def _check_status(status):
    """Take a cairo status code and raise an exception if/as appropriate."""
    if status != constants.STATUS_SUCCESS:
        exception = STATUS_TO_EXCEPTION.get(status, CairoError)
        status_name = ffi.string(ffi.cast("cairo_status_t", status))
        message = 'cairo returned %s: %s' % (
            status_name, ffi.string(cairo.cairo_status_to_string(status)))
        raise exception(message, status)
Take a cairo status code and raise an exception if/as appropriate.