Gd_close, gd_discard close a dirfile and free associated memory.
#include <getdata.h> int gd_close(DIRFILE *dirfile); int gd_discard(DIRFILE *dirfile);
The gd_close() function first calls gd_flush(3) (with field_code set to NULL) to flush all metadata changes to disk and to close all file handles associated with dirfile. It then frees memory associated with the DIRFILE object. If dirfile is NULL, nothing happens, and the call succeeds.
The gd_discard() function behaves similarly, except modified metadata is not written to disk, but simply discarded. In order to ensure that modified data files associated with RAW fields are properly terminated, changes to RAW data files are still flushed to disk by this function. If dirfile was opened in read-only mode, gd_discard() and gd_close() behave identically.
One of these functions should be called on all pointers returned by gd_cbopen(3), gd_open(3), and gd_invalid_dirfile(3), even if the call to those function failed. After gd_close() or gd_discard() returns successfully, the pointer dirfile should be considered invalid.
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 conforms to no known Standards Version, Standards non-compliant metadata will be written.
gd_close() and gd_discard() return zero on success. On error, they do not de-allocate dirfile and set the dirfile error to a non-zero error value. Possible error values are:
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_RAW_IO
An error occurred while trying to flush or close one or more open raw files. In this case, another call to gd_close() or gd_discard() may be attempted.
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).