Extended Accounting API Functions

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The extended accounting API contains functions that perform actions such as:

exacct system calls
Operations on the exacct file
Operations on exacct objects

This section provides tables describing these functions. The function name is a link to its man page.

`exacct` System Calls

The following table lists the system calls that interact with the extended accounting subsystem.

Table 1 Extended Accounting System Calls

Function	Description
`putacct`(2)	Provides privileged processes with the ability to tag accounting records with additional data that is specific to the process
`getacct`(2)	Enables privileged processes to request extended accounting buffers from the kernel for currently executing tasks and processes
`wracct`(2)	Requests the kernel to write resource usage data for a specified task or process

Operations on the `exacct` File

The following table lists the functions that provide access to the exacct file.

Table 2 exacct File Functions

Function	Description
`ea_open`(3EXACCT)	Opens an `exacct` file.
`ea_close`(3EXACCT)	Closes an `exacct` file.
`ea_get_object`(3EXACCT)	First time use on a group of objects reads data into an ea_object_t structure. Subsequent use on the group cycles through the objects in the group.
`ea_write_object`(3EXACCT)	Appends the specified object to the open `exacct` file.
`ea_next_object`(3EXACCT)	Reads the basic fields (`eo_catalog` and `eo_type`) into an ea_object_t structure and rewinds to the head of the record.
`ea_previous_object`(3EXACCT)	Skips back one object in the `exacct` file and reads the basic fields (`eo_catalog` and `eo_type`) into an ea_object_t.
`ea_get_hostname`(3EXACCT)	Gets the name of the host on which the `exacct` file was created.
`ea_get_creator`(3EXACCT)	Determines the creator of the `exacct` file.

Operations on `exacct` Objects

The following table lists the functions that are used to access exacct objects.

Table 3 exacct Object Functions

Function	Description
`ea_set_item`(3EXACCT)	Assigns an `exacct` object and sets its values.
`ea_set_group`(3EXACCT)	Sets the values of a group of `exacct` objects.
`ea_match_object_catalog`(3EXACCT)	Checks an `exacct` object's mask to see whether that object has a specific catalog tag.
`ea_attach_to_object`(3EXACCT)	Attaches an `exacct` object to a specified `exacct` object.
`ea_attach_to_group`(3EXACCT)	Attaches a chain of `exacct` objects as member items of a specified group.
`ea_free_item`(3EXACCT)	Frees the `value` fields in the specified `exacct` object.
`ea_free_object`(3EXACCT)	Frees the specified `exacct` object and any attached hierarchies of objects.

Extended Accounting Memory Management

The following table lists the functions associated with extended accounting memory management.

Table 4 Extended Accounting Memory Management Functions

Link to man page	Description
`ea_pack_object`(3EXACCT)	Converts an `exacct` object from unpacked (in-memory) representation to packed (in-file) representation.
`ea_unpack_object`(3EXACCT)	Converts an `exacct` object from packed (in-file) representation to unpacked (in-memory) representation.
`ea_strdup`(3EXACCT)	Duplicates a string that is to be stored inside an `ea_object_t` structure.
`ea_strfree`(3EXACCT)	Frees a string previously copied by `ea_strdup()`.
`ea_alloc`(3EXACCT)	Allocates a block of memory of the requested size. This block can be safely passed to `libexacct` functions, and can be safely freed by any of the `ea_free` functions.
`ea_free`(3EXACCT)	Frees a block of memory previously allocated by `ea_alloc()`.
`ea_free_object`(3EXACCT)	Frees variable-length data in object hierarchy.
`ea_free_item`(3EXACCT)	Frees value fields of the designated object if EUP_ALLOC is specified. The object is not freed. `ea_free_object()` frees the specified object and any attached hierarchy of objects. If the flag argument is set to EUP_ALLOC, `ea_free_object()` also frees any variable-length data in the object hierarchy. If the flag argument is set to EUP_NOALLOC, `ea_free_object()` does not free the variable-length data. In particular, these flags should correspond to the flags specified in calls to `ea_unpack_object`(3EXACCT).
`ea_copy_object`(3EXACCT)	Copies an `ea_object_t`. If the source object is part of a chain, only the current object is copied. If the source object is a group, only the group object is copied without its list of members. The group object `eg_nobjs` and `eg_objs` fields are set to 0 and NULL respectively. Use `ea_copy_tree()` to copy recursively a group or a list of items.
`ea_copy_object_tree`(3EXACCT)	`ea_copy_object_tree` recursively copies an `ea_object_t`. All elements in the `eo_next` list are copied. Any group objects are recursively copied. The returned object can be completely freed with `ea_free_object`(3EXACCT) by specifying the EUP_ALLOC flag.
`ea_get_object_tree()`	Reads in `nobj` top-level objects from the file, returning the same data structure that would have originally been passed to `ea_write_object()`. On encountering a group object,`ea_get_object()` reads only the group header part of the group. `ea_get_object_tree()` reads the group and all its member items, recursing into subrecords if necessary. The returned object data structure can be completely freed with `ea_free_object()` by specifying the EUP_ALLOC flag.

Extended Accounting Miscellaneous Operations

These functions are associated with miscellaneous operations:

ea_error(3EXACCT) – Returns the error value of the last failure recorded by the invocation of one of the functions of the extended accounting library,libexacct.
ea_match_object_catalog(3EXACCT) – Returns TRUE if the exacct object specified by obj has a catalog tag that matches the mask specified by catmask.

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