From 7fe1fde499507126f7de10ebf12fecaf77ae6602 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Joseph Myers Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2024 22:22:26 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Document further requirement on mixing streams / file descriptors The gilbc manual has some documentation in llio.texi of requirements for moving between I/O on FILE * streams and file descriptors on the same open file description. The documentation of what must be done on a FILE * stream to move from it to either a file descriptor or another FILE * for the same open file description seems to match POSIX. However, there is an additional requirement in POSIX on the *second* of the two handles being moved between, which is not mentioned in the glibc manual: "If any previous active handle has been used by a function that explicitly changed the file offset, except as required above for the first handle, the application shall perform an lseek() or fseek() (as appropriate to the type of handle) to an appropriate location.". Document this requirement on seeking in the glibc manual, limited to the case that seems relevant to glibc (the new channel is a previously active stream, on which the seeking previously occurred). Note that I'm not sure what the "except as required above for the first handle" is meant to be about, so I haven't documented anything for it. As far as I can tell, nothing specified for moving from the first handle actually list calling a seek function as one of the steps to be done. (Current POSIX doesn't seem to have any relevant rationale for this section. The rationale in the 1996 edition says "In requiring the seek to an appropriate location for the new handle, the application is required to know what it is doing if it is passing streams with seeks involved. If the required seek is not done, the results are undefined (and in fact the program probably will not work on many common implementations)." - which also doesn't help in understanding the purpose of "except as required above for the first handle".) Tested with "make info" and "make pdf". --- manual/llio.texi | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+) diff --git a/manual/llio.texi b/manual/llio.texi index e90fca01d6..b6bc7f2210 100644 --- a/manual/llio.texi +++ b/manual/llio.texi @@ -1097,6 +1097,27 @@ streams persist in other processes, their file positions become undefined as a result. To prevent this, you must clean up the streams before destroying them. +In addition to cleaning up a stream before doing I/O using another +linked channel, additional precautions are needed to ensure a +well-defined file position indicator in some cases. If both the +following conditions hold, you must set the file position indicator on +the new channel (a stream) using a function such as @code{fseek}. + +@itemize @bullet +@item +The new linked channel is a stream that was previously active. + +@item +The file position indicator was previously set on that channel (while +it was previously active) with a function such as @code{fseek}. +@end itemize + +POSIX requires such precautions in more cases: if either the old or +the new linked channel is a stream (whether or not previously active) +and the file position indicator was previously set on any channel +linked to those channels with a function such as @code{fseek} or +@code{lseek}. + @node Independent Channels @subsection Independent Channels @cindex independent channels