.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2001 Christopher G. Demetriou
.\" 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.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"          This product includes software developed for the
.\"          NetBSD Project.  See http://www.netbsd.org/ for
.\"          information about NetBSD.
.\" 4. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products
.\"    derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
.\" 
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``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 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.
.\"
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd May 1, 2001
.Dt GETPROGNAME 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm getprogname ,
.Nm setprogname
.Nd get or set the program name
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
.Ft const char *
.Fn getprogname "void"
.Ft void
.Fn setprogname "const char *progname"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn getprogname
and
.Fn setprogname
functions manipulate the name of the current program.
They are used by error-reporting routines to produce
consistent output.
.Pp
The
.Fn getprogname
function returns the name of the program.
If the name has not been set yet, it will return
.Dv NULL .
.Pp
The
.Fn setprogname
function sets the name of the program.
Since a pointer to the given string is kept as the program name,
it should not be modified for the rest of the program's lifetime.
.Pp
In
.Fx ,
the name of the program is set by the start-up code that is run before
.Fn main ;
thus,
running
.Fn setprogname
is not necessary.
Programs that desire maximum portability should still call it;
on another operating system,
these functions may be implemented in a portability library.
Calling
.Fn setprogname
allows the aforementioned library to learn the program name without
modifications to the start-up code.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr err 3 ,
.Xr setproctitle 3
.Sh HISTORY
These functions first appeared in
.Nx 1.6 ,
and made their way into
.Fx 5.0 .