Re: [PATCH] fix bug with command `printf "%s\n", $_as_string($pc)`

[Matthew Malcomson <hardenedapple at gmail dot com>]

On 25/02/17 18:33, Simon Marchi wrote:
> Hi Matthew,
>
> I noted mostly some minor formatting issues, in general it looks good 
> to me.  One comment about malloc.


Sure, I have just a few questions


> On 2017-02-25 06:45, Matthew Malcomson wrote:
> > CHANGELOG:
> >
> > 2017-02-19  Matthew Malcomson <hardenedapple@gmail.com>
> >
> >     * python/py-value.c (convert_value_from_python): Include NULL
> > terminator in result.
> >     testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.c,
> > testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.exp: Update tests
> >     to account for NULL terminator from python string values.
> >     doc/gdb.texinfo ($trace_func): Mention this value can't be used 
> > with printf.
>
> There is a ChangeLog in the doc and testsuite directories, so you 
> should place these entries in the relevant ChangeLogs.  Also, look at 
> this section of the GDB wiki for more info on the proper format.


So I should include the changelog entry as part of the patch? (I just 
sent it in the email based on how I read the CONTRIBUTE file)


> https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Properly_Formatted_GNU_ChangeLog 
>
>
> > +static char arena[51] = 
> > "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
> > +
> > +/* Override malloc() so value_coerce_to_target() gets a known 
> > pointer, and we
> > +   know we'll see an error if $_as_string() returns a string that 
> > isn't NULL
> > +   terminated. */
>
> IIUC, the goal of overriding malloc is to ensure that the memory 
> return by malloc is not all zeroes, which would potentially hide the 
> bug?  If that's right, you could instead write a wrapper for malloc 
> instead of a replacement.  The wrapper would memset the allocated 
> buffer to 'x'es, for example.  This way, it will be safer in case 
> there are many calls to malloc or calls with size > 51.
>
> See option #2 of this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/262481



Yes, that was the reason. I used this way because I read that gdb also 
worked on non-POSIX systems (windows especially) and thought having a 
working test on all systems would be preferred (though I didn't check 
that all systems support the testing framework).
I believe that no other calls to malloc are made in the inferior for 
this test, and that this program isn't used anywhere else, so this limit 
of 51 bytes is never hit.
I agree this is a bug waiting to happen, so I can accept if the 
alternate would be preferred, but I thought I'd mention my reasoning.



> > +void *malloc(size_t size)
>
> We try to respect the GNU/GDB coding style even in tests, so please 
> put the return type on its own line and put a space after the function 
> name:


My apologies


> void *
> malloc (size_t size)
> {
>   ...
> }
>
> > +{
> > +    if (size > sizeof(arena))
>
> Space after sizeof.
>
> > +        return NULL;
> > +
> > +    return arena;
> > +}
>
> The indentation in C/C++ code sould be two spaces per indent, until 
> you have 8 spaces, it then becomes a tab.
>
> > +
> >  static enum EnumType enum_valid = ENUM_VALUE_B;
> >  static enum EnumType enum_invalid = 20;
> >
> > diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.exp
> > b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.exp
> > index 0c44d5f174..819442834c 100644
> > --- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.exp
> > +++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-as-string.exp
> > @@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ proc test_as_string { } {
> >      gdb_test "p \$_as_string(2)" "\"2\""
> >      gdb_test "p \$_as_string(enum_valid)" "\"ENUM_VALUE_B\""
> >      gdb_test "p \$_as_string(enum_invalid)" "\"20\""
> > +    # Test that the NULL character is included in the returned value.
> > +    gdb_test "printf \"%s\\n\", \$_as_string(\"hi\")" "\"hi\""
> > +    # Quote once to define the string, and once for the regexp.
> > +    gdb_test "interpreter-exec mi '-var-create test *
> > \$_as_string(\"Hello\")'" \
> > + "\\^done,name=\"test\",numchild=\"8\",value=\"\\\[8]\",type=\"char
> > \\\[8]\",has_more=\"0\""
>
> Indent this with a leading tab.
>
> If you want to avoid massive escaping, you can use {} strings instead 
> of "" strings.  {} strings are treated literally, so there's no 
> $variable substitution, no [proc invocation], no need to escape a 
> literal backslash, etc.  You still need to escape characters that have 
> a special meaning in regex though.
>
> "\\^done,name=\"test\",numchild=\"8\",value=\"\\\[8]\",type=\"char 
> \\\[8]\",has_more=\"0\""
>
> would become (I think, I have not tested)
>
>   {\^done,name="test",numchild="8",value="\[8]",type="char 
> \[8]",has_more="0"}



Yes, this does work, I had chosen "" strings to match the previous lines 
(I figured I'd have a comment either mentioning why this string used 
different delimiters or why there was extra backslashing, and it looked 
neater to me this way).
Would you prefer using {} strings? or was that just a heads-up in case I 
didn't know?


> Finally, feel free to add newlines between logical groups of lines to 
> make the code more readable.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Simon