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<html> 
<head>
<title>Netpbm subroutine library: pm_system() subroutine, etc.</title>
<meta name="manual_section" content="3">
</head>

<body>
<h1>pm_system()</h1>
Updated: 12 May 2016
<br>

<h2>Name</h2>
pm_system - run a Netpbm program with program input and output

<h2>Synopsis</h2>

<pre>
<code>
#include &lt;netpbm/pm_system.h&gt;

pm_system(void                  stdinFeeder(int, void *),
          void *          const feederParm,
          void                  stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
          void *          const accepterParm,
          const char *    const shellCommand);

pm_system_lp(const char *  const progName,
             void                stdinFeeder(int, void *),
             void *        const feederParm,
             void                stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
             void *        const accepterParm,
             ...);

pm_system_vp(const char *  const progName,
             const char ** const argArray,
             void                stdinFeeder(int, void *),
             void *        const feederParm,
             void                stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
             void *        const accepterParm);

pm_system2(void                  stdinFeeder(int, void *),
           void *          const feederParm,
           void                  stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
           void *          const accepterParm,
           const char *    const shellCommand,
           int *           const termStatusP );

pm_system2_lp(const char *  const progName,
             void                stdinFeeder(int, void *),
             void *        const feederParm,
             void                stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
             void *        const accepterParm,
             int *         const terminationStatusP,
             ...);

pm_system2_vp(const char *  const progName,
             const char ** const argArray,
             void                stdinFeeder(int, void *),
             void *        const feederParm,
             void                stdoutAccepter(int, void *),
             void *        const accepterParm,
             int *         const termStatusP);

</code>
</pre>

<h2>Example</h2>

<p>This simple example converts a PNM image on Standard Input to a
JFIF (JPEG) image on Standard Output.  In this case,
<b>pm_system()</b> is doing no more than <b>system()</b> would do.

<pre>
<code>
    pm_system(NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, "pnmtojpeg");
</code>
</pre>


<p>This example does the same thing, but moves the data through memory
buffers to illustrate use with memory buffers, and we throw in a stage
to shrink the image too:
<pre>
#include &lt;netpbm/pm_system.h&gt;

char              pnmData[100*1024];   /* Input file better be &lt; 100K */
char              jfifData[100*1024];
struct bufferDesc pnmBuffer;
struct bufferDesc jfifBuffer;
unsigned int      jfifSize;

pnmBuffer.size = fread(pnmData, 1, sizeof(pnmData), stdin);
pnmBuffer.buffer = pnmData;
pnmBuffer.bytesTransferredP = NULL;

jfifBuffer.size = sizeof(jfifData);
jfifBuffer.buffer = jfifData;
jfifBuffer.bytesTransferredP = &amp;jfifSize; 

pm_system(&amp;pm_feed_from_memory, &amp;pnmBuffer,
          &amp;pm_accept_to_memory, &amp;jfifBuffer,
          "pamscale .5 | pnmtojpeg");

fwrite(jfifData, 1, jfifSize, stdout);

</pre>


<p>This example reads an image into libnetpbm PAM structures, then
brightens it, then writes it out, to illustrate use of <b>pm_system</b>
with PAM structures.
<pre>
#include &lt;netpbm/pam.h&gt;
#include &lt;netpbm/pm_system.h&gt;

struct pam       inpam;
struct pam       outpam;
tuple **         inTuples;
tuple **         outTuples;
struct pamtuples inPamtuples;
struct pamtuples outPamtuples;

inTuples = pnm_readpam(stdin, &amp;inpam, sizeof(inpam));

outpam = inpam;

inPamtuples.pamP = &amp;inpam;
inPamtuples.tuplesP = &amp;inTuples;
outPamtuples.pamP = &amp;outpam;
outPamtuples.tuplesP = &amp;outTuples;

pm_system(&amp;pm_feed_from_pamtuples, &amp;inPamtuples,
          &amp;pm_accept_to_pamtuples, &amp;outPamtuples,
          "pambrighten -value +100");

outpam.file = stdout;
pnm_writepam(&amp;outpam, outTuples);

</pre>



<h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>

<p>These library functions are part of <a href="index.html">Netpbm</a>.

<p><b>pm_system()</b> is a lot like the standard C library
<b>system()</b> subroutine.  It runs a shell and has that shell
execute a shell command that you specify.  But <b>pm_system()</b>
gives you more control over the Standard Input and Standard Output of
that shell command than <b>system()</b>.  <b>system()</b> passes to the
shell command as Standard Input and Output whatever is the Standard Input
and Output of the process that calls <b>system()</b>.  But with
<b>pm_system()</b>, you specify as arguments subroutines to execute to
generate the shell command's Standard Input stream and to process the
shell command's Standard Output stream.

