threads / patch / 44693

patchbuiltin/commit.c: convert trivial snprintf calls to xsnprintf

Subject: [PATCH] builtin/commit.c: convert trivial snprintf calls to xsnprintf

## tl;dr

4 messages between Dec 13, 2016 and Dec 13, 2016. Diffs are folded; open one to read it.

replies: 3people: 3as markdown or json

Elia Pinto· Dec 13, 2016, 13:27 UTC · lore

With the commits f2f02675 and 5096d490 we have been converted in some files the call from snprintf/sprintf/strcpy to xsnprintf. This patch supersedes the snprintf with several calls that make use of the heap rather than fixed length buffers (eg. PATH_MAX) that may be incorrect on some systems.

Signed-off-by: Elia Pinto <gitter.spiros@gmail.com>
---
 builtin/commit.c | 32 +++++++++++++++-----------------
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)
Show changes to builtin/commit.c +15 −17
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 0ed634b26..37228330c 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -960,15 +960,16 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 		return 0;
 
 	if (use_editor) {
-		char index[PATH_MAX];
-		const char *env[2] = { NULL };
-		env[0] =  index;
-		snprintf(index, sizeof(index), "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
-		if (launch_editor(git_path_commit_editmsg(), NULL, env)) {
+		struct argv_array env = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
+
+		argv_array_pushf(&env, "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
+		if (launch_editor(git_path_commit_editmsg(), NULL, env.argv)) {
 			fprintf(stderr,
 			_("Please supply the message using either -m or -F option.\n"));
+			argv_array_clear(&env);
 			exit(1);
 		}
+		argv_array_clear(&env);
 	}
 
 	if (!no_verify &&
@@ -1525,12 +1526,10 @@ static int git_commit_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
 			    const unsigned char *newsha1)
 {
-	/* oldsha1 SP newsha1 LF NUL */
-	static char buf[2*40 + 3];
+	char *buf;
 	struct child_process proc = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
 	const char *argv[3];
 	int code;
-	size_t n;
 
 	argv[0] = find_hook("post-rewrite");
 	if (!argv[0])
@@ -1546,34 +1545,33 @@ static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
 	code = start_command(&proc);
 	if (code)
 		return code;
-	n = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s %s\n",
-		     sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
+	buf = xstrfmt("%s %s\n", sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
 	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
-	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, n);
+	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, strlen(buf));
 	close(proc.in);
+	free(buf);
 	sigchain_pop(SIGPIPE);
 	return finish_command(&proc);
 }
 
 int run_commit_hook(int editor_is_used, const char *index_file, const char *name, ...)
 {
-	const char *hook_env[3] =  { NULL };
-	char index[PATH_MAX];
+	struct argv_array hook_env = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
 	va_list args;
 	int ret;
 
-	snprintf(index, sizeof(index), "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
-	hook_env[0] = index;
+	argv_array_pushf(&hook_env, "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
 
 	/*
 	 * Let the hook know that no editor will be launched.
 	 */
 	if (!editor_is_used)
-		hook_env[1] = "GIT_EDITOR=:";
+		argv_array_push(&hook_env, "GIT_EDITOR=:");
 
 	va_start(args, name);
-	ret = run_hook_ve(hook_env, name, args);
+	ret = run_hook_ve(hook_env.argv,name, args);
 	va_end(args);
+	argv_array_clear(&hook_env);
 
 	return ret;
 }

-- 
2.11.0.153.gacc9cba
Jeff King· Dec 13, 2016, 13:55 UTC · re: Elia Pinto · lore

Re: [PATCH] builtin/commit.c: convert trivial snprintf calls to xsnprintf

On Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 01:27:17PM +0000, Elia Pinto wrote:
> With the commits f2f02675 and 5096d490 we have been converted in some files the call from snprintf/sprintf/strcpy to xsnprintf.  This patch supersedes the
> snprintf with several calls that make use of the heap rather than fixed
> length buffers (eg. PATH_MAX) that may be incorrect on some systems.

I had trouble parsing this, because it leads with mention of commits that _aren't_ doing the same thing we are doing here. I think the argument you want to make is basically:

  1. snprintf is bad because it may silently truncate results if we're
     wrong.
  2. In cases where we use PATH_MAX, we'd want to handle larger paths
     anyway, so we should switch to dynamic allocation.
  3. In other cases where we know the input is bounded to a certain
     length we could use xsnprintf(), which asserts that we don't
     truncate. But by switching to dynamic allocation, we can avoid
     dealing with magic numbers in the code.

I'd actually consider splitting cases (2) and (3) into separate patches. Even though the end result is the same, the reasoning is quite different.

As far as the patch itself goes, they all look like improvements to me. The extra allocations shouldn't matter because these are all heavy operations already.

A few minor nits:
Show 23 quoted lines
> diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
> index 0ed634b26..37228330c 100644
> --- a/builtin/commit.c
> +++ b/builtin/commit.c
> @@ -960,15 +960,16 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
>  		return 0;
>  
>  	if (use_editor) {
> -		char index[PATH_MAX];
> -		const char *env[2] = { NULL };
> -		env[0] =  index;
> -		snprintf(index, sizeof(index), "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
> -		if (launch_editor(git_path_commit_editmsg(), NULL, env)) {
> +		struct argv_array env = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
> +
> +		argv_array_pushf(&env, "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
> +		if (launch_editor(git_path_commit_editmsg(), NULL, env.argv)) {
>  			fprintf(stderr,
>  			_("Please supply the message using either -m or -F option.\n"));
> +			argv_array_clear(&env);
>  			exit(1);
>  		}
> +		argv_array_clear(&env);

I'd generally skip the clear() right before exiting, though I saw somebody disagree with me recently on that. I wonder if we should decide as a project on whether it is worth doing or not.

Show 26 quoted lines
> @@ -1525,12 +1526,10 @@ static int git_commit_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
>  static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
>  			    const unsigned char *newsha1)
>  {
> -	/* oldsha1 SP newsha1 LF NUL */
> -	static char buf[2*40 + 3];
> +	char *buf;
>  	struct child_process proc = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
>  	const char *argv[3];
>  	int code;
> -	size_t n;
>  
>  	argv[0] = find_hook("post-rewrite");
>  	if (!argv[0])
> @@ -1546,34 +1545,33 @@ static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
>  	code = start_command(&proc);
>  	if (code)
>  		return code;
> -	n = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s %s\n",
> -		     sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
> +	buf = xstrfmt("%s %s\n", sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
>  	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
> -	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, n);
> +	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, strlen(buf));
>  	close(proc.in);
> +	free(buf);

Any time you care about the length of the result, I'd generally use an actual strbuf instead of xstrfmt. The extra strlen isn't a big deal here, but it somehow seems simpler to me. It probably doesn't matter much either way, though.

Show 24 quoted lines
>  int run_commit_hook(int editor_is_used, const char *index_file, const char *name, ...)
>  {
> -	const char *hook_env[3] =  { NULL };
> -	char index[PATH_MAX];
> +	struct argv_array hook_env = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
>  	va_list args;
>  	int ret;
>  
> -	snprintf(index, sizeof(index), "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
> -	hook_env[0] = index;
> +	argv_array_pushf(&hook_env, "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
>  
>  	/*
>  	 * Let the hook know that no editor will be launched.
>  	 */
>  	if (!editor_is_used)
> -		hook_env[1] = "GIT_EDITOR=:";
> +		argv_array_push(&hook_env, "GIT_EDITOR=:");
>  
>  	va_start(args, name);
> -	ret = run_hook_ve(hook_env, name, args);
> +	ret = run_hook_ve(hook_env.argv,name, args);
>  	va_end(args);
> +	argv_array_clear(&hook_env);
Missing whitespace between arguments in the run_hook_ve() call.
-Peff
Junio C Hamano· Dec 13, 2016, 19:03 UTC · re: Jeff King · lore

Re: [PATCH] builtin/commit.c: convert trivial snprintf calls to xsnprintf

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
Show 12 quoted lines
>> +		argv_array_pushf(&env, "GIT_INDEX_FILE=%s", index_file);
>> +		if (launch_editor(git_path_commit_editmsg(), NULL, env.argv)) {
>>  			fprintf(stderr,
>>  			_("Please supply the message using either -m or -F option.\n"));
>> +			argv_array_clear(&env);
>>  			exit(1);
>>  		}
>> +		argv_array_clear(&env);
>
> I'd generally skip the clear() right before exiting, though I saw
> somebody disagree with me recently on that.  I wonder if we should
> decide as a project on whether it is worth doing or not.

I'd say it is a responsibility of the person who turns exit(1) to return -1 to ensure the code does not leak.

Show 31 quoted lines
>> @@ -1525,12 +1526,10 @@ static int git_commit_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
>>  static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
>>  			    const unsigned char *newsha1)
>>  {
>> -	/* oldsha1 SP newsha1 LF NUL */
>> -	static char buf[2*40 + 3];
>> +	char *buf;
>>  	struct child_process proc = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
>>  	const char *argv[3];
>>  	int code;
>> -	size_t n;
>>  
>>  	argv[0] = find_hook("post-rewrite");
>>  	if (!argv[0])
>> @@ -1546,34 +1545,33 @@ static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
>>  	code = start_command(&proc);
>>  	if (code)
>>  		return code;
>> -	n = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s %s\n",
>> -		     sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
>> +	buf = xstrfmt("%s %s\n", sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
>>  	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
>> -	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, n);
>> +	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, strlen(buf));
>>  	close(proc.in);
>> +	free(buf);
>
> Any time you care about the length of the result, I'd generally use an
> actual strbuf instead of xstrfmt. The extra strlen isn't a big deal
> here, but it somehow seems simpler to me. It probably doesn't matter
> much either way, though.

Your justification for this extra allocation was that it is a heavy-weight operation. While I agree that the runtime cost of allocation and deallocation does not matter, I would be a bit worried about extra cognitive burden to programmers. They did not have to worry about leaking because they are writing a fixed length string. Now they do, whether they use xstrfmt() or struct strbuf. When they need to update what they write, they do have to remember to adjust the size of the "fixed string", and the original is not free from the "programmers' cognitive cost" point of view, of course. Probably use of strbuf/xstrfmt is an overall win.

And of course, I think strbuf is more appropriate if you have to do strlen().

Jeff King· Dec 13, 2016, 19:10 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: [PATCH] builtin/commit.c: convert trivial snprintf calls to xsnprintf

On Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 11:03:53AM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 42 quoted lines
> >> @@ -1525,12 +1526,10 @@ static int git_commit_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
> >>  static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
> >>  			    const unsigned char *newsha1)
> >>  {
> >> -	/* oldsha1 SP newsha1 LF NUL */
> >> -	static char buf[2*40 + 3];
> >> +	char *buf;
> >>  	struct child_process proc = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
> >>  	const char *argv[3];
> >>  	int code;
> >> -	size_t n;
> >>  
> >>  	argv[0] = find_hook("post-rewrite");
> >>  	if (!argv[0])
> >> @@ -1546,34 +1545,33 @@ static int run_rewrite_hook(const unsigned char *oldsha1,
> >>  	code = start_command(&proc);
> >>  	if (code)
> >>  		return code;
> >> -	n = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s %s\n",
> >> -		     sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
> >> +	buf = xstrfmt("%s %s\n", sha1_to_hex(oldsha1), sha1_to_hex(newsha1));
> >>  	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
> >> -	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, n);
> >> +	write_in_full(proc.in, buf, strlen(buf));
> >>  	close(proc.in);
> >> +	free(buf);
> >
> > Any time you care about the length of the result, I'd generally use an
> > actual strbuf instead of xstrfmt. The extra strlen isn't a big deal
> > here, but it somehow seems simpler to me. It probably doesn't matter
> > much either way, though.
> 
> Your justification for this extra allocation was that it is a
> heavy-weight operation.  While I agree that the runtime cost of
> allocation and deallocation does not matter, I would be a bit
> worried about extra cognitive burden to programmers.  They did not
> have to worry about leaking because they are writing a fixed length
> string.  Now they do, whether they use xstrfmt() or struct strbuf.
> When they need to update what they write, they do have to remember
> to adjust the size of the "fixed string", and the original is not
> free from the "programmers' cognitive cost" point of view, of
> course.  Probably use of strbuf/xstrfmt is an overall win.
So I think you are agreeing, but I have a minor nit to pick. :)

The fact that the extra allocation will not hurt performance is _necessary_, but not _sufficient_. So it's not a justification in itself, only something we have to check before proceeding.

The only justification here is that magic numbers like "2*40 + 3" are confusing and a potential maintenance burden. And that's why I suggested splitting this one out from the other two (whose justification is "PATH_MAX is sometimes too small").

I agree with you that it's a tradeoff between "magic numbers" versus "having to free resources". In my opinion it's a net improvement, but I think it would also be reasonable to switch to xsnprintf() here. Then the programmer has an automatic check that the buffer size is sufficient.

-Peff

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