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* command_line_input() not re-entrant
@ 2006-03-30 14:29 Andrew STUBBS
  2006-04-04 10:27 ` [PATCH] allow nested sourced commands Andrew STUBBS
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Andrew STUBBS @ 2006-03-30 14:29 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: GDB Patches

Hi,

I have discovered a problem in the GDB command line reading code.

command_line_input() uses a static buffer to hold the current command. 
This means that it is not properly re-entrant - commands that contain 
other commands, such as user defined commands, are not handled safely.

In practice the only real trouble I have observed is with user defined 
commands that use $arg0 etc. because these parameters are never copied 
out of the original string, so are overwritten the next time 
command_line_input() is invoked. Even then, this is not normally a 
problem because command_line_input() is not normally needed within a 
user-defined command - it has already been read. It is only a problem 
when the user defined command contains a source command.

The problem may be reproduced as follows:

Create three files:

a1
---8<---------->8-----
source a2
abcdef qwerty
---8<---------->8-----

a2
---8<---------->8-----
define abcdef
   echo 1: <<<$arg0>>>\n
   source a3
   echo 2: <<<$arg0>>>\n
end
---8<---------->8-----

a3
---8<---------->8-----
#################################################################
---8<---------->8-----

Then run the following command:

$ gdb -nx -q -x a1 -batch
1: <<<qwerty>>>
2: <<<######>>>

Both 1: and 2: should have been the same. As you can see the contents of 
a3 have overwritten the value of $arg0 in abcdef. For some reason I 
haven't discovered (and probably boils down to dumb luck) I can't 
reproduce the problem when entering a1 interactively - I have to source it.

I am happy to write the patch to fix this but I am wondering how. There 
seem to be two possible ways:

1. Make command_line_input() re-entrant. Perhaps drop the static buffer 
and malloc a new string each time. Free it through a clean-up.

2. Have setup_user_args() copy the data and adjust the clean up to free 
the copied data.

Any preferences or other suggestions?

Andrew Stubbs


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2006-04-07 13:33 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 11+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2006-03-30 14:29 command_line_input() not re-entrant Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-04 10:27 ` [PATCH] allow nested sourced commands Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-04 10:34   ` Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-04 19:58     ` Michael Snyder
2006-04-05 10:05       ` Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-05 18:48         ` Michael Snyder
2006-04-06  9:49           ` Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-06 13:40             ` Daniel Jacobowitz
2006-04-07 11:17               ` Andrew STUBBS
2006-04-07 13:18                 ` Daniel Jacobowitz
2006-04-07 13:33                   ` Andrew STUBBS

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