PMGETCHILDREN(3) Library Functions Manual PMGETCHILDREN(3)
NAME
pmGetChildren - return the descendent nodes of a PMNS node
C SYNOPSIS
#include <pcp/pmapi.h>
int pmGetChildren(const char *name, char ***offspring);
cc ... -lpcp
DESCRIPTION
Given a fully qualified pathname to a node in the current Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), as identified by name, pmGetChildren
returns via offspring a list of the relative names of all of the immediate descendent nodes of name in the current PMNS.
As a special case, if name is an empty string (i.e.""), the immediate descendants of the root node in the PMNS will be returned.
Normally, pmGetChildren will return the number of descendent names discovered, else a value less than zero for an error. The value zero
indicates that name is a valid metric name, i.e. is associated with a leaf node in the PMNS.
The resulting list of pointers offspring and the values (the relative names) that the pointers reference will have been allocated by
pmGetChildren with a single call to malloc(3C), and it is the responsibility of the pmGetChildren caller to free(offspring) to release the
space when it is no longer required.
When an error occurs, or name is a leaf node (i.e. the result of pmGetChildren is less than one), offspring is undefined (no space will
have been allocated, and so calling free(3C) is a singularly bad idea).
PCP ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the
file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configura-
tion file, as described in pcp.conf(5). Values for these variables may be obtained programmatically using the pmGetConfig(3) function.
SEE ALSO
PMAPI(3), pmGetChildrenStatus(3), pmGetConfig(3), pmLoadASCIINameSpace(3), pmLoadNameSpace(3), pmLookupName(3), pmNameID(3), pcp.conf(5),
pcp.env(5) and pmns(5).
DIAGNOSTICS
PM_ERR_NOPMNS
Failed to access a PMNS for operation. Note that if the application hasn't a priori called pmLoadNameSpace(3) and wants to use the
distributed PMNS, then a call to pmGetChildren must be made inside a current context.
PM_ERR_NAME
The pathname name is not valid in the current PMNS
PM_ERR_*
Other diagnostics are for protocol failures when accessing the distributed PMNS.
Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMGETCHILDREN(3)