Convert OSStatus to a human readable string

It's actually fairly easy to get something useful / readable out of an OSStatus code. This is a simple no-compilation Python script to convert an error code to it's description.  It uses "two poorly documented but very usefull functions" — GetMacOSStatusErrorString and GetMacOSStatusCommentString.

Example output:

	$ ./osstatus -108
	Error number: -108 / 0xffffff94
	Error string: memFullErr / iMemFullErr
	Error description: Not enough room in heap zone /

view raw example.txt hosted with ❤ by GitHub

And the script:

	#!/usr/bin/env python
	"""
	Convert OSStatus to a human readable string.
	"""
	import sys
	from ctypes import *
	def die_with_usage():
	sys.stderr.write("Usage: %s <ERROR_CODE>\n" % sys.argv[0])
	sys.exit(1)
	if len(sys.argv) < 2:
	die_with_usage()
	try:
	err = int(sys.argv[1])
	except ValueError:
	die_with_usage()
	cs = CDLL(
	"/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework"
	"/Versions/Current/CoreServices"
	)
	print('Error number:\t\t%d / 0x%x' % (err, c_uint32(err).value))
	cs.GetMacOSStatusErrorString.restype = c_char_p
	errorString = cs.GetMacOSStatusErrorString(c_uint32(err))
	print('Error string:\t\t%s' % str(errorString))
	cs.GetMacOSStatusCommentString.restype = c_char_p
	errorDesc = cs.GetMacOSStatusCommentString(c_uint32(err))
	print('Error description:\t%s' % errorDesc)

view raw osstatus.py hosted with ❤ by GitHub