Austin Group Defect Tracker

Aardvark Mark IV


Viewing Issue Simple Details Jump to Notes ] Issue History ] Print ]
ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0000511 [1003.1(2008)/Issue 7] System Interfaces Objection Omission 2011-11-16 19:32 2019-06-10 08:55
Reporter eblake View Status public  
Assigned To ajosey
Priority normal Resolution Accepted  
Status Closed  
Name Eric Blake
Organization Red Hat
User Reference ebb.getuid
Section getuid
Page Number 1083
Line Number 36116
Interp Status ---
Final Accepted Text See Desired Action
Summary 0000511: getuid and friends should not modify errno
Description The standard is clear that in a conforming environment, identification
functions such as getuid() never fail. However, at least the GNU Hurd
implementation has an extension where a process can exist in a
non-conforming environment, and thus be outside the realms of POSIX
process identifiers; on this platform, getuid() fails with a status of
(uid_t)(-1) and sets errno if a program is run from a non-conforming
environment.

Obviously, POSIX cannot standardize this failure mode; but at the same
time, POSIX should make it easier for applications written for GNU Hurd
to detect this extension. Since chown() already has special handling
for (uid_t)(-1), it is implicit that POSIX does not allow a valid user
id matching this value; but making this limitation explicit will make
it easier for implementations to use this reserved value as an indicator
of the extension of getuid() failure. Additionally, POSIX states that
errno is unspecified on success unless explicitly mentioned, but since
all existing implementations happen to leave errno unchanged on successful
getuid(), making this fact explicit means that an application on GNU
Hurd can check for getuid() failure by setting errno to 0, then checking
for non-zero errno after the fact (especially useful since POSIX requires
that user ids are non-negative, but does not make the same requirement
of uid_t; furthermore, uid_t can be narrower or wider than int, so
portable checking for a result of (uid_t)(-1) is not trivial).

For more details, see this thread where GNU coreutils debated about how
best to let id(1) detect and gracefully fail when it is executed on GNU
Hurd in an extension environment with no POSIX process identifiers:
http://bugs.gnu.org/10021 [^]
Desired Action At line 1855 [XBD 3.188 Group ID], add a sentence:

The value (gid_t)(-1) shall not be a valid group ID, but does have a
defined use in some interfaces defined in this standard.

At line 2782 [XBD 3.428 User ID], add a sentence:

The value (uid_t)(-1) shall not be a valid user ID, but does have a
defined use in some interfaces defined in this standard.

In each of the following locations, under the DESCRIPTION section, add a
sentence with the appropriate function name:

The FUNCTION() function shall not modify errno.

33813 getegid
33934 geteuid
33966 getgid
36116 getuid

In each of the following locations, under the RATIONALE section, replace
"None." with the following paragraph, with the appropriate function name
and with TYPE being gid_t or uid_t as appropriate:

In a conforming environment, FUNCTION() will always succeed. It is
possible for implementations to provide an extension where a process
in a non-conforming environment will not be associated with a user or
group ID. It is recommended that such implementations return (TYPE)(-1)
and set errno to indicate such an environment; doing so does not violate
this standard, since such an environment is already an extension.

33824 getegid
33945 geteuid
33977 getgid
36134 getuid
Tags tc2-2008
Attached Files

- Relationships
related to 0000384Closedajosey the stdarg macros should not modify errno 

There are no notes attached to this issue.

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake New Issue
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Status New => Under Review
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Assigned To => ajosey
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Name => Eric Blake
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Organization => Red Hat
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake User Reference => ebb.getuid
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Section => getuid
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Page Number => 1083
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Line Number => 36116
2011-11-16 19:32 eblake Interp Status => ---
2012-05-24 16:21 nick Final Accepted Text => See Desired Action
2012-05-24 16:21 nick Status Under Review => Resolved
2012-05-24 16:21 nick Resolution Open => Accepted
2012-05-24 16:21 nick Desired Action Updated
2012-05-24 16:21 nick Tag Attached: tc2-2008
2016-07-28 15:10 eblake Relationship added related to 0000384
2019-06-10 08:55 agadmin Status Resolved => Closed


Mantis 1.1.6[^]
Copyright © 2000 - 2008 Mantis Group
Powered by Mantis Bugtracker