Update wimlib.h docs

[wimlib] / src / wimlib.h

diff --git a/src/wimlib.h b/src/wimlib.h
index f875afb9bc3f9c4f111c202e15dec81157926c5e..643438b28e7c474cf6faf7a43d10d833323e6126 100644 (file)
--- a/src/wimlib.h
+++ b/src/wimlib.h
@@ -181,11 +181,23 @@
  * wimlib also comes with the <b>mkwinpeimg</b> script, which is documented in a
  * man page.
  *
+ * \section encodings Locales and character encodings
+ *
+ * wimlib 1.3.0 has improved handling of different character encodings compared
+ * to previous versions.  Functions are explictly noted as taking
+ * ::wimlib_mbchar strings, which are encoded in the locale-dependent multibyte
+ * encoding (e.g.  ASCII, ISO-8859-1, or UTF-8), or ::wimlib_utf8char strings,
+ * which are encoded in UTF-8.  Generally, filenames and paths are in the
+ * locale-dependent multibyte encoding, while other types of data must be
+ * provided in UTF-8.  Please see the  man page for @b imagex for more
+ * information.  However, I strongly recommend that you use UTF-8 for your
+ * locale's encoding so that ::wimlib_mbchar strings will be encoded the same
+ * way as ::wimlib_utf8char strings.
+ *
  * \section Limitations
  *
  * While wimlib supports the main features of WIM files, wimlib currently has
  * the following limitations:
- * - wimlib cannot be used on MS-Windows.
  * - There is no way to add, remove, modify, or extract specific files in a WIM
  *   without mounting it, other than by adding, removing, or extracting an
  *   entire image.  The FUSE mount feature should be used for this purpose.
@@ -207,6 +219,10 @@
  *   script for a similar purpose, however.  With regards to adding drivers to
  *   Windows PE, you have the option of putting them anywhere in the Windows PE
  *   image, then loading them after boot using @b drvload.exe.
+ * - Although wimlib 1.3.0 and later can be used on Windows as well as UNIX, the
+ *   Windows build has some limitations compared to the UNIX build.
+ *   (The differences are documented better in the man pages for @b imagex than
+ *   here.)
  *
  * \section legal License
  *
@@ -247,7 +263,10 @@
  */
 typedef struct WIMStruct WIMStruct;
 
+/** Byte of a string encoded in the locale-dependent encoding */
 typedef char wimlib_mbchar;
+
+/** Byte of a string encoded in UTF-8 */
 typedef char wimlib_utf8char;
 
 /**
@@ -1403,21 +1422,12 @@ wimlib_get_part_number(const WIMStruct *wim, int *total_parts_ret);
 /**
  * Since wimlib 1.2.6:  Initialization function for wimlib.  This is not
  * re-entrant.  If you are calling wimlib functions concurrently in different
- * threads, then you must call this function serially first.  Otherwise, calling
- * this function is not required.
+ * threads, then you must call this function serially first.  Also, since wimlib
+ * 1.3.0, you must call this function if the character encoding of the current
+ * locale is not UTF-8.  Otherwise, calling this function this function is not
+ * required.
  *
- * @return 0 on success; nonzero on error.
- * @retval ::WIMLIB_ERR_NOMEM
- *     Could not allocate memory.
- * @retval ::WIMLIB_ERR_ICONV_NOT_AVAILABLE
- *     wimlib was configured @c --without-libntfs-3g at compilation time, and
- *     at runtime the @c iconv() set of functions did not seem to be available,
- *     perhaps due to missing files in the C library installation.
- *
- * If this function is not called or returns nonzero, then it will not be safe
- * to use wimlib in multiple threads.  Furthermore, a nonzero return value here
- * indicates that further calls into wimlib will probably fail when they try to
- * repeat the same initializations.
+ * This function always returns 0.
  */
 extern int
 wimlib_global_init();