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[PATCH v3 02/12] clean: do not pass strbuf by value

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Aug 3, 2025, 06:52 UTC
Message-ID
<20250803065304.3325286-3-gitster@pobox.com>
In-Reply-To
<20250803065304.3325286-1-gitster@pobox.com>

When you pass a structure by value, the callee can modify the contents of the structure that was passed in without having to worry about changing the structure the caller has. Passing structure by value sometimes (but not very often) can be a valid way to give callee a temporary variable it can freely modify.

But not a structure with members that are pointers, like a strbuf.

builtin/clean.c:list_and_choose() reads a line interactively from the user, and passes the line (in a strbuf) to parse_choice() by value, which then munges by replacing ',' with ' ' (to accept both comma and space separated list of choices). But because the strbuf passed by value still shares the underlying character array buf[], this ends up munging the caller's strbuf contents.

This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. If the callee causes the strbuf to be reallocated, the buf[] the caller has will become dangling, and when the caller does strbuf_release(), it would result in double-free.

Stop calling the function with misleading call-by-value with strbuf.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 builtin/clean.c | 10 +++++-----
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index 053c94fc6b..224551537e 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ static int find_unique(const char *choice, struct menu_stuff *menu_stuff)
  */
 static int parse_choice(struct menu_stuff *menu_stuff,
 			int is_single,
-			struct strbuf input,
+			struct strbuf *input,
 			int **chosen)
 {
 	struct strbuf **choice_list, **ptr;
@@ -485,14 +485,14 @@ static int parse_choice(struct menu_stuff *menu_stuff,
 	int i;
 
 	if (is_single) {
-		choice_list = strbuf_split_max(&input, '\n', 0);
+		choice_list = strbuf_split_max(input, '\n', 0);
 	} else {
-		char *p = input.buf;
+		char *p = input->buf;
 		do {
 			if (*p == ',')
 				*p = ' ';
 		} while (*p++);
-		choice_list = strbuf_split_max(&input, ' ', 0);
+		choice_list = strbuf_split_max(input, ' ', 0);
 	}
 
 	for (ptr = choice_list; *ptr; ptr++) {
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ static int *list_and_choose(struct menu_opts *opts, struct menu_stuff *stuff)
 
 		nr = parse_choice(stuff,
 				  opts->flags & MENU_OPTS_SINGLETON,
-				  choice,
+				  &choice,
 				  &chosen);
 
 		if (opts->flags & MENU_OPTS_SINGLETON) {
-- 
2.50.1-633-g69dfdd50af
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 62 of 72 in “string_list_split*() updates”
  1. 0/5 string_list_split*() updatesJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  2. 1/5 string-list: report programming error with BUGJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  3. Eric SunshineJul 31, 2025
  4. Junio C HamanoJul 31, 2025
  5. 2/5 string-list: align string_list_split() with its _in_place() counterpartJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  6. Eric SunshineJul 31, 2025
  7. 3/5 string-list: unify string_list_split* functionsJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  8. 4/5 string-list: optionally trim string pieces split by string_list_split()Junio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  9. 5/5 diff: simplify parsing of diff.colormovedwsJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  10. Eric SunshineJul 31, 2025
  11. 0/7 string_list_split*() updatesJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  12. 1/7 string-list: report programming error with BUGJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  13. 2/7 string-list: align string_list_split() with its _in_place() counterpartJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  14. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  15. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  16. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  17. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  18. 3/7 string-list: unify string_list_split* functionsJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  19. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  20. 4/7 string-list: optionally trim string pieces split by string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  21. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  22. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  23. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  24. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  25. shejialuoAug 2, 2025
  26. Patrick SteinhardtAug 1, 2025
  27. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  28. 5/7 diff: simplify parsing of diff.colormovedwsJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  29. Patrick SteinhardtAug 1, 2025
  30. 6/7 string-list: optionally omit empty string pieces in string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  31. Eric SunshineJul 31, 2025
  32. shejialuoAug 1, 2025
  33. Patrick SteinhardtAug 1, 2025
  34. Junio C HamanoAug 1, 2025
  35. 7/7 string-list: split-then-remove-empty can be done while splittingJunio C Hamano, Jul 31, 2025
  36. Patrick SteinhardtAug 1, 2025
  37. 0/7 string_list_split*() updatesJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  38. 1/7 string-list: report programming error with BUGJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  39. 2/7 string-list: align string_list_split() with its _in_place() counterpartJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  40. Jeff KingAug 2, 2025
  41. Junio C HamanoAug 2, 2025
  42. Jeff KingAug 2, 2025
  43. 3/7 string-list: unify string_list_split* functionsJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  44. 4/7 string-list: optionally trim string pieces split by string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  45. Jeff KingAug 2, 2025
  46. Junio C HamanoAug 2, 2025
  47. Jeff KingAug 2, 2025
  48. 5/7 diff: simplify parsing of diff.colormovedwsJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  49. 6/7 string-list: optionally omit empty string pieces in string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  50. 7/7 string-list: split-then-remove-empty can be done while splittingJunio C Hamano, Aug 1, 2025
  51. 0/7 string_list_split*() updatesJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  52. 1/7 string-list: report programming error with BUGJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  53. 2/7 string-list: align string_list_split() with its _in_place() counterpartJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  54. 3/7 string-list: unify string_list_split* functionsJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  55. 4/7 string-list: optionally trim string pieces split by string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  56. 5/7 diff: simplify parsing of diff.colormovedwsJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  57. 6/7 string-list: optionally omit empty string pieces in string_list_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  58. 7/7 string-list: split-then-remove-empty can be done while splittingJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  59. Patrick SteinhardtAug 4, 2025
  60. 00/12 do not overuse strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  61. 01/12 wt-status: avoid strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  62. 02/12 clean: do not pass strbuf by valueJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  63. 03/12 clean: do not use strbuf_split*() [part 1]Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  64. 04/12 clean: do not pass the whole structure when it is not necessaryJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  65. 05/12 clean: do not use strbuf_split*() [part 2]Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  66. 06/12 merge-tree: do not use strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  67. 07/12 notes: do not use strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  68. 08/12 config: do not use strbuf_split()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  69. 09/12 environment: do not use strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  70. 10/12 sub-process: do not use strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  71. 11/12 trace2: trim_trailing_newline followed by trim is a no-opJunio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025
  72. 12/12 trace2: do not use strbuf_split*()Junio C Hamano, Aug 3, 2025

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