Using ssize_t vs int

Question

Code

I\'ve got a function which I can write in one of four possible ways:

    int do_or_die(int retv         


        

Answer 1

You can use int or long int data types, however ssize_t is a system data type that should be used for cross-platform portability. The fundamental types (such as 'int') can be different sizes on different implementations. Usually what happens is the system type (in this case ssize_t) takes advantage of C's typedef feature so that the machine-specific data type size is used, e.g. typedef signed ssize_t (this is part of SUSv3 standard data types). It is good practice to use system data types, where possible, when implementing any kind of system-level programming.

For a more detailed description refer to The Linux Programming Interface (Michael Kerrisk)