From owner-freebsd-current Mon Dec 21 01:06:33 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id BAA25821 for freebsd-current-outgoing; Mon, 21 Dec 1998 01:06:33 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from verdi.nethelp.no (verdi.nethelp.no [158.36.41.162]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id BAA25816 for ; Mon, 21 Dec 1998 01:06:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sthaug@nethelp.no) From: sthaug@nethelp.no Received: (qmail 13403 invoked by uid 1001); 21 Dec 1998 09:06:28 +0000 (GMT) To: mike@smith.net.au Cc: dcs@newsguy.com, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: BootFORTH - demo floppy In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 21 Dec 1998 00:58:00 -0800" References: <199812210858.AAA50894@dingo.cdrom.com> X-Mailer: Mew version 1.05+ on Emacs 19.34.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 10:06:28 +0100 Message-ID: <13401.914231188@verdi.nethelp.no> Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > > We don't like counted strings. They suck for innumerable reasons, and > > > if the only reason for having them there is "tradition" (ie. there is > > > no reason *not* to take them away) then they can damn well die. 8) > > > > Given the many buffer overflows that have been found in various Unix > > applications through the years, and the recent cleanup of string handling > > in the kernel, maybe this view should be reexamined? > > *groan* > > Counted strings aren't somehow magically immune to overflowing their > buffers. Lousy programming technique will take you from behind no > matter what technology you think you're using. Of course. But counted strings can make some buffer overflow issues more visible, and may get the programmer to *think* about this. As an example, qmail uses a library which reimplements a good bit of the string handling in stdio, using counted strings. If counted strings suck for innumerable reasons, are these reasons documented somewhere? Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message