Follow @Openwall on Twitter for new release announcements and other news
[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-ID:
 <PAWPR08MB8982B239BD6F9205E0F8C361837BA@PAWPR08MB8982.eurprd08.prod.outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2025 18:07:06 +0000
From: Wilco Dijkstra <Wilco.Dijkstra@....com>
To: Alejandro Colomar <alx@...nel.org>, Eric Blake <eblake@...hat.com>
CC: "libc-alpha@...rceware.org" <libc-alpha@...rceware.org>, Florian Weimer
	<fweimer@...hat.com>, "bug-gnulib@....org" <bug-gnulib@....org>,
	"musl@...ts.openwall.com" <musl@...ts.openwall.com>, наб
	<nabijaczleweli@...ijaczleweli.xyz>, Douglas McIlroy
	<douglas.mcilroy@...tmouth.edu>, Paul Eggert <eggert@...ucla.edu>, Robert
 Seacord <rcseacord@...il.com>, Elliott Hughes <enh@...gle.com>, Bruno Haible
	<bruno@...sp.org>, JeanHeyd Meneide <phdofthehouse@...il.com>, Rich Felker
	<dalias@...c.org>, Adhemerval Zanella Netto <adhemerval.zanella@...aro.org>,
	Joseph Myers <josmyers@...hat.com>, Laurent Bercot
	<ska-dietlibc@...rnet.org>, Andreas Schwab <schwab@...e.de>, Thorsten Glaser
	<tg@...bsd.de>, Vincent Lefevre <vincent@...c17.net>, Mark Harris
	<mark.hsj@...il.com>, Collin Funk <collin.funk1@...il.com>, DJ Delorie
	<dj@...hat.com>, Cristian Rodríguez
	<cristian@...riguez.im>, Siddhesh Poyarekar <siddhesh@...plt.org>, Sam James
	<sam@...too.org>, Mark Wielaard <mark@...mp.org>, "Maciej W. Rozycki"
	<macro@...hat.com>, Martin Uecker <ma.uecker@...il.com>, Christopher Bazley
	<chris.bazley.wg14@...il.com>, "eskil@...ession.se" <eskil@...ession.se>
Subject: Re: alx-0029r4 - Restore the traditional realloc(3) specification

Hi Alejandro,

> > > >  +XXX)
> > > >  +While atypical,
> > > >  +<b>realloc</b> may fail
> > > >  +for a call that shrinks the block of memory.
> > >
> > > Is it worth wording this as "may fail or return a different pointer
> > > for a call that shrinks the block of memory"?

> Oh, the text is still there; I didn't see it.  :)

>        The realloc function returns a pointer to the new object
>        (which can have the same value as a pointer to the old object),
>        or a null pointer if the new object has not been allocated

In principle a realloc that shrinks a non-NULL block does never need to fail.
If it can't shrink the current block (either because internal design means it
can't make it any smaller or because it doesn't have memory for a new
smaller block) then it should preferably return the original pointer instead
of returning NULL and taking the failure path.

So I'm wondering whether we should more clearly specify this - whenever
it's possible to not fail, don't return NULL?

Cheers,
Wilco



Powered by blists - more mailing lists

Confused about mailing lists and their use? Read about mailing lists on Wikipedia and check out these guidelines on proper formatting of your messages.