[Bug libc/14872] New: libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[Bug libc/14872] New: libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[jg at jguk dot org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

             Bug #: 14872
           Summary: libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others
                    include nul terminator
           Product: glibc
           Version: unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: libc
        AssignedTo: unassigned@sourceware.org
        ReportedBy: jg@jguk.org
                CC: drepper.fsp@gmail.com
    Classification: Unclassified


http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Limits-for-Files.html

NAME_MAX, PATH_MAX and MAXNAMLEN descriptions don't specifiy that this uniform
system limit for the length of file name does include nul terminator, clearer
to specify if it does?

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[ldv at altlinux dot org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

Dmitry V. Levin <ldv at altlinux dot org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |mtk.manpages at gmail dot
                   |                            |com, roland at gnu dot org
          Component|libc                        |manual

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[fweimer at redhat dot com]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |fweimer at redhat dot com

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[siddhesh at redhat dot com]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

Siddhesh Poyarekar <siddhesh at redhat dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
                 CC|                            |siddhesh at redhat dot com
         Resolution|                            |FIXED

--- Comment #1 from Siddhesh Poyarekar <siddhesh at redhat dot com> 2012-12-11 03:36:26 UTC ---
Fixed in the source.  NAME_MAX and MAXNAMELEN don't include the null and
PATH_MAX does.  Docs generated from 2.17 should have this change.

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[jg at jguk dot org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

--- Comment #2 from Jon Grant <jg at jguk dot org> 2012-12-22 11:29:10 UTC ---
Thank you for making the updates.

Could FILENAME_MAX also be clarified in the same way please.

Should it be specified that the character unit is byte? To be clear, that it is
not a wchar_t

FILENAME_MAX, NAME_MAX, PATH_MAX and MAXNAMLEN

Thanks, Jon

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[schwab@linux-m68k.org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

--- Comment #3 from Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org> 2012-12-22 13:50:57 UTC ---
The whole POSIX filename interface is byte oriented, so this should be obvious.

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[jg at jguk dot org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

--- Comment #4 from Jon Grant <jg at jguk dot org> 2012-12-27 13:34:30 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #3)
> The whole POSIX filename interface is byte oriented, so this should be obvious.

Ok, good point.

Re FILENAME_MAX, could be clarified if it contains the nul terminator byte?

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[mtk.manpages at gmail dot com]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

--- Comment #5 from Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages at gmail dot com> 2012-12-27 17:31:13 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #3)
> The whole POSIX filename interface is byte oriented, so this should be obvious.

It's only obvious to people who work with this stuff all the time. And many
people reading the documentation are not. 

Really, the manual should clarify in each case that the unit is bytes. This is
especially problematic because various other parts of the manual refer to
"characters" when discussing NAME_MAX, PATH_MAX, and perhaps some of the other
limits. All of those cases (easily found with a grep through the texi files)
should be fixed.

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[jg at jguk dot org]

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

--- Comment #6 from Jon Grant <jg at jguk dot org> 2013-01-03 16:13:23 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #5)
> (In reply to comment #3)
> > The whole POSIX filename interface is byte oriented, so this should be obvious.
> 
> It's only obvious to people who work with this stuff all the time. And many
> people reading the documentation are not. 
> 
> Really, the manual should clarify in each case that the unit is bytes. This is
> especially problematic because various other parts of the manual refer to
> "characters" when discussing NAME_MAX, PATH_MAX, and perhaps some of the other
> limits. All of those cases (easily found with a grep through the texi files)
> should be fixed.

This is a good point. For me, coming from win32 where I have wopen() it left me
wondering.. So I support the idea of confirming the character unit is byte, as
it wasn't obvious to me, that's why I asked the question!

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[Bug manual/14872] libc web page doesn't specify if PATH_MAX and others include nul terminator

[fweimer at redhat dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14872

Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Flags|                            |security-

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