Calling system functions from C++

[MunkyJunky]

I'm new to developing programs for Ubuntu, so I'm a little lost on where to start. I Googled the topic, but found nothing useful, which makes me think I'm looking for the wrong thing.

I'm trying to make a little tool in C++ that mounts/unmounts a network drive, and displays a notification. I know it would be easier to make a bash script to do it (I'm in fact converting my bash to C++), but it's more for the learning experience than anything.

I want to be able to call the mount command and notify-send from a C++ script. I figure I have to include some libraries, but I have no idea what.

Any help would be appreciated.

[johnl]

For mount, check man 2 mount. If you don't have manpages-dev installed, do that first.



MOUNT(2) Linux Programmer's Manual MOUNT(2)

NAME
mount - mount file system

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/mount.h>

int mount(const char *source, const char *target,
const char *filesystemtype, unsigned long mountflags,
const void *data);

DESCRIPTION
mount() attaches the file system specified by source (which is often a
device name, but can also be a directory name or a dummy) to the direc
tory specified by target.

To send a notification, you would need to use dbus to send a message to notify-osd. You can use libdbus to do this, although I don't have any clue how :).

[Can+~]

To send a notification, you would need to use dbus to send a message to notify-osd. You can use libdbus to do this, although I don't have any clue how :).

Or use libnotify API (http://library.gnome.org/devel/libnotify/0.4/) (It's a gnome doc, so you should see the html version on Devhelp).

[MunkyJunky]

Thanks, that's got me on my way. Thanks for the help!

[endBc]

#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
system("mount something somewhere");
system("notify-send message");

return 0;
}

[nvteighen]

#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
system("mount something somewhere");
system("notify-send message");

return 0;
}


It's usually much better to rely on libraries, when possible, than on shell calls like those. Libraries don't make it necessary to install a new application or checking whether the user has the permissions to execute that application.