+/* Initializes 'b' as an empty ofpbuf that contains the 'allocated' bytes of
+ * memory starting at 'base'. 'base' should be the first byte of a region
+ * obtained from malloc(). It will be freed (with free()) if 'b' is resized or
+ * freed. */
+void
+ofpbuf_use(struct ofpbuf *b, void *base, size_t allocated)
+{
+ ofpbuf_use__(b, base, allocated, OFPBUF_MALLOC);
+}
+
+/* Initializes 'b' as an empty ofpbuf that contains the 'allocated' bytes of
+ * memory starting at 'base'. 'base' should point to a buffer on the stack.
+ * (Nothing actually relies on 'base' being allocated on the stack. It could
+ * be static or malloc()'d memory. But stack space is the most common use
+ * case.)
+ *
+ * 'base' should be appropriately aligned. Using an array of uint32_t or
+ * uint64_t for the buffer is a reasonable way to ensure appropriate alignment
+ * for 32- or 64-bit data.
+ *
+ * An ofpbuf operation that requires reallocating data will assert-fail if this
+ * function was used to initialize it. Thus, one need not call ofpbuf_uninit()
+ * on an ofpbuf initialized by this function (though doing so is harmless),
+ * because it is guaranteed that 'b' does not own any heap-allocated memory. */
+void
+ofpbuf_use_stack(struct ofpbuf *b, void *base, size_t allocated)
+{
+ ofpbuf_use__(b, base, allocated, OFPBUF_STACK);
+}
+
+/* Initializes 'b' as an empty ofpbuf that contains the 'allocated' bytes of
+ * memory starting at 'base'. 'base' should point to a buffer on the stack.
+ * (Nothing actually relies on 'base' being allocated on the stack. It could
+ * be static or malloc()'d memory. But stack space is the most common use
+ * case.)
+ *
+ * 'base' should be appropriately aligned. Using an array of uint32_t or
+ * uint64_t for the buffer is a reasonable way to ensure appropriate alignment
+ * for 32- or 64-bit data.
+ *
+ * An ofpbuf operation that requires reallocating data will copy the provided
+ * buffer into a malloc()'d buffer. Thus, it is wise to call ofpbuf_uninit()
+ * on an ofpbuf initialized by this function, so that if it expanded into the
+ * heap, that memory is freed. */
+void
+ofpbuf_use_stub(struct ofpbuf *b, void *base, size_t allocated)
+{
+ ofpbuf_use__(b, base, allocated, OFPBUF_STUB);
+}
+
+/* Initializes 'b' as an ofpbuf whose data starts at 'data' and continues for
+ * 'size' bytes. This is appropriate for an ofpbuf that will be used to
+ * inspect existing data, without moving it around or reallocating it, and
+ * generally without modifying it at all.
+ *
+ * An ofpbuf operation that requires reallocating data will assert-fail if this
+ * function was used to initialize it. */
+void
+ofpbuf_use_const(struct ofpbuf *b, const void *data, size_t size)
+{
+ ofpbuf_use__(b, CONST_CAST(void *, data), size, OFPBUF_STACK);
+ b->size = size;
+}
+