added slurp routine and comments

io.cpp

@@ -13,25 +13,62 @@
 
 using namespace std;
 
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+uint8_t *
+slurp (boost::filesystem::path& path)  {
+    fd_ref fd(open (path.c_str(), O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC));
+    
+    // Calculate the total file size
+    off_t size = lseek (fd, 0, SEEK_END);
+    if (size == (off_t)-1)
+        throw errno_error();
 
+    if (lseek (fd, 0, SEEK_SET) == (off_t)-1)
+        throw errno_error ();
+
+    // Allocate a buffer, and keep reading until it's full. We provide a null
+    // padding at the tail as a 'just in case' measure for string manipulation.
+    unique_ptr <uint8_t[]> buffer (new uint8_t[size + 1]);
+    buffer.get()[size] = '\0';
+
+    check_hard (size >= 0);
+    size_t remaining = (size_t)size;
+    uint8_t *cursor = buffer.get();
+
+    while (remaining) {
+        ssize_t consumed = read (fd, cursor, remaining);
+        if (consumed == -1)
+            throw errno_error();
+        check_hard (        consumed >= 0);
+        check_hard ((size_t)consumed <= remaining);
+
+        remaining -= (size_t)consumed;
+        cursor    += consumed;
+    }
+
+    return buffer.release();
+}
+
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 fd_ref::fd_ref (int _fd):
-    m_fd (_fd)
+    fd (_fd)
 {
-    if (m_fd < 0)
+    if (fd < 0) 
         throw invalid_argument ("invalid file descriptor");
 }
 
 
 fd_ref::~fd_ref () {
-    check (m_fd >= 0);
-    close (m_fd);
+    check (fd >= 0);
+    close (fd);
 }
 
 
 fd_ref::operator int (void) const
-    { return m_fd; }
+    { return fd; }
 
 
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 mapped_file::mapped_file (const char *_path):
     m_fd (open (_path, O_RDONLY))
 { load_fd (); } 

io.hpp

@@ -20,12 +20,14 @@
 #ifndef __UTIL_IO_HPP
 #define __UTIL_IO_HPP
 
+#include "annotations.hpp"
+
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstdint>
 #include <memory>
 #include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
 
-
+/// Specifies bitwise combinations of IO access rights.
 enum access_t {
     ACCESS_READ      = 1 << 0,
     ACCESS_WRITE     = 1 << 1,
@@ -33,21 +35,15 @@ enum access_t {
 };
 
 
-struct FILE_destructor {
-    void operator ()(FILE *f) { fclose (f); }
-};
-
-typedef std::unique_ptr <FILE, FILE_destructor> FILE_ref;
-
-
-struct fd_destructor {
-    void operator ()(int fd) { close (fd); }
-};
+/// Reads an entire file into memory. Caller frees the result. Guarantees a
+/// null trailing byte.
+uint8_t *
+slurp (boost::filesystem::path&) mustuse;
 
+/// A simple RAII wrapper for file descriptors
 struct fd_ref {
     public:
-        int m_fd;
-
+        int fd;
 
         fd_ref  (int _fd);
         ~fd_ref ();
@@ -56,6 +52,7 @@ struct fd_ref {
 };
 
 
+/// Wraps a mechanism to map a file into memory. Read only.
 class mapped_file {
     protected:
         fd_ref   m_fd;