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Groups > comp.lang.c > #166964

Re: New features added into C23 standard

From Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: New features added into C23 standard
Date 2022-07-26 20:27 +0000
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <20220726132153.144@kylheku.com> (permalink)
References (1 earlier) <a500a595-29ee-47b2-a5c0-e725c76b5a39n@googlegroups.com> <fb562391-0bbe-488d-a89f-edc676e703b7n@googlegroups.com> <87mtcwzwt9.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <a21a0f85-d913-4a8c-a20b-17606a125bc9n@googlegroups.com> <875yjjzp5y.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com>

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On 2022-07-26, Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> wrote:
> Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> writes:
> [...]
>> There are two issues.
>> One is that on some architectures, writing to memory address zero is a
>> valid thing to do. Whilst you can argue that, in that case, a null pointer
>> should not be all bits zero, in reality it will be, and it will be obvious from 
>> context where a write to address zero is intended.
>
> Adding nullptr to the language has nothing to do with that issue.  All
> the existing forms of null pointer constant are still valid.
>
>> The other one is that you often have pointers embedded in structures,
>> which you zero-initialise. Again, you can argue that this is wrong because
>> a null pointer isn't necessarily all bits zero, but it is a widely used practice.
>> Also the struct s = {0}; syntax implies that null == zero, even though it
>> doesn't actually require that.
>
> In other words, if you incorrectly assume that a null pointer is
> all-bits-zero, you can make mistakes.

It's possible that you can assume that a pointer is all zero bits,
and never be actually incorrect for your entire programming career.

> No, `struct s obj = {0};` doesn't imply anything about the
> representation of a pointer -- at least not to someone who knows

The problem is that "struct s obj = { 0 }" is insecure if the image of s
can be communicated outside of the program; it doesn't guarantee that
the padding between struct members and at the end will be obliterated
with zeros, and those areas can leak information.

This is secure version (at least if we momentarily ignore the
squabbling about whether any memset call can actually be secure):

  struct s;
  memset(&s, 0, sizeof s);

Or else, get a fresh object from calloc. Of course, this sort
of hedge is possible:

  struct s;
  memset(&s, 0, sizeof s);
#if CONFIG_NULL_ISNT_ZERO
  s.ptr = NULL;
#endif

and other such. I've never seen it in the wild.

-- 
TXR Programming Language: http://nongnu.org/txr
Cygnal: Cygwin Native Application Library: http://kylheku.com/cygnal

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Thread

New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-07-22 12:32 -0700
  Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-22 23:15 +0100
  Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-23 01:31 -0700
    Re: New features added into C23 standard gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2022-07-23 10:10 +0000
  Re: New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 13:49 -0700
    Re: New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 13:57 -0700
      Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 14:50 -0700
        Re: New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 15:51 -0700
          Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 18:04 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 19:23 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Opus <ifonly@youknew.org> - 2022-07-26 05:13 +0200
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-25 23:36 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-07-25 21:52 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 11:44 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 11:39 -0700
          Re: New features added into C23 standard David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-07-30 14:42 +0200
            Re: New features added into C23 standard scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-07-30 15:18 +0000
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-30 09:13 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-30 17:31 +0100
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-30 16:46 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-30 14:36 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-30 18:15 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com> - 2022-07-30 23:28 +0000
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-31 16:48 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-31 22:42 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-31 23:25 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-08-01 00:10 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-08-01 09:55 +0200
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-08-01 20:17 +0100
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com> - 2022-07-30 23:21 +0000
        Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-25 22:59 -0700
          Re: New features added into C23 standard Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2022-07-26 00:48 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 02:08 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-26 06:59 -0400
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2022-07-26 04:02 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> - 2022-07-29 21:18 +0100
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-29 16:55 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 11:51 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-07-31 11:12 +0200
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-31 07:40 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-31 17:40 +0100
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-31 12:56 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-31 19:28 +0100
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-31 14:52 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-31 21:35 +0100
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-15 23:24 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-31 16:57 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-31 16:55 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-31 20:09 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-15 22:52 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-08-16 09:21 +0200
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2022-08-16 09:32 +0200
                Re: New features added into C23 standard David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-08-16 11:06 +0200
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-15 23:17 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-08-17 20:11 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-08-17 20:08 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-08-17 23:19 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com> - 2022-08-18 07:03 +0000
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-23 09:43 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-08-23 11:02 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-23 13:40 -0700
          Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-26 07:04 -0400
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 05:24 -0700
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-26 22:30 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-29 00:02 +0100
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-28 21:20 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard William Ahern <william@25thandClement.com> - 2022-07-28 19:36 -0700
                Re: New features added into C23 standard scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-07-29 16:39 +0000
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-07-29 18:55 -0400
                Re: New features added into C23 standard Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-07-29 15:17 +0100
          Re: New features added into C23 standard scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-07-26 13:27 +0000
          Re: New features added into C23 standard Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 11:47 -0700
            Re: New features added into C23 standard Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com> - 2022-07-26 20:27 +0000
              Re: New features added into C23 standard Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2022-08-16 08:42 +0200
  Re: New features added into C23 standard Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-26 05:37 +0200
    Re: New features added into C23 standard Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-07-28 16:47 -0500
      Re: New features added into C23 standard Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-29 07:14 +0200
        Re: New features added into C23 standard Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> - 2022-07-29 21:21 +0100
  Re: New features added into C23 standard Grant Mulholland <grantlmul@gmail.com> - 2022-08-13 22:21 -0700
    Re: New features added into C23 standard Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-08-15 21:21 -0500
      Re: New features added into C23 standard Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-08-16 08:39 +0200
    Re: New features added into C23 standard Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-08-15 22:54 -0700
    Re: New features added into C23 standard Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-08-18 12:03 -0700
      Re: New features added into C23 standard "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2022-08-18 12:56 -0700
      Re: New features added into C23 standard William Ahern <william@25thandClement.com> - 2022-08-18 16:07 -0700
        Re: New features added into C23 standard Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2022-08-18 18:47 -0700
          Re: New features added into C23 standard Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-08-18 20:23 -0700

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