nullability of status parameter in strtoi/u(3)

[Alejandro Colomar]

Hi Bruno,

On Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 12:12:10AM +0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > > > > >   -b. status == 0 || status == ENOTSUP || status == ERANGE
> > > > > 
> > > > > Correct (but most likely a bug).
> > > 
> > > Actually, now I remember that status can be NULL, in which case it's not
> > > reported.  This is a case where you could check for errors with a
> > > simpler expression:
> > > 
> > > 	end != str
> > > 
> > > but (status == 0 || status == ENOTSUP || status == ERANGE) is still a
> > > reasnoable one.
> > 
> > Unfortunately, with a comment like this, you make things more complicated,
> > not simpler. I was hoping for an API where success can be determined by
> > looking at 'status' in all four cases, and the "simple" solution that you
> > are recommending now is:
> >   -a. look at status
> >   -b. look at end
> >   -c. look at status
> >   -d. look at status AND end.
> > 
> > > I need to update the specification to mention that status can be NULL.
> > 
> > Why do so? This adds text to the specification, making the specification
> > more complex (=> longer to understand, harder to remember). The ability
> > to pass NULL for rstatus is not a useful feature.
> 
> Hmmm, in Debian, there's exactly one place where this happens, and it's
> a test case, so I guess it's fine if we break it.
> 
> <https://sources.debian.org/src/mk-configure/0.37.0-2/tests/mkc_features/tool/test_features1.cxx/?hl=118#L118>
> 
> And there are 0 such calls in NetBSD trunk:
> 
> alx at devuan:~/src/bsd/netbsd/trunk$ find -type f \
> 	| grep '\.[ch]$' \
> 	| xargs grep -l '\<strto[iu]\>' \
> 	| xargs pcre2grep -Mn '(?s)\bstrto[iu] *\([^;]*(NULL|0)\)';
> 
> So we could tighten the specification to require a non-null pointer.
> I would be okay with that.

I've reported this to NetBSD.  Let's see what they think about it.
<https://gnats.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=59199>


Have a lovely night!
Alex

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
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