<tt>exception</tt> table.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>sline.db</tt></b> contains the <tt>sgline</tt>,
<tt>sqline</tt>, and <tt>szline</tt> tables.</li>
<li class="spaced"><b><tt>stats.db</tt></b> contains the
<tt>stat-servers</tt> table.</li>
</ul>
<p>In general, the contents of each database file can be divided into three
parts: the base data, the 5.0 extension data, and the 5.1 extension
data, all concatenated together. This division of data was introduced in
version 5.0 to allow databases written by version 5.0 to be read by version
4.5 (minus the 5.0-specific features, of course); version 5.0 wrote the
data in the format used by version 4.5, then appended the 5.0-specific data
to the end of the file, so that the 4.5 code would simply ignore it,
believing that it had reached the end of the data, while the 5.0 code would
know to look for the extension data to supplement the (possibly inaccurate)
data in the base part. Version 5.1 takes the same approach with respect to
version 5.0, resulting in database files which are very convoluted but
which can be used in any of versions 4.5, 5.0, or 5.1.</p>
<p>Each part begins with a 32-bit version number identifying the format of
the data (like the 5.1 standard format, all values are stored in big-endian
byte order); this value is fixed at 11 for the base data and 27 for the 5.0
extension data, the file version numbers used in the final releases of
these versions of Services. The file version is followed immediately by
the data itself, whose format varies depending on the particular data being
stored. Simple arrays like news and autokill data typically use a 16-bit
count followed by the appropriate number of repetitions of the data
structure, a format which is also used for sub-arrays such as access lists
within nickname and channel data. Nicknames and channels, on the other
hand, do not have a count field, and instead simply consist of a byte with
value 1 followed by the nickname or channel data structure for as many
structures as necessary, followed by 256 zero bytes indicating the end of
the table. (The reason for 256 zero bytes instead of just one is that very
old versions of Services, earlier than version 4.0, wrote out each
collision list of the 256-element hash arrays separately, terminating each
list with a zero; when this was changed, the fiction of 256 collision lists
was kept in order to simplify the database reading logic.)</p>
<p>For cases where there is a difference in data format or content between
the base, 5.0, and 5.1 data, the data is written so that if loaded by the
corresponding version of Services, it will be interpreted as closely as
possible to the true value. For example, the 32-bit nickname group ID is
written into 16 bits of the nickname flags and the 16-bit registered
channel limit in the base data, since 4.5 does not interpret these bits;
however, since 5.0 does make use of them, the correct values of those two
fields are then re-recorded in the 5.0 extension data. Similarly, channel
access levels are recorded in the base data using the 4.5 access level
system (a range from -9999 to 9999 with standard levels clustered from -2
to 10), and again in the 5.0 extension data using the current system.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h5 class="subsubsubsection-title" id="s4-2-2">6-4-2-2. Module structure</h5>
<p>The source file, <tt>version4.c</tt>, starts with a workaround for a
limitation of static module compilation. As with the
<tt>database/standard</tt> module, this module makes use of the utility
routines in <tt>fileutil.c</tt>; however, if <tt>fileutil.c</tt> is simply
linked into the module, as is done with the <tt>database/standard</tt>
module, an error would occur at link time due to the symbols being defined
in both modules. While it is possible to adjust the compilation process to
avoid this problem, the <tt>database/version4</tt> module instead simply
uses <tt>#define</tt> to rename all of the exported functions in
<tt>fileutil.c</tt>, then includes that source file directly.</p>
<p>The four version number defines indicate the file version numbers to be
used with various parts of the data:</p>
<ul>
<li><b><tt>FILE_VERSION</tt>:</b> The file version used for the base data.
