Re: [PATCH v2] Implement strlcpy [BZ #178]

[Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat dot com>]

On 09/17/2014 05:41 PM, Joseph S. Myers wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Sep 2014, Florian Weimer wrote:
>
> > I misremembered what the GNU coding standards say about dynamically sized
> > buffers.  As far as I can tell, they recommend it not in general, but only as
> > a way to avoid unintentional copyright infringement.  That's why I didn't add
> > a reference to the coding standards.
>
>    @node Semantics
>    @section Writing Robust Programs
>
>    @cindex arbitrary limits on data
>    Avoid arbitrary limits on the length or number of @emph{any} data
>    structure, including file names, lines, files, and symbols, by allocating
>    all data structures dynamically.  In most Unix utilities, ``long lines
>    are silently truncated''.  This is not acceptable in a GNU utility.

Thanks, I knew there was something in the standards.  So I propose to 
add this change on top of the last one:

-However, to prevent accidental truncation of unexpectedly long values,
-it is often better to use dynamic memory allocation and functions such
-as @code{strdup} or @code{asprintf} to construct strings.
+@strong{Note:} GNU programs should not use statically sized buffers for
+storing strings.  @xref{Semantics, , Writing Robust Programs, standards,
+The GNU Coding Standards}.  Instead of using @code{strlcpy}, it is
+usually better to use dynamic memory allocation and functions such as
+@code{strdup} or @code{asprintf} to construct strings.

I have verified that the cross-reference comes out correctly in both the 
rendered HTML and the Info manual.

--
Florian Weimer / Red Hat Product Security