Using printf in a safe way

To ensure portability among different architectures (namely between 32bit and 64bit), do not use generic directives (e.g. %d) for printing types with fixed width or for user-defined types. Use HelenOS-specific macros - such as PRIu32 (unsigned integer, 32bits) - instead.

These macros hide the type modifier only, you can provide width specification and you must enter the leading percentile sign.

The PRI* macros are defined in two places /common.h (yes, in the root directory of HelenOS source) and in /uspace/lib/c/arch/ARCHITECTURE/include/inttypes.h. common.h is a generated file that appears after you configure your build.

Fixed width

The macro is of from PRI<kind><width>. <width> is one of 8, 16, 32 or 64 or n for native width. <kind> is summarized in following table.

<kind>	Meaning
u	unsigned integer, decimal
d	signed integer, decimal
x	unsigned integer, hexadecimal
o	unsigned integer, octal

Handles

Although handles in HelenOS have their own typedef, they are usually backed by integer or pointer. Integers are usually used for handles passed from servers to clients (e.g. devices, files). Typically, they use unsigned integer of the native size. Pointers are used for structures used only locally (same application) and are used to hide implementation details.

Thus, for these handles one should use PRIun (makes more sense for integer backed handles) or PRIxn (usually for pointers).

Other

Following table lists common types and allowed (recommended) ways of printing them.

Type	Directive
size_t	"%zu"
sysarg_t	PRIun / PRIxn
uintptr_t	"%#" PRIxn

Annotating your own printf-like functions

If you are creating your own printf-like function, do not forget to add PRINTF_ATTRIBUTE() to it to force checking of the parameters.

void my_logging_function(int level, const char *format, ...)
    PRINTF_ATTRIBUTE(2, 3);
// 2 .. second argument is the format string
// 3 .. the variadic arguments are here (third parameter)

Example

devman_handle_t device_handle;
printf("Handle = %" PRIun ".\n", device_handle);

fid_t fibril_handle;
printf("Fibril handle = %#" PRIxn ".\n", fibril_handle);

uint32_t pci_register;
printf("Register at 0x%08" PRIx32 ".\n", pci_register);

int16_t small_value;
printf("16bits: %" PRId16 ".\n", small_value);

sysarg_t ipc_argument;
printf("IPC  arg1 = %20" PRIun ".\n", ipc_argument);

size_t buffer_size;
printf("Buffer has %zuB.\n", buffer_size);

uintptr_t pointer_as_number;
printf("Data at %p or at %#" PRIxn ".\n", (void *) pointer_as_number, pointer_as_number);

void *pointer;
printf("Pointer is built-in: %p.\n", pointer);