Always 11 (the last value used in Services 4.5).</li>
<li><b><tt>LOCAL_VERSION</tt>:</b> The file version used for the 5.1
extension data. Incremented when the 5.1 extension data format
changes.</li>
<li><b><tt>FIRST_VERSION_51</tt>:</b> The first file version used in
Services 5.1. Used to ensure that the 5.1 extension data is
valid.</li>
<li><b><tt>LOCAL_VERSION_50</tt>:</b> The file version used for the 5.0
extension data. Always 27 (the last value used in Services 5.0).</li>
</ul>
<p>The <tt>CA_SIZE_4_5</tt>, <tt>ACCESS_INVALID_4_5</tt>, and
<tt>def_levels_4_5[]</tt> constants and array are used when processing
channel privilege level data as stored in the base data section. Since
Services 4.5 always stored the privilege level array, even if all values
were set to the defaults, this array is used to detect such a case when
loading data and to supply data for channels using the default settings
when saving. (The channel access levels themselves use a different scale
in 4.5; this is handled by the <tt>convert_old_level()</tt> and
<tt>convert_new_level()</tt> helper functions, defined later.)</p>
<p>The last set of compatibility constants and variables,
<tt>MAX_SERVADMINS</tt>, <tt>services_admins[]</tt> and so on, is used to
handle loading and saving of the Services administrator and operator lists
in <tt>oper.db</tt>. (Version 4.5 kept these separate from the nickname
data, as opposed to the current method which stores the OperServ status
level in the nickname group data.)</p>
<p>Following these preliminary declarations are the main load and save
routines, <tt>version4_load_table()</tt> and <tt>version4_save_table()</tt>,
preceded by forward declarations of the individual table handling routines.
For the most part, these consist of checking the name of the table to be
loaded or saved and calling the appropriate routine; however, since most
database files encompass two or more tables, the table pointers must be
saved in local variables until all relevant tables are available. Also,
several tables are simply ignored this is because the load/save routines
access the corresponding data directly through the parent structures (for
example, channel access and autokick lists are accessed via the
<tt>ChannelInfo</tt> structures in the <tt>chan</tt> table). One other
workaround required when loading data is the temporary setting of the
global <tt>noexpire</tt> flag; as the comments in the code indicate, this
is because the databases are loaded in several steps, and records'
expiration timestamps may not be correct until the final step, so leaving
expiration enabled could cause records to be improperly expired during the
loading process (since expiration occurs when a record is accessed via the
various pseudoclients' <tt>get()</tt>, <tt>first()</tt>, and <tt>next()</tt>
functions).</p>
<p>Next are three short utility functions. The first,
<tt>my_open_db_r()</tt>, calls <tt>open_db()</tt> from <tt>fileutil.c</tt>
(see <a href="#s5-1">section 6-5-1</a>) to open the given database file for
reading, then reads in the file version number and checks that it is within
range for the base data section; the version number is then returned in
<tt>*<i>ver_ret</i></tt>. (File versions below 5, corresponding to
Services 3.0, are not supported because they stored numeric values in a
machine-dependent format.) The other two utility routines,
<tt>read_maskdata()</tt> and <tt>write_maskdata</tt>, are used to read and
write lists of <tt>MaskData</tt> structures, used (for example) in
autokills and S-lines.</p>
<p>The bulk of the module is taken up by the routines to load particular
tables. Since each database file has its own particular format, the table
load/save routines must be tailored for each file; the load routines, in
particular, must be able to handle multiple versions of files, and as such
are especially complex (for the nickname and channel tables, the load
routine is broken up into several subroutines). For the sake of simplicity
and speed, the routines access the relevant structures directly rather than
going through the <tt>DBField</tt> entries of the table; this means that
the module must be updated whenever the structures' formats or meanings
change, but as the module is only intended as a transitional one, this is
not seen to be a significant problem.</p>
<p>The load/save routines also call some routines defined in the various
pseudoclient modules, such as <tt>get()</tt>, <tt>first()</tt>, and
<tt>next()</tt> routines for the various data structures. Since the
database may be (and generally is) loaded before the pseudoclient modules,
the symbols must be imported appropriately; this is handled by the
<tt>extsyms.c</tt> and <tt>extsyms.h</tt> auxiliary files, though the
handling is rather machine-dependent. See <a href="#s5-2">section
6-5-2</a> for details.</p>
<p>The routines used for loading and saving tables which do not correspond
to any of the files listed above, <tt>load_generic_table()</tt> and
<tt>save_generic_table()</tt>, are actually renamed versions of the