<p>Your Standard Input feeder subroutine can generate the stream in
limitless ways.  <b>pm_system()</b> gives it a file descriptor of a
pipe to which to write the stream it generates.  <b>pm_system()</b>
hooks up the other end of that pipe to the shell command's Standard
Input.

<p>Likewise, your Standard Output accepter subroutine can do anything
it wants with the stream it gets.  <b>pm_system()</b> gives it a file
descriptor of a pipe from which to read the stream.
<b>pm_system()</b> hooks up the other end of that pipe to the shell
command's Standard Output.

<p>The argument <i>stdinFeeder</i> is a function pointer that
identifies your Standard Input feeder subroutine.  <b>pm_system()</b>
runs it in a child process and waits for that process to terminate (and
accepts its completion status) before returning.  <i>feederParm</i> is
the argument that <b>pm_system()</b> passes to the subroutine; it is
opaque to <b>pm_system()</b>.

<p>If you pass <i>stdinFeeder</i> = NULL, <b>pm_system()</b> simply
passes your current Standard Input stream to the shell command (as
<b>system()</b> would do), and does not create a child process.

<p>The argument <i>stdoutAccepter</i> is a function pointer that
identifies your Standard Output accepter subroutine.
<b>pm_system()</b> calls it in the current process.
<i>accepterParm</i> is an argument analogous to <i>feederParm</i>.

<p>If you pass <i>stdoutAccepter</i> = NULL, <b>pm_system()</b> simply
passes your current Standard Output stream to the shell command (as
<b>system()</b> would do.

<p>The argument <i>shellCommand</i> is a null-terminated string
containing the shell command that the shell is to execute.  It can be
any command that means something to the shell and can take a pipe for
Standard Input and Output.  Example:

<pre>
<kbd>
    pambrighten -vale +100 | pamdepth 255 | pamscale .5
</kbd>
</pre>

<p><b>pm_system()</b> creates a child process to run the shell and waits
for that process to terminate (and accepts its completion status)
before returning.

<p>If the shell fails, i.e. does not exit voluntarily with zero exit status,
<b>pm_system</b> calls <b>pm_error()</b>, which normally issues an error
message to Standard Error and exits the program.  Use <b>pm_system2()</b>
if you don't want that.

<p>Note that the &quot;termination status&quot; of a Unix process is a value
which is a combination of 1) whether the process exited voluntarily or was
killed by the operating system; 2) in the case of termination by the OS, what
class of signal did it; and 3) in the case of voluntary exit, what &quot;exit
status&quot; the program declared.

<h3>Interface Header File</h3>

<p>These interfaces are declared by <b>&lt;netpbm/pm_system.h&lt;</b>.


<h3>pm_system2()</h3>

<p>This is the same as <b>pm_system()</b> except that rather than respond to
the shell process' termination status, it just returns it to you (via your
<i>termStatusP</i> argument).


<h3>pm_system_lp()</h3>

<p><b>pm_system_lp()</b> is like <b>pm_system()</b> except that instead
of running a shell, which in turn typically runs another program, you
run a program of your choice directly.

<p>Argument <i>progName</i> identifies the program to run, the same way
as with <b>execlp()</b> or a shell command: if it contains a slash
(/), it is the full name of the file that contains the program.  If not,
it is a name to be looked up in the system's program search path
(determined by the PATH environment variable).

<p>You identify the arguments to the program the same way as for
<b>execlp()</b>: with the variable arguments at the end of the
<b>pm_system_lp()</b> argument list.  Each is a NUL-terminated string.
The last argument <em>must</em> be NULL to tell <b>pm_system_lp()</b>
where the arguments end.

<p>Note that the first argument ("arg0") to a program is
conventionally the first word of the command used to run the program, as if it
were being run for a shell command.  In other words, typically the name of the
program.

<p>Example:

<pre>
<code>
    pm_system_lp("pnmtojpeg", NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,
                 "pnmtojpeg", "mypicture.jpg", "-quality=50", NULL);
</code>
</pre>

<p><b>pm_system_lp()</b> is much safer than <b>pm_system()</b> when
your program computes the arguments or gets them from a user.  If you
build a shell command using such arguments, unless you're really
careful, you may end up building a shell command that does something
very different from what you intended, because the argument could
contain characters that mean something to the shell such as
"|".

