libposix++: C++14 wrapper for POSIX

Features

• Provides lightweight C++11 abstractions encapsulating core POSIX interfaces.
• Targets Linux 3.x+, FreeBSD 9.x+, and Mac OS X 10.7+ (in that order).
• No runtime dependencies other than the system's C++ standard library.
• No build prerequisites beyond the Autotools toolchain and a C++11 compiler.
• Compatible with Clang and GCC, or any standard C++11 implementation.
• 100% free and unencumbered public domain software, usable in any context and for any purpose.

Design Principles

• Provides zero-cost abstractions wrapping file descriptors.
• Ensures that file descriptors are opened with O_CLOEXEC.
• Mitigates various race conditions entailed by the POSIX interfaces.
• Encapsulates EINTR and EAGAIN error handling.
• Differentiates logic errors, runtime errors, and fatal errors.
• Avoids the transitive inclusion of POSIX headers where possible.

Caveats

Caveat utilitor: the project's top-level posix namespace may have to be changed to something else in the future, as the C++ standard now frowns upon using it:

C++11 §17.6.4.2.2 [namespace.posix]

The behavior of a C++ program is undefined if it adds declarations or definitions to namespace posix or to a namespace within namespace posix unless otherwise specified. The namespace posix is reserved for use by ISO/IEC 9945 and other POSIX standards.

Error Handling

This library makes a careful distinction between three different classes of error conditions, all deriving from the posix::error base class:

• Logic errors, represented by posix::logic_error. Errors of this class are thrown due to programming mistakes where the POSIX interfaces are being used in violation of documented preconditions. A common strategy for handling this class of error conditions is to abort the program with a core dump, facilitating introspection to locate and remedy the bug.
• Fatal errors, represented by posix::fatal_error. Errors of this class are thrown due to the exhaustion of critical system resources, such as available memory (ENOMEM) and disk space (ENOSPC), or due to attempts to exceed applicable system resource limits, such as the maximum number of open file descriptors (EMFILE and ENFILE). A typical strategy for handling this class of error conditions is to terminate the program with a descriptive error message. More robust programs and shared libraries may implement more complicated strategies, such as retrying the top-level operation after first letting most of the call stack unwind in order to free up scarce resources.
• Runtime errors, represented by posix::runtime_error. Errors of this class are thrown as a matter of course to indicate various exceptional conditions such as missing files (ENOENT) or insufficient privileges (EPERM and EACCES). These conditions are generally recoverable and robust programs will take care to catch and handle them.

Note

The distinction between logic errors and runtime errors mirrors that found in the C++11 standard library, where the <stdexcept> header defines the standard exception base classes std::logic_error and std::runtime_error.

The following example demonstrates error handling with libposix++:

try {
  // ... code goes here ...
}
catch (const posix::logic_error& error) {
  /* Handle programmer errors such as precondition violations: */
  std::abort();
}
catch (const posix::fatal_error& error) {
  /* Handle fatal errors such as system resource exhaustion: */
  std::fprintf(stderr, "Fatal error: %s\n", error.what());
  std::exit(EX_OSERR);
}
catch (const posix::runtime_error& error) {
  /* Handle any runtime errors that were expected at this point: */
  switch (error.number()) {
    case EPERM:  /* Permission denied */
    case EACCES: /* No such file or directory */
    case ENOENT: /* Operation not permitted */
      // ... code goes here ...
      break;
    default: throw;
  }
}

Build Prerequisites

• Clang (>= 3.2) or GCC (>= 4.8)
• Autoconf (>= 2.68)
• Automake (>= 1.11)
• Libtool (>= 2.2)

Note

Older releases may work, but are not actively tested for.

Installation

Installation on Unix

$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure                        # on Linux
$ ./configure --with-stdlib=libc++   # on FreeBSD / Mac OS X
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ sudo ldconfig                      # on Linux

Elsewhere

Author

This project is part of the DRY initiative.

• Arto Bendiken - http://ar.to/

Donations

If you found this software useful and would like to encourage its maintenance and further development, please consider making a $5 donation to the author(s) via Gratipay or Bitcoin.

License

This is free and unencumbered public domain software. For more information, see http://unlicense.org/ or the accompanying UNLICENSE file.