<tt>standard_load_table()</tt> and <tt>standard_save_table()</tt> routines
defined in the <tt>database/standard</tt> module. To avoid the
difficulties involved in trying to load two database modules at once, this
module simply includes the <tt>standard.c</tt> source file directly, after
setting up <tt>#define</tt> directives to rename the load and save
routines; a <tt>#ifndef INCLUDED_IN_VERSION4</tt> protects the parts of the
<tt>database/standard</tt> module not related to loading and saving,
avoiding multiple definitions of module-related symbols.</p>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<hr/>
<h3 class="subsection-title" id="s5">6-5. Auxiliary source files</h3>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s5-1">6-5-1. <tt>fileutil.c</tt>, <tt>fileutil.h</tt></h4>
<p><tt>fileutil.c</tt> (and its corresponding header, <tt>fileutil.h</tt>)
provide utility functions used by both the <tt>database/standard</tt> and
<tt>database/version4</tt> modules for reading and writing binary data
files. The functions use a <tt>dbFILE</tt> structure to indicate the file
to be read from or written to; this is analagous to the <tt>FILE</tt>
structure used by stdio-style functions, but includes extra fields used by
the open and close functions to ensure that a valid copy of the file is
retained even if a write error occurs (see the function descriptions below
for details). The actual file pointer is also available in the structure's
<tt>fp</tt> field for direct use with the stdio functions.</p>
<p>There are several preprocessor conditionals on <tt>CONVERT_DB</tt>
scattered throughout the code. These are used to prevent unneeded portions
of code, particularly log- and module-related functions, from being seen
when the source file is compiled for the <tt>convert-db</tt> tool.</p>
<p>The following functions are available. Note that all of the read/write
functions (except <tt>get_file_version()</tt> and the raw read/write
functions <tt>read_db()</tt>, <tt>write_db()</tt>, and <tt>getc_db()</tt>)
share the property that they return 0 on success and -1 on error.</p>
<dl>
<dt><tt>int32 <b>get_file_version</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Retrieves the file version number from the given file. Returns -1
if the file version could not be read.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_file_version</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>, int32 <i>filever</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the specified file version number to the file. Returns 0
on success, -1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>dbFILE *<b>open_db</b>(const char *<i>filename</i>, const char *<i>mode</i>, int32 <i>version</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Opens the given file for reading (<tt><i>mode</i>=="r"</tt>) or
writing (<tt><i>mode</i>=="w"</tt>), returning the <tt>dbFILE</tt>
structure pointer on success, <tt>NULL</tt> on failure. When
opening a file for writing, the actual file created is a temporary
file whose name is the given filename with "<tt>.new</tt>"
appended; when <tt>close_db()</tt> is called, the <tt>rename()</tt>
system call is used to overwrite any existing file with this
temporary file. This ensures that a valid copy of the file will
remain on disk even if the writing process is interrupted for some
reason. The <tt><i>version</i></tt> parameter is used only when
opening a file for writing, and is automatically written to the
file using <tt><i>write_file_version()</i></tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>close_db</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Closes the given file. If the file was open for writing, the
temporary file is renamed over the original (if any exists),
generating an error if the rename operation fails. Returns 0 on
success, -1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>void <b>restore_db</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Closes the given file. If the file was open for writing, removes
the temporary file, leaving the original file unchanged. This
function never generates an error (errors returned from
<tt>fclose()</tt> are ignored), and preserves the value of
<tt>errno</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_db</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>, void *<i>buf</i>, size_t <i>len</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads the specified number of bytes from the file into
<tt><i>buf</i></tt>, returning the number of bytes successfully
read or -1 on error. Implemented as a macro in <tt>fileutil.h</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_db</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>, const void *<i>buf</i>, size_t <i>len</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the specified number of bytes from <tt><i>buf</i></tt> into
the file, returning the number of bytes successfully written or -1
on error. Implemented as a macro in <tt>fileutil.h</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>getc_db</b>(dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a single byte from the file, returning the byte's value on
