2020-05-07 19:17:09

by Gustavo A. R. Silva

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH] rbd: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
introduced in C99:

struct foo {
int stuff;
struct boo array[];
};

By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.

Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
this change:

"Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]

sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.

This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.

[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
[3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <[email protected]>
---
drivers/block/rbd_types.h | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/block/rbd_types.h b/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
index ac98ab6ccd3b..a600e0eb6b6f 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
+++ b/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ struct rbd_image_header_ondisk {
__le32 snap_count;
__le32 reserved;
__le64 snap_names_len;
- struct rbd_image_snap_ondisk snaps[0];
+ struct rbd_image_snap_ondisk snaps[];
} __attribute__((packed));




2020-05-08 07:58:06

by Ilya Dryomov

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH] rbd: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 9:15 PM Gustavo A. R. Silva
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
> extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
> variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
> introduced in C99:
>
> struct foo {
> int stuff;
> struct boo array[];
> };
>
> By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
> in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
> will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
> inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.
>
> Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
> this change:
>
> "Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
> may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
> zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]
>
> sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
> members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
> which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
> zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
> some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
> help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.
>
> This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.
>
> [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
> [2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
> [3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")
>
> Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <[email protected]>
> ---
> drivers/block/rbd_types.h | 2 +-
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/block/rbd_types.h b/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
> index ac98ab6ccd3b..a600e0eb6b6f 100644
> --- a/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
> +++ b/drivers/block/rbd_types.h
> @@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ struct rbd_image_header_ondisk {
> __le32 snap_count;
> __le32 reserved;
> __le64 snap_names_len;
> - struct rbd_image_snap_ondisk snaps[0];
> + struct rbd_image_snap_ondisk snaps[];
> } __attribute__((packed));
>
>
>

Applied (folded into libceph patch).

Thanks,

Ilya

2020-05-12 18:14:13

by Gustavo A. R. Silva

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH] rbd: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

On Fri, May 08, 2020 at 09:54:12AM +0200, Ilya Dryomov wrote:
>
> Applied (folded into libceph patch).
>

Thanks, Ilya.

--
Gustavo