The addseverity() function builds a list of severity levels for an application to be used with the message formatting facility fmtmsg(). The severity argument is an integer value indicating the seriousness of the condition. The string argument is a pointer to a string describing the condition (string is not limited to a specific size).

If addseverity() is called with an integer value that has not been previously defined, the function adds that new severity value and print string to the existing set of standard severity levels.

If addseverity() is called with an integer value that has been previously defined, the function redefines that value with the new print string. Previously defined severity levels may be removed by supplying the null string. If addseverity() is called with a negative number or an integer value of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, the function fails and returns -1. The values 0-4 are reserved for the standard severity levels and cannot be modified. Identifiers for the standard levels of severity are:

MM_HALT

Indicates that the application has encountered a severe fault and is halting. Produces the print string HALT.

MM_ERROR

Indicates that the application has detected a fault. Produces the print string ERROR.

MM_WARNING

Indicates a condition that is out of the ordinary, that might be a problem, and should be watched. Produces the print string WARNING.

MM_INFO

Provides information about a condition that is not in error. Produces the print string INFO.

MM_NOSEV

Indicates that no severity level is supplied for the message.

Severity levels may also be defined at run time using the SEV_LEVEL environment variable (see fmtmsg(3C)).

Upon successful completion, addseverity() returns MM_OK. Otherwise it returns MM_NOTOK.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

fmtmsg(1), fmtmsg(3C), gettxt(3C), printf(3C), attributes(5)