success, -1 on error. Implemented as a macro in
<tt>fileutil.h</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_int8</b>(int8 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads an 8-bit integer from the file, storing it in the location
pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_uint8</b>(uint8 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads an unsigned 8-bit integer from the file. Identical in
behavior to <tt>read_int8()</tt>; this function is provided to
avoid signed/unsigned type conversion warnings when compiling.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_int8</b>(int8 val, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given 8-bit integer to the file. Returns 0 on success,
-1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_int16</b>(int16 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a 16-bit integer from the file, storing it in the location
pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_uint16</b>(uint16 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the file. Identical in
behavior to <tt>read_int16()</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_int16</b>(int16 val, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given 16-bit integer to the file. Returns 0 on success,
-1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_int32</b>(int32 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a 32-bit integer from the file, storing it in the location
pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_uint32</b>(uint32 *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads an unsigned 32-bit integer from the file. Identical in
behavior to <tt>read_int32()</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_int32</b>(int32 val, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given 32-bit integer to the file. Returns 0 on success,
-1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_time</b>(time_t *ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a timestamp value from the file, storing it in the location
pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure. Timestamp values are always stored using 64 bits,
regardless of the size of the <tt>time_t</tt> type.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_time</b>(time_t val, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given timestamp value to the file. Returns 0 on
success, -1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_ptr</b>(void **ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a pointer value from the file, storing it in the location
pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. The value will be either
<tt>NULL</tt> or an arbitrary non-<tt>NULL</tt> value. Returns 0
on success, -1 on failure. <i>Implementation note: This function
and its complement, <tt>write_ptr()</tt>, are included only for use
by the <tt>database/version4</tt> module and the <tt>convert-db</tt>
tool, which actually do have to deal with pointers written in this
way.</i></dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_ptr</b>(const void *ptr, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given pointer value to the file. The actual pointer
itself is not stored, only a flag indicating whether the pointer is
<tt>NULL</tt> or not. Returns 0 on success, -1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_string</b>(char **ret, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads a string from the file, allocating memory for the string
using <tt>malloc()</tt> and storing a pointer to the string in the
location pointed to by <tt><i>ret</i></tt>. Note that the value
stored may be <tt>NULL</tt>. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_string</b>(const char *s, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given string (which may be <tt>NULL</tt>) to the file.
The string must be no longer than 65,534 bytes (if longer, the
value written will be silently truncated). Returns 0 on success,
-1 on failure.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>read_buffer</b>(<i>buf</i>, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Reads the given buffer (assumed to be declared as, <i>e.g.</i>,
a <tt>char</tt> array) from the file. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure. Implemented as a macro in <tt>fileutil.h</tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt>int <b>write_buffer</b>(<i>buf</i>, dbFILE *<i>f</i>)</tt></dt>
<dd>Writes the given buffer (assumed to be declared as, <i>e.g.</i>,
a <tt>char</tt> array) to the file. Returns 0 on success, -1 on
failure. Implemented as a macro in <tt>fileutil.h</tt>.</dd>
</dl>
<p class="backlink"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<h4 class="subsubsection-title" id="s5-2">6-5-2. <tt>extsyms.c</tt>, <tt>extsyms.h</tt></h4>
<p><tt>extsyms.c</tt> and <tt>extsyms.h</tt> are used by the
<tt>database/version4</tt> module to import external symbols from other
modules which may not be loaded when the <tt>version4</tt> module is
