Re: critique of gnulib

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible wrote:
> https://gitlab.com/sortix/sortix/wikis/Gnulib
> > sprintf calls.
> What do you mean? sprintf is a standardized libc function.

I imagine Jonas is referring to the practice of avoiding sprintf and using 
snprintf instead, under the theory that sprintf can be dangerous. Gnulib does 
not follow that practice; instead, it avoids dangerous uses of sprintf. 
Similarly for strcpy and for several other C functions that can be dangerous if 
misused.

The Gnulib style for sprintf helps avoid the common problem of inadvertently 
truncating strings.[1] Admittedly (and as Bruno knows) this has long been a 
controversial area.[2][3]

[1] 
https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/STR03-C.+Do+not+inadvertently+truncate+a+string
[2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2004-09/msg00181.html
[3] https://sourceware.org/ml/libc-alpha/2002-01/msg00133.html