Re: [PATCH] strvec: use size_t to store nr and alloc

From: Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.email>
Date: Sep 13, 2021, 11:42 UTC
Message-ID: <c9f76d8f-7b49-d4da-eec2-320ffa523144@iee.email>
In-Reply-To: <YT54mskEIir2gXc2@coredump.intra.peff.net>

On 12/09/2021 23:00, Jeff King wrote:

Show 10 quoted lines

> On Sat, Sep 11, 2021 at 11:48:38PM +0100, Philip Oakley wrote:
>
>> I'm particularly interested in the int -> size_t change problem as part
>> of the wider 4GB limitations for the LLP64 systems [0] such as the
>> RaspPi, git-lfs (on windows [1]), and Git-for-Windows[2]. It is a big
>> problem.
> Note that a lot of the Windows LLP64 problems are really a separate
> issue. They come from a misuse of "unsigned long" as "gee, this should
> be big enough for anything". Most of that is due to its use for object
> sizes, which of course infected a whole bunch of other code.

I don't see it (root cause) as independent though. This is a nicely separated issue (effect), which helps.

> Which isn't to say it's not important. But my main goal here was making
> sure we use size_t for growth allocations to avoid integer overflow
> leading to under-allocation (and thus heap overflow).

It's also been helpful in highlighting some of the wider issues and approaches.

Thank you

Philip