initialized. The <tt>version4</tt> module makes use of a number of
functions and variables from the various pseudoclient modules, and adding
code at every use to check whether the appropriate module is loaded and
look up the symbol would only further complicate already complex code. For
this reason, the actual work of looking up the symbols is done in
<tt>extsyms.c</tt>, and <tt>extsyms.h</tt> provides redefinition macros to
allow the <tt>version4</tt> module to be written as if the functions and
variables were already present.</p>
<p>The actual work of looking up and accessing (for values) or calling (for
functions) the external symbols is implemented by the <tt>IMPORT_FUNC()</tt>,
<tt>IMPORT_VAR()</tt>, and <tt>IMPORT_VAR_MAYBE()</tt> macros defined in
<tt>extsyms.c</tt>. These macros all have the same basic format: they
define a variable of the form <tt>__dblocal_<i>symbol</i>_ptr</tt> to hold
the value of the symbol (the address of the function or variable), followed
by a function which looks up the symbol's value if it is not yet known,
then accesses or calls it. (Module pointers are likewise cached in
file-local variables, declared separately.) If the symbol or its module
cannot be found, the local routine <tt>fatal_no_symbol()</tt> is called to
abort the program, except for <tt>IMPORT_VAR_MAYBE()</tt>, in which case a
default value is returned from the accessing function if the symbol is not
available.</p>
<p>The logic for accessing an external variable is simple; a reference to
the variable is translated by macros in <tt>extsyms.h</tt> into a call to
the function defined by <tt>IMPORT_VAR()</tt> or <tt>IMPORT_VAR_MAYBE()</tt>
(whose name has the format <tt>__dblocal_get_<i>variable</i>()</tt>), which
accesses the variable's value through the pointer obtained from looking up
the symbol and returns it. The function's declaration uses the GCC
<tt>typeof()</tt> built-in operator to give the function's return value, as
well as the cache variable for the symbol value, the same type as the
variable itself.</p>
<p>Calling an external function is a more complex task, due to the fact
that functions can take parameters or not and can return or not return a
value. Rather than explicitly writing out the symbol access functions for
each external function accessed, <tt>extsyms.c</tt> makes use of a GCC
feature which allows a function to call another function, passing along
the same parameters passed to the parent function, and return its return
value without knowing anything about either the parameters or the type of
return value. This feature is the builtin apply/return code, which takes
the general form:</p>
<div class="code">__builtin_return(__builtin_apply(
<i>function_pointer</i>,
__builtin_apply_args(),
<i>parameter_buffer_size</i>))</div>
<p>where <tt><i>function_pointer</i></tt> is a pointer to the function to
be called, and <tt><i>parameter_buffer_size</i></tt> is the maximum amount
of stack space expected to be used by the parameters to the function, if
any. If this feature is not available, for example because a compiler
other than GCC is in use, then the code tries to use another
(assembly-based) algorithm to accomplish the same thing if possible, or
generates a compilation error if no such substitute algorithm is
available.</p>
<p>However, the use of the <tt>__builtin_apply()</tt> GCC feature in
Services has, over the course of Services' development, revealed a few bugs
in the implementation of that feature; as such, Services must sometimes
resort to an assembly-based algorithm even when using GCC. The necessity
of this is indicated by the preprocessor macro <tt>NEED_GCC3_HACK</tt>,
which is set by the <tt>configure</tt> script if it detects that this
workaround is required. The bugs which have been discovered are:</p>
<ul>
<li class="spaced">The generated code can access the wrong area of memory
when setting up the stack for the called function
(<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=8028">GCC
Bugzilla bug 8028</a>
<span class="remotehost">[gcc.gnu.org]</span>).</li>
<li class="spaced">The generated code can fail to pass through the called
function's return value
(<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11151">GCC
Bugzilla bug 11151</a>
<span class="remotehost">[gcc.gnu.org]</span>).</li>
<li class="spaced">A function calling <tt>__builtin_apply()</tt> can
behave incorrectly if inlined in another function.
(<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20076">GCC
Bugzilla bug 20076</a>
<span class="remotehost">[gcc.gnu.org]</span>). This is not
directly relevant to <tt>extsyms.c</tt>, but caused problems at
one time in the <tt>configure</tt> script.</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, in order to avoid cached pointers going stale when a module is
unloaded, <tt>extsyms.c</tt> includes a callback function for the
"<tt>unload&nbsp;module</tt>" callback, which clears out all cached
pointers for a module when the module is unloaded.</p>
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