public inbox for systemtap@sourceware.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: "mjw at redhat dot com" <sourceware-bugzilla@sourceware.org>
To: systemtap@sourceware.org
Subject: [Bug translator/14431] New: NULL/invalid char * pretty printed as "<unknown>" string
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:30:00 -0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <bug-14431-6586@http.sourceware.org/bugzilla/> (raw)

http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14431

             Bug #: 14431
           Summary: NULL/invalid char * pretty printed as "<unknown>"
                    string
           Product: systemtap
           Version: unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: translator
        AssignedTo: systemtap@sourceware.org
        ReportedBy: mjw@redhat.com
    Classification: Unclassified


If you have a char or unsigned char pointer and pretty print it, but it doesn't
actually point to a valid string, then the result is not very useful. char *
and unsigned char * are often used as arbitrary pointers/markers in code, not
just for strings.

Contrived example:

#include <malloc.h>
#include <stddef.h>

struct foobar
{
  char *foo;
  size_t foo_size;
  unsigned char *bar;
  size_t bar_size;
};

static struct foobar *fb;

unsigned char
use ()
{
  if (fb->foo) *fb->foo = 'a';
  return fb->bar_size > 0 ? *fb->bar : 0;
}

int
main (int argc, char **argv)
{
  struct foobar stack;
  fb = &stack;
  fb->foo_size = 42;
  fb->bar_size = 47;
  fb->foo = (char *) calloc (fb->foo_size, 1);
  fb->bar = (unsigned char *) calloc (fb->bar_size, 1);
  fb->bar_size = use (&fb);
  fb->foo = NULL;
  fb->bar = fb->foo + fb->foo_size;
  fb->bar_size = 0;
  return use (&fb);
}

$ gcc -g -o foobar foobar.c 
$ stap -e 'probe process.function("use") { log($fb$) }' -c ./foobar
{.foo="", .foo_size=42, .bar="", .bar_size=47}
{.foo="<unknown>", .foo_size=42, .bar="<unknown>", .bar_size=0}

It would have been convenient if those last two foo/bar pointers were
represented by something different than just "<unknown>".

Maybe "<unknown@0x0>" and "<unknown@0x42>"?

-- 
Configure bugmail: http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/userprefs.cgi?tab=email
------- You are receiving this mail because: -------
You are the assignee for the bug.

             reply	other threads:[~2012-08-03 10:30 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2012-08-03 10:30 mjw at redhat dot com [this message]
2012-08-04 22:58 ` [Bug translator/14431] " mjw at redhat dot com
2012-08-05 20:29 ` jistone at redhat dot com
2012-08-06  8:43 ` [Bug translator/14431] char * always being printed as, possibly INVALID/NULL "<unknown>", string without giving actual address mjw at redhat dot com
2012-08-06 15:32 ` mjw at redhat dot com
2012-08-06 17:24 ` jistone at redhat dot com
2012-08-06 18:59 ` mjw at redhat dot com
2015-10-21 18:50 ` fche at redhat dot com

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=bug-14431-6586@http.sourceware.org/bugzilla/ \
    --to=sourceware-bugzilla@sourceware.org \
    --cc=systemtap@sourceware.org \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for read-only IMAP folder(s) and NNTP newsgroup(s).