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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0000831 [1003.1(2013)/Issue7+TC1] System Interfaces Editorial Clarification Requested 2014-03-29 23:16 2014-04-03 15:35
Reporter sstewartgallus View Status public  
Assigned To
Priority normal Resolution Duplicate  
Status Closed  
Name Steven Stewart-Gallus
Organization
User Reference
Section readdir_r
Page Number
Line Number
Interp Status ---
Final Accepted Text
Summary 0000831: How to allocate memory for readdir_r is unclear.
Description The Linux man-pages project suggests that one allocates memory for the
entry structure passed to readdir_r as follows:

    len = offsetof(struct dirent, d_name) +
              pathconf(dirpath, _PC_NAME_MAX) + 1
    entryp = malloc(len);

This seems wrong, the Linux man-pages say that _PC_NAME_MAX returns
the maximum length of a filename that a process is allowed to create
and not the maximum length of a filename allowed in a directory.

The POSIX standard does not give a clear explanation of how to
allocate memory for the directory entries. I hypothesize that what is
intended is that one allocates space for an entry with a name
containing at least {NAME_MAX}+1 elements and that one reallocates the
entry length (perhaps doubling or tripling it) when an EOVERFLOW error
occurs.

POSIX seems to suggest this interpretation in it's explanation for
fpathconf, and pathconf:

    Note that implementations are allowed to accept pathnames longer
    than {PATH_MAX} bytes long, but are not allowed to return
    pathnames longer than this unless the user specifies a larger
    buffer using a function that provides a buffer size argument.

This suggest that one would not get an entry from readdir_r if the
entry was too small but only possibly an EOVERFLOW error.

Given that there are misunderstandings of how to use the readdir_r
function out in the wild and that POSIX does not give a clear
explanation I would like to request an example in the standard
clarifying how one should use the readdir_r function.
Desired Action Please add a clarifying example to the documentation for readdir_r.
Tags No tags attached.
Attached Files

- Relationships
duplicate of 0000696Applied either NAME_MAX shouldn't be optional, or readdir_r() needs clarification 

-  Notes
(0002208)
eblake (manager)
2014-03-29 23:33

We are proposing marking readdir_r as obsolete in the next version of the standard, because its interface is inherently unusable by design. See more details in 0000696
(0002209)
sstewartgallus (reporter)
2014-03-29 23:56
edited on: 2014-03-30 00:17

Thank you, my apologies for opening a duplicate issue. I will eagerly follow the status in http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=696 [^]


- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2014-03-29 23:16 sstewartgallus New Issue
2014-03-29 23:16 sstewartgallus Name => Steven Stewart-Gallus
2014-03-29 23:16 sstewartgallus Section => readdir_r
2014-03-29 23:32 eblake Relationship added duplicate of 0000696
2014-03-29 23:33 eblake Note Added: 0002208
2014-03-29 23:56 sstewartgallus Note Added: 0002209
2014-03-30 00:16 sstewartgallus Note Edited: 0002209
2014-03-30 00:17 sstewartgallus Note Edited: 0002209
2014-03-30 00:17 sstewartgallus Note Edited: 0002209
2014-04-03 15:35 nick Interp Status => ---
2014-04-03 15:35 nick Status New => Closed
2014-04-03 15:35 nick Resolution Open => Duplicate


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