<p><b>pm_system_lp()</b> can also be considerably faster that
<b>pm_system()</b>, since it skips the whole running of the shell.

<p>If the process fails, i.e. produces nonzero termination status,
<b>pm_system_lp</b> calls <b>pm_error()</b>, which normally issues an error
message to Standard Error and exits the program.  Use <b>pm_system2_lp()</b>
if you don't want that.


<h3>pm_system2_lp()</h3>

<p>This is the same as <b>pm_system_lp()</b> except that rather than respond
to the process' termination status, it just returns it to you (via your
<i>termStatusP</i> argument).


<h3>pm_system_vp()</h3>

<p><b>pm_system_vp()</b> is like <b>pm_system_lp()</b> except that
instead of supplying the program arguments as variable arguments, you
supply them as an array, as with <b>execvp()</b>.  A NULL element in
the array identifies the end of the arguments.

<p>Example:

<pre>
<code>
    const char * argArray[3];

    argArray[0] = "pnmtojpeg";
    argArray[1] = "-quality=50";
    argArray[2] = NULL;

    pm_system_vp("pnmtojpeg", argArray, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
</code>
</pre>


<p>If the process fails, i.e. produces nonzero termination status,
<b>pm_system_vp</b> calls <b>pm_error()</b>, which normally issues an error
message to Standard Error and exits the program.  Use <b>pm_system2_vp()</b>
if you don't want that.


<h3>pm_system2_vp()</h3>

<p>This is the same as <b>pm_system_vp()</b> except that rather than respond
to the process' termination status, it just returns it to you (via your
<i>termStatusP</i> argument).


<h2>Applications</h2>

<p>The point of <b>pm_system()</b> and friends is to allow you to
write a C program that uses other programs internally, as a shell
script would.  This is particularly desirable with Netpbm, because
Netpbm consists of a lot of programs that perform basic graphic
manipulations and you'd like to be able to build a program that does a
more sophisticated graphic manipulation by calling the more basic
Netpbm programs.  These building block programs typically take input
from Standard Input and write output to Standard Output.

<p>The obvious alternative is to use a higher level language -- Bourne
Shell or Perl, for example.  But often you want your program to do
manipulations of your graphical data that are easier and more
efficient in C.  Or you want to use the Netpbm subroutine library in
your program.  The Netpbm subroutine library is a C-linkage library;
the subroutines in it are not usable from a Bourne Shell or Perl
program.

<p>A typical use of <b>pm_system()</b> is to place the contents of
some graphical image file in memory, run a Netpbm program against it,
and have what would ordinarily go into an output file in memory too,
for further processing.  To do that, you can use the memory buffer
Standard Input feeder and Standard Output accepter described below.

<p>If your program uses the Netpbm subroutine library to read, write, and
manipulate images, you may have an image in an array of PAM tuples.  If you
want to manipulate that image with a Netpbm program (perhaps remap the
colors using <b>pnmremap</b>), you can use the pamtuple Standard Input
feeder and Standard Output acceptor described below.

<h2>Broken Pipe Behavior</h2>

<p>When you set up a shell command to take input from a pipe, as
you do with <b>pm_system()</b>, you need to understand how pipes work with
respect to the programs at either end of the pipe agreeing to how much
data is to be transferred.  Here are some notes on that.

<p>It is normal to read a pipe before the process on the other end has
written the data you hope to read, and it is normal to write to a pipe
before the process on the other end has tried to read your data.
Writes to a pipe can be buffered until the reading end requests the
data.  A process reading or writing a pipe can block until the other
end is ready.  Or a read or write can complete with an indication that
the other end is not ready at the moment and therefore no data, or
less data than was requested, was transferred.

<p>The pipe is normally controlled by the writing end.  When you read
from a pipe, you keep reading until the program on the other end of
the pipe closes it, and then you get an end-of-file indication.  You then
normally close the reading end of the pipe, since it is no longer useful.

<p>When you close the reading end of a pipe before getting the
end-of-file indication and the writer subsequently tries to write to
the pipe, that is an error condition for the writer.  In a typical
default Unix environment, that error causes the writer to receive a
SIGPIPE signal and that signal causes the writer process to terminate
abnormally.  But if, alternatively, the writer has ordered that SIGPIPE
be blocked, ignored, or handled, the signal does not cause the death of
the writer.  Instead, the write operation simply completes with an error
indication.


<h2>Standard Feeders And Acceptors</h2>

<p>You can supply anything you like as a Standard Input feeder or
Standard Output acceptor, but the Netpbm subroutine library comes with
a few that perform commonly needed functions.

<h3>Memory Buffer</h3>

<p>These routines are for when you just want to treat an area of
memory as a file.  If the shell command would ordinarily read a 513
byte regular file from its Standard Input, you want it to take 513 bytes
from a certain address in your process' memory.  Whatever bytes the
shell command wants to write to its output file you want it to store at
another address in your process' memory.

<p>The Standard Input feeder for this is called <b>pm_feed_from_memory</b>.
The Standard Output accepter is <b>pm_accept_to_memory</b>.

<p>For both of these, the argument is a pointer to a <b>struct bufferDesc</b>,
which is defined as follows:

<pre>
struct bufferDesc {
    unsigned int    size;
    unsigned char * buffer;
    unsigned int *  bytesTransferredP;
};
</pre>

<i>size</i> is the size of the memory buffer and <i>buffer</i> is its
location in memory (address).  The Standard Input feeder will attempt
to feed the entire buffer to the shell command's Standard Input; the
Standard Output accepter will not accept any more data from the shell
command's Standard Output than will fit in the buffer.  Both return
the actual amount of data read or written, in bytes, at the location
identified by <i>bytesTransferredP</i>.  Unless
<b>bytesTransferredP</b> is NULL.

<p>Because a process typically terminates abnormally when it is not
able to write everything to a pipe that it wanted to,
<i>bytesTransferredP</i> is not usually useful in the Standard Input feeder
case.


<h3>File Stream</h3>

<p>These routines are for using an actual file as input or output.
  I.e. Standard Input comes from a file and Standard Output goes to a file.
  You open the file and create a libc file stream (type FILE) from it and pass
  that stream object to the standard input feeder or standard output accepter.

<p>When you do this (using output as an example), your process writes to
  Standard Output, which is a pipe, the standard output accepter then reads
  from that pipe into a buffer, and then the standard output accepter writes
  from that buffer to your file.  You could alternatively just arrange for the
  Standard Input or Output of your process to be the file and skip a copy, but
  it might be more complex coding.

<p>Note that if the calling program&apos;s Standard Output is already set up
  as the file to which you want your process&apos; output to go, you
  don&apos;t need this.  All you have to do is decline to specify a Standard
  Output accepter (use NULL in place of the Standard Output accepter pointer)
  and your process&apos; output will go there.

<p>The Standard Input feeder for this is called <b>pm_feed_from_filestream</b>.
The Standard Output accepter is <b>pm_accept_to_filestream</b>.

<p>For both of these, the argument is a pointer to a Standard C library
  FILE object.

<p>Example:

  <pre>
    <code>
      int termStatus;
      FILE * myFileP;
      myFileP = fopen(&quot;tmp/myfile&quot;, &quot;r&quot;);
      pm_system2(pm_feed_from_filestream, myFileP,
                 NULL, NULL,
                 &quot;grep myword&quot;, &amp;termstatus);
    </code>
  </pre>
  
<p>These routines were new in Netpbm 11.05 (December 2023).

<h3>Pamtuple</h3>

<p>These routines are for when you have images in memory in the data
structures used by the PAM family of subroutines in the Netpbm library --
i.e. struct PAM and an array of struct tuple.  With these routines, you
can run a Netpbm program against such an image just as you would against
the same image in a regular file.

<p>The Standard Input feeder for this is called
<b>pm_feed_from_pamtuples</b>.  The Standard Output accepter is
<b>pm_accept_to_pamtuples</b>.

<p>For both of these, the argument is the address of a <b>struct
pamtuples</b>, which is defined as follows:

<pre>
struct pamtuples {
    struct pam * pamP;
    tuple ***    tuplesP;
};
</pre>

<p>For the Standard Input feeder, you supply a struct pam, valid up
through the <i>tuple_type</i> member (except it doesn't matter what
the <i>file</i> member is) and array of tuples.

<p>For the Standard Output Accepter, you supply only space in memory
for the struct pam and the address of the tuple array.  The routine
fills in the struct pam up through the <i>tuple_type</i> member
(except leaves the <i>file</i> member undefined) and allocates space
for the tuple array with malloc().  You are responsible for freeing
that memory.

<h2>HISTORY</h2>

<p><b>pm_system()</b> was introduced in Netpbm 10.13 (January 2003).

<p><b>pm_system_lp()</b> and <b>pm_system_vp()</b> were introduced in
Netpbm 10.40 (September 2007).

<p><b>pm_system2()</b>, <b>pm_system2_lp()</b>, and <b>pm_system2_vp()</b>
were introduce in Netpbm 10.75 (June 2016).

</body>
</html>