CODING_STYLE: split out section about memory allocations

This commit is contained in:
Lennart Poettering 2019-04-12 16:31:58 +02:00
parent f42c1cd4b5
commit 0485824030
1 changed files with 32 additions and 32 deletions

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@ -97,9 +97,6 @@ title: Coding Style
program" code. (With one exception: it is OK to log with DEBUG level
from any code, with the exception of maybe inner loops).
- Always check OOM. There is no excuse. In program code, you can use
`log_oom()` for then printing a short message, but not in "library" code.
- Do not issue NSS requests (that includes user name and host name
lookups) from PID 1 as this might trigger deadlocks when those
lookups involve synchronously talking to services that we would need
@ -108,21 +105,6 @@ title: Coding Style
- Do not synchronously talk to any other service from PID 1, due to
risk of deadlocks.
- Avoid fixed-size string buffers, unless you really know the maximum
size and that maximum size is small. They are a source of errors,
since they possibly result in truncated strings. It is often nicer
to use dynamic memory, `alloca()` or VLAs. If you do allocate fixed-size
strings on the stack, then it is probably only OK if you either
use a maximum size such as `LINE_MAX`, or count in detail the maximum
size a string can have. (`DECIMAL_STR_MAX` and `DECIMAL_STR_WIDTH`
macros are your friends for this!)
Or in other words, if you use `char buf[256]` then you are likely
doing something wrong!
- Make use of `_cleanup_free_` and friends. It makes your code much
nicer to read (and shorter)!
- Be exceptionally careful when formatting and parsing floating point
numbers. Their syntax is locale dependent (i.e. `5.000` in en_US is
generally understood as 5, while in de_DE as 5000.).
@ -268,15 +250,6 @@ title: Coding Style
which will always work regardless if `p` is initialized or not, and
guarantees that `p` is `NULL` afterwards, all in just one line.
- Use `alloca()`, but never forget that it is not OK to invoke `alloca()`
within a loop or within function call parameters. `alloca()` memory is
released at the end of a function, and not at the end of a `{}`
block. Thus, if you invoke it in a loop, you keep increasing the
stack pointer without ever releasing memory again. (VLAs have better
behavior in this case, so consider using them as an alternative.)
Regarding not using `alloca()` within function parameters, see the
BUGS section of the `alloca(3)` man page.
- Instead of using `memzero()`/`memset()` to initialize structs allocated
on the stack, please try to use c99 structure initializers. It's
short, prettier and actually even faster at execution. Hence:
@ -341,11 +314,6 @@ title: Coding Style
array. In that case use STRLEN, which evaluates to a static constant and
doesn't force the compiler to create a VLA.
- If you want to concatenate two or more strings, consider using `strjoina()`
or `strjoin()` rather than `asprintf()`, as the latter is a lot slower. This
matters particularