[PATCH] PR 16286: Reading python value as string beyond declared size

[Doug Evans <dje at google dot com>]

Hi.

The patch for 16196 inadvertently broke 16286.
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16196
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16286

I think the fix to 16196 is correct: Why ignore fetchlimit if length > 0?

However, it's not the behaviour c_get_string is expecting.

This patch fixes things by removing fetchlimit when length > 0
when calling read_string in c_get_string.

One could want c_get_string to, say, only ignore the declared size if it's 1,
since that's how the variable-length-array-at-end-of-struct idiom is
commonly used.
I don't have a strong opinion, I just went for preserving
the previous behaviour.

c_get_string is the LA_GET_STRING method,
which is only called from py-value.c,
so I think this patch is reasonable and safe.
We can augment and/or add a new method should the need ever arise.

I will check this in if there are no objections.
I think this is a blocker for 7.7.

2013-12-02  Doug Evans  <dje@google.com>

	PR 16286
	* c-lang.c (c_get_string): Ignore the declared size of the object
	if a specific length is requested.

	testsuite/
	* gdb.python/py-value.c: #include stdlib.h, string.h.
	(str): New struct.
	(main): New local xstr.
	* gdb.python/py-value.exp (test_value_in_inferior): Add test to
	fetch a value as a string with a length beyond the declared length
	of the array.

diff --git a/gdb/c-lang.c b/gdb/c-lang.c
index eecc76d..8d25893 100644
--- a/gdb/c-lang.c
+++ b/gdb/c-lang.c
@@ -227,9 +227,13 @@ c_printstr (struct ui_file *stream, struct type *type,
    until a null character of the appropriate width is found, otherwise
    the string is read to the length of characters specified.  The size
    of a character is determined by the length of the target type of
-   the pointer or array.  If VALUE is an array with a known length,
-   the function will not read past the end of the array.  On
-   completion, *LENGTH will be set to the size of the string read in
+   the pointer or array.
+
+   If VALUE is an array with a known length, and *LENGTH is -1,
+   the function will not read past the end of the array.  However, any
+   declared size of the array is ignored if *LENGTH > 0.
+
+   On completion, *LENGTH will be set to the size of the string read in
    characters.  (If a length of -1 is specified, the length returned
    will not include the null character).  CHARSET is always set to the
    target charset.  */
@@ -309,6 +313,21 @@ c_get_string (struct value *value, gdb_byte **buffer,
     {
       CORE_ADDR addr = value_as_address (value);
 
+      /* Prior to the fix for PR 16196 read_string would ignore fetchlimit
+	 if length > 0.  The old "broken" behaviour is the behaviour we want:
+	 The caller may want to fetch 100 bytes from a variable length array
+	 implemented using the common idiom of having an array of length 1 at
+	 the end of a struct.  In this case we want to ignore the declared
+	 size of the array.  However, it's counterintuitive to implement that
+	 behaviour in read_string: what does fetchlimit otherwise mean if
+	 length > 0.  Therefore we implement the behaviour we want here:
+	 If *length > 0, don't specify a fetchlimit.  This preserves the
+	 previous behaviour.  We could move this check above where we know
+	 whether the array is declared with a fixed size, but we only want
+	 to apply this behaviour when calling read_string.  PR 16286.  */
+      if (*length > 0)
+	fetchlimit = UINT_MAX;
+
       err = read_string (addr, *length, width, fetchlimit,
 			 byte_order, buffer, length);
       if (err)
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.c b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.c
index 0c94e64..4f8c27b 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.c
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.c
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 struct s
 {
@@ -39,6 +41,13 @@ typedef struct s *PTR;
 
 enum e evalue = TWO;
 
+struct str
+{
+  int length;
+  /* Variable length.  */
+  char text[1];
+};
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 
 struct Base {
@@ -86,6 +95,8 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   int i = 2;
   int *ptr_i = &i;
   const char *sn = 0;
+  struct str *xstr;
+
   s.a = 3;
   s.b = 5;
   u.a = 7;
@@ -96,6 +107,12 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   ptr_ref(ptr_i);
 #endif
 
+#define STR_LENGTH 100
+  xstr = (struct str *) malloc (sizeof (*xstr) + STR_LENGTH);
+  xstr->length = STR_LENGTH;
+  memset (xstr->text, 'x', STR_LENGTH);
+#undef STR_LENGTH
+
   save_argv = argv;      /* break to inspect struct and union */
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.exp
index 43de063..a052104 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.exp
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-value.exp
@@ -291,6 +291,12 @@ proc test_value_in_inferior {} {
   # For the purposes of this test, use repr()
   gdb_py_test_silent_cmd "python nullst = nullst.string (length = 9)" "get string beyond null" 1
   gdb_test "python print (repr(nullst))" "u?'divide\\\\x00et'"
+
+  # Test fetching a string longer than its declared (in C) size.
+  # PR 16286
+  gdb_py_test_silent_cmd "python xstr = gdb.parse_and_eval('xstr')" "get xstr" 1
+  gdb_test "python print xstr\['text'\].string (length = xstr\['length'\])" "x{100}" \
+    "read string beyond declared size"
 }
 
 proc test_lazy_strings {} {