Re: [gnugo-devel] cygwin sscanf problem in gtp.c

[Gunnar Farneback]

Dave wrote:
> Is the before %n intentional - it's saying match a string as %s,
> then if it can match some whitespace, put the number of characers
> consumed into %n. Since scanf stops as soon as the match fails,
> it could satisfy the %s, but then if it fails to match the whitespace
> it will return 1 without filling in the %n.

The Linux man page for sscanf is very clear and says:

     White space (such as blanks, tabs, or newlines) in the format string
     match any amount of white space, including none, in the input.

The Solaris man page is less clear but very similar to the text I
believe is in the standard. Relevant passages include

     The format is a character string, beginning  and  ending  in
     its  initial  shift  state, if any, composed of zero or more
     directives. Each directive is composed of one of the follow-
     ing:

        o  one or more white-space characters (space,  tab,  new-
           line, vertical-tab or form-feed characters);

        o  an ordinary character (neither  %  nor  a  white-space
           character); or

        o  a conversion specification.

     [...]

     The scanf() functions execute each directive of  the  format
     in turn.  If a directive fails, as detailed below, the func-
     tion returns.  Failures are described as input failures (due
     to  the  unavailability of input bytes) or matching failures
     (due to inappropriate input).

     A directive composed of one or more  white-space  characters
     is  executed  by reading input until no more valid input can
     be read, or up to the first byte which is not a  white-space
     character which remains unread.

We can notice

1. There is no provision for failure when the directive is a white
   space. (In contrast to the other cases, which I excluded above.)

2. The newline at the end of the string *is* a white space and should
   be matched.

My conclusion is that this is a bug in cygwin.

/Gunnar