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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0001620 [Issue 8 drafts] Base Definitions and Headers Editorial Enhancement Request 2022-11-22 03:55 2022-11-28 16:30
Reporter calestyo View Status public  
Assigned To
Priority normal Resolution Rejected  
Status Closed   Product Version Draft 2.1
Name Christoph Anton Mitterer
Organization
User Reference
Section 3.243 Pathname, 4.14 Pathname Resolution
Page Number 63 resp. 93
Line Number 1967 ff. resp. 2830 ff.
Final Accepted Text
Summary 0001620: is the empty string a valid pathname?
Description Hey.

It seems the current wordings of:
  3.243 Pathname
and via that also of:
  3.297 Relative Pathname
do not exclude the empty string to be considered a pathname.

3.243 says:
> In the context of POSIX.1-202x, a pathname may
> be limited to {PATH_MAX} bytes, including the
> terminating null byte.

So there is no minimum size.


> It has optional beginning <slash> characters,
> followed by zero or more filenames separated by
> <slash> characters. A pathname can optionally
> contain one or more trailing <slash> characters.

Since the <slash> characters in the beginning are optional, those may be followed by possibly zero filenames and there may be no trailing <slash> characters, the empty string seems to be a valid pathname.

And the same via 3.297 Relative Pathname, which says:
> A pathname not beginning with a <slash> character.

So the empty string would also be a relative pathname.


4.14 Pathname Resolution says:
> A null pathname shall not be successfully resolved.

One could not start nitpicking whether this means that just the resolution o such pathname should fail.. or whether such pathnames are disallowed per se. ;-)
Desired Action ... but wouldn't it make sense to clarify in 3.243 Pathname and 3.297 Relative Pathname that empty pathnames are not valid (if so)?

Thanks,
Chris.
Tags No tags attached.
Attached Files

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-  Notes
(0006082)
calestyo (reporter)
2022-11-22 04:00

 s/One could not start nitpicking/One could now start nitpicking/
(0006083)
geoffclare (manager)
2022-11-22 08:58

 If an empty/null string was not a valid pathname, 4.14 Pathname Resolution would not be able to use the phrase "null pathname" as such a thing would not exist.

Also, if it was not a valid pathname you would expect interfaces that take a pathname to return an EINVAL error when the argument is empty, but they don't - they return an ENOENT error, indicating that it is a valid pathname that does not resolve.

The definition of pathname in XBD chapter 3 includes a cross-reference to 4.14 Pathname Resolution; I don't see the need to repeat any detail from that section in the definition.

This bug should be rejected.

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2022-11-22 03:55 calestyo New Issue
2022-11-22 03:55 calestyo Name => Christoph Anton Mitterer
2022-11-22 03:55 calestyo Section => 3.243 Pathname, 4.14 Pathname Resolution
2022-11-22 03:55 calestyo Page Number => 63 resp. 93
2022-11-22 03:55 calestyo Line Number => 1967 ff. resp. 2830 ff.
2022-11-22 04:00 calestyo Note Added: 0006082
2022-11-22 08:58 geoffclare Note Added: 0006083
2022-11-28 16:30 geoffclare Status New => Closed
2022-11-28 16:30 geoffclare Resolution Open => Rejected

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