pthread_mutex_lock(&l->mutex); 
 /* Request a maximum length of data to write to */ 
 e = (logentry *) bipbuf_request(buf, (sizeof(logentry) + reqlen)); 
 if (e == NULL) { 
     l->dropped++;
     pthread_mutex_unlock(&l->mutex); 
     return LOGGER_RET_NOSPACE; 
 }