If no Max-Forward header is present in the received request, a header will be added having the original value equal with "max_value". An OK code is returned by the function.

If a Max-Forward header is already present, its value will be decremented. If after this operation its value will be positive non-zero, an OK code will be returned. Otherwise (for a zero value) an error code will be returned. Note that an error code will be also returned if the SIP message couldn't be parsed or if the Max-Forward header's body invalid (non numerical string or negative numerical value).

Meaning of the parameters is as follows:

...
# initial sanity checks -- messages with
# max_forwards==0, or excessively long requests
if (!mf_process_maxfwd_header("10")) {
    sl_send_reply("483","Too Many Hops");
    break;
};
...