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Last active August 26, 2024 02:25
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libmagic.h example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <magic.h>
int main(void)
{
char *actual_file = "/file/you/want.yay";
const char *magic_full;
magic_t magic_cookie;
/* MAGIC_MIME tells magic to return a mime of the file,
but you can specify different things */
magic_cookie = magic_open(MAGIC_MIME);
if (magic_cookie == NULL) {
printf("unable to initialize magic library\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Loading default magic database\n");
if (magic_load(magic_cookie, NULL) != 0) {
printf("cannot load magic database - %s\n", magic_error(magic_cookie));
magic_close(magic_cookie);
return 1;
}
magic_full = magic_file(magic_cookie, actual_file);
printf("%s\n", magic_full);
magic_close(magic_cookie);
return 0;
}
@vassilit
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Hello. It's a very clear and useful example. Thanks. Isn't it necessary to free the memory allocated by magic_file function (memory pointed by magic_full in this example)?

No, libmagic is managing its own storage and magic_file returns a pointer into that storage. magic_close() probably frees the heap.
The manpage gives the declaration const char *magic_file(magic_t cookie, const char *filename);, the const qualifier seems to mean that they retains «ownership» over the data and so the storage.

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