NAME

       gd_metaflush — write modified dirfile metadata to disk

SYNOPSIS

       #include <getdata.h>

       int gd_metaflush(DIRFILE *dirfile);

DESCRIPTION

       The  gd_metaflush()  function flushes all pending metadata changes in the dirfile specified by dirfile to
       disk.  This is accomplished by re-writing the format specification fragments containing modified metadata
       overwriting the existing files.  Format file fragments which are unchanged are not touched.

       Metadata is written to disk using the current Standards Version as stored in  the  dirfile  object.   See
       gd_dirfile_standards(3)  to change or report the current Standards Version.  If the dirfile metadata con‐
       forms to no known Standards Version, a Standards non-compliant fragment will be written.

       This function flushes only metadata.  To flush the field data as well, call gd_flush(3) instead.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned and the dirfile error is set to a non-zero  error
       value.  Possible error values are:

       GD_E_ACCMODE
               The supplied dirfile was opened in read-only mode.

       GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
               The supplied dirfile was invalid.

       GD_E_FLUSH
               A  temporary  file could not be opened into which to write the modified metadata, or renaming the
               temporary file over the original fragment failed.

       GD_E_INTERNAL_ERROR
               An internal error occurred in the library while trying to perform the task.  This indicates a bug
               in the library.  Please report the incident to the maintainer.

       The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling gd_error(3).  A descriptive error string for the last error
       encountered can be obtained from a call to gd_error_string(3).

BUGS

       When writing metadata using Standards Version 4 or earlier, the reference field may change, owing to  the
       lack of a /REFERENCE directive.  A work-around is to upgrade to Standards Version 5 or later.

SEE ALSO

       gd_open(3),   gd_close(3),   gd_dirfile_standards(3),   gd_error(3),   gd_error_string(3),   gd_flush(3),
       gd_rewrite_fragment(3)

Version 0.7.0                                     24 July 2010                                   gd_metaflush(3)