.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Wojciech A. Koszek <dunstan@FreeBSD.czest.pl>
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/sys/abort2.2,v 1.2.10.1.6.1 2010/12/21 17:09:25 kensmith Exp $
.\"
.Dd September 30, 2006
.Dt ABORT2 2
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm abort2
.Nd "abort process with diagnostics"
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In stdlib.h
.Ft void
.Fn abort2 "const char *why" "int nargs" "void **args"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn abort2
system call causes the process to be killed and the specified diagnostic
message (with arguments) to be delivered by the kernel to the
.Xr syslogd 8
daemon.
.Pp
The
.Fa why
argument points to a
.Dv NUL- Ns
terminated string specifying a reason of the program's termination
(maximum 128 characters long).
The
.Fa args
array contains pointers which will be logged numerically
(with the kernel's
.Ql %p
.Xr printf 9
format).
The
.Fa nargs
argument specifies the number of pointers in
.Fa args
(maximum 16).
.Pp
The
.Fn abort2
system call
is intended for use in situations where continuation of a process
is impossible or for other definitive reasons is unwanted, and normal
diagnostic channels cannot be trusted to deliver the message.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn abort2
function
never returns.
.Pp
The process is killed with
.Dv SIGABRT
unless the arguments to
.Fn abort2
are invalid, in which case
.Dv SIGKILL
is used.
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bd -literal -compact
#include <stdlib.h>

if (weight_kg > max_load) {
	void *ptrs[3];

	ptrs[0] = (void *)(intptr_t)weight_kg;
	ptrs[1] = (void *)(intptr_t)max_load;
	ptrs[2] = haystack;
	abort2("Camel overloaded", 3, ptrs);
}
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr abort 3 ,
.Xr exit 3
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn abort2
system call first appeared in
.Fx 7.0 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
The
.Fn abort2
system call was designed by
.An "Poul-Henning Kamp" Aq phk@FreeBSD.org .
It was implemented by
.An "Wojciech A. Koszek" Aq dunstan@freebsd.czest.pl .