'\"
'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
'\" 
'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: Panic.3,v 1.3 2001/08/25 20:14:06 dgp Exp $
'\" 
.so man.macros
.TH Tcl_Panic 3 8.4 Tcl "Tcl Library Procedures"
.BS
'\"  Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
Tcl_Panic, Tcl_PanicVA, Tcl_SetPanicProc, panic, panicVA \- report fatal error and abort
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
\fB#include <tcl.h>\fR
.sp
void
\fBTcl_Panic\fR(\fIformat\fR, \fIarg\fR, \fIarg\fR, \fI...\fR)
.sp
void
\fBTcl_PanicVA\fR(\fIformat\fR, \fIargList\fR)
.sp
void
\fBTcl_SetPanicProc\fR(\fIpanicProc\fR)
.sp
void
\fBpanic\fR(\fIformat\fR, \fIarg\fR, \fIarg\fR, \fI...\fR)
.sp
void
\fBpanicVA\fR(\fIformat\fR, \fIargList\fR)
.sp
.SH ARGUMENTS
.AS Tcl_PanicProc *panicProc
.AP "CONST char*" format in
A printf-style format string.
.AP "" arg in
Arguments matching the format string.
.AP va_list argList in
An argument list of arguments matching the format string.
Must have been initialized using \fBTCL_VARARGS_START\fR,
and cleared using \fBva_end\fR.
.AP Tcl_PanicProc *panicProc in
Procedure to report fatal error message and abort.

.BE

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
When the Tcl library detects that its internal data structures are in an
inconsistent state, or that its C procedures have been called in a
manner inconsistent with their documentation, it calls \fBTcl_Panic\fR
to display a message describing the error and abort the process.  The
\fIformat\fR argument is a format string describing how to format the
remaining arguments \fIarg\fR into an error message, according to the
same formatting rules used by the \fBprintf\fR family of functions.  The
same formatting rules are also used by the builtin Tcl command
\fBformat\fR.
.PP
In a freshly loaded Tcl library, \fBTcl_Panic\fR prints the formatted
error message to the standard error file of the process, and then
calls \fBabort\fR to terminate the process.  \fBTcl_Panic\fR does not
return.
.PP
\fBTcl_SetPanicProc\fR may be used to modify the behavior of
\fBTcl_Panic\fR.  The \fIpanicProc\fR argument should match the
type \fBTcl_PanicProc\fR:
.PP
.CS
typedef void Tcl_PanicProc(
	CONST char *\fBformat\fR,
	\fBarg\fR, \fBarg\fR,...);
.CE
.PP
After \fBTcl_SetPanicProc\fR returns, any future calls to
\fBTcl_Panic\fR will call \fIpanicProc\fR, passing along the
\fIformat\fR and \fIarg\fR arguments.  To maintain consistency with the
callers of \fBTcl_Panic\fR, \fIpanicProc\fR must not return; it must
call \fBabort\fR.  \fIpanicProc\fR should avoid making calls into the
Tcl library, or into other libraries that may call the Tcl library,
since the original call to \fBTcl_Panic\fR indicates the Tcl library is
not in a state of reliable operation.  
.PP
The typical use of \fBTcl_SetPanicProc\fR arranges for the error message
to be displayed or reported in a manner more suitable for the
application or the platform.  As an example, the Windows implementation
of \fBwish\fR calls \fBTcl_SetPanicProc\fR to force all panic messages
to be displayed in a system dialog box, rather than to be printed to the
standard error file (usually not visible under Windows).
.PP
Although the primary callers of \fBTcl_Panic\fR are the procedures of
the Tcl library, \fBTcl_Panic\fR is a public function and may be called
by any extension or application that wishes to abort the process and
have a panic message displayed the same way that panic messages from Tcl
will be displayed.
.PP
\fBTcl_PanicVA\fR is the same as \fBTcl_Panic\fR except that instead of
taking a variable number of arguments it takes an argument list.  The
procedures \fBpanic\fR and \fBpanicVA\fR are synonyms (implemented as
macros) for \fBTcl_Panic\fR and \fBTcl_PanicVA\fR, respectively.  They
exist to support old code; new code should use direct calls to
\fBTcl_Panic\fR or \fBTcl_PanicVA\fR.

.SH "SEE ALSO"
abort(3), printf(3), exec(n), format(n)

.SH KEYWORDS
abort, fatal, error