Forward an invocation of a variadic function in C

Question

In C, is it possible to forward the invocation of a variadic function? As in,

int my_printf(char *fmt, ...) {
  fprintf(stderr, "Calling printf with fmt %s", fmt);
  return SOMEHOW_INVOKE_LIBC_PRINTF;
}

Forwarding the invocation in the manner above obviously isn't strictly necessary in this case (since you could log invocations in other ways, or use vfprintf), but the codebase I'm working on requires the wrapper to do some actual work, and doesn't have (and can't have added) a helper function akin to vfprintf.

[Update: there seems to be some confusion based on the answers that have been supplied so far. To phrase the question another way: in general, can you wrap some arbitrary variadic function without modifying that function's definition.]

Answer 1

Use vfprintf:

int my_printf(char *fmt, ...) {
    va_list va;
    int ret;

    va_start(va, fmt);
    ret = vfprintf(stderr, fmt, va);
    va_end(va);
    return ret;
}

Answer 2

Almost, using the facilities available in <stdarg.h>:

#include <stdarg.h>
int my_printf(char *format, ...)
{
   va_list args;
   va_start(args, format);
   int r = vprintf(format, args);
   va_end(args);
   return r;
}

Note that you will need to use the vprintf version rather than plain printf. There isn't a way to directly call a variadic function in this situation without using va_list.

Answer 3

There's no way to forward such function calls because the only location where you can retrieve raw stack elements is in my_print(). The usual way to wrap calls like that is to have two functions, one that just converts the arguments into the various varargs structs, and another that actually operates upon those structs. Using such a double-function model, you can (for example) wrap printf() by initializing the structs in my_printf() with va_start(), and then pass them to vfprintf().

Answer 4

If you don't have a function analagous to vfprintf that takes a va_list instead of a variable number of arguments, you can't do it. See http://c-faq.com/varargs/handoff.html.

Answer 5

Not directly, however it is common (and you will find almost universally the case in the standard library) for variadic functions to come in pairs with a varargs style alternative function. e.g. printf/vprintf

The v... functions take a va_list parameter, the implementation of which is often done with compiler specific 'macro magic', but you are guaranteed that calling the v... style function from a variadic function like this will work:

int m_printf(char *fmt, ...)
{
    int ret;

    /* Declare a va_list type variable */
    va_list myargs;

    /* Initialise the va_list variable with the ... after fmt */

    va_start(myargs, fmt);

    /* Forward the '...' to vprintf */
    ret = vprintf(fmt, myargs);

    /* Clean up the va_list */
    va_end(myargs);

    return ret;
}

This should give you the effect that you are looking for.

If you are considering writing a variadic library function you should also consider making a va_list style companion available as part of the library. As you can see from your question, it can be prove useful for your users.

Answer 6

C99 supports macros with varidac arguments; depending on your compiler, you might be able to declare a macro that does what you want:

#define my_printf(format, ...) \
    do { \
        fprintf(stderr, "Calling printf with fmt %s\n", fmt); \
        some_other_variadac_function(format, ##__VA_ARGS__); \
    } while(0)

In general, though, the best solution is to use the va_list form of the function you're trying to wrap, should one exist.

Answer 7

Sorry for the off-topic rant, but:

The meta-problem is that the varargs interface in C has been fundamentally broken from the very beginning. It is an invitation to buffer overflows and invalid memory accesses because the end of the argument list can not be found without an explicit end signal (which nobody really uses out of laziness). And it always relied on esoteric implementation-specific macros, with the vital va_copy() macro only supported on some architectures.

Answer 8

Yes you can do it, but it is somewhat ugly and you have to know the maximal number of arguments. Furthermore if you are on an architecture where the arguments aren't passed on the stack like the x86 (for instance, PowerPC), you will have to know if "special" types (double, floats, altivec etc.) are used and if so, deal with them accordingly. It can be painful quickly but if you are on x86 or if the original function has a well defined and limited perimeter, it can work. It still will be a hack, use it for debugging purpose. Do not build you software around that. Anyway, here's a working example on x86:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

int old_variadic_function(int n, ...)
{
  va_list args;
  int i = 0;

  va_start(args, n);

  if(i++<n) printf("arg %d is 0x%x\n", i, va_arg(args, int));
  if(i++<n) printf("arg %d is %g\n",   i, va_arg(args, double));
  if(i++<n) printf("arg %d is %g\n",   i, va_arg(args, double));

  va_end(args);

  return n;
}

int old_variadic_function_wrapper(int n, ...)
{
  va_list args;
  int a1;
  int a2;
  int a3;
  int a4;
  int a5;
  int a6;
  int a7;
  int a8;

  /* Do some work, possibly with another va_list to access arguments */

  /* Work done */

  va_start(args, n);

  a1 = va_arg(args, int);
  a2 = va_arg(args, int);
  a3 = va_arg(args, int);
  a4 = va_arg(args, int);
  a5 = va_arg(args, int);
  a6 = va_arg(args, int);
  a7 = va_arg(args, int);

  va_end(args);

  return old_variadic_function(n, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8);
}

int main(void)
{
  printf("Call 1: 1, 0x123\n");
  old_variadic_function(1, 0x123);
  printf("Call 2: 2, 0x456, 1.234\n");
  old_variadic_function(2, 0x456, 1.234);
  printf("Call 3: 3, 0x456, 4.456, 7.789\n");
  old_variadic_function(3, 0x456, 4.456, 7.789);
  printf("Wrapped call 1: 1, 0x123\n");
  old_variadic_function_wrapper(1, 0x123);
  printf("Wrapped call 2: 2, 0x456, 1.234\n");
  old_variadic_function_wrapper(2, 0x456, 1.234);
  printf("Wrapped call 3: 3, 0x456, 4.456, 7.789\n");
  old_variadic_function_wrapper(3, 0x456, 4.456, 7.789);

  return 0;
}

For some reason, you can't use floats with va_arg, gcc says they are converted to double but the program crashes. That alone demonstrates that this solution is a hack and that there is no general solution. In my example I assumed that the maximum number of arguments was 8, but you can increase that number. The wrapped function also only used integers but it works the same way with other 'normal' parameters since they always cast to integers. The target function will know their types but your intermediary wrapper doesn't need to. The wrapper also doesn't need to know the right number of arguments since the target function will also know it. To do useful work (except just logging the call), you probably will have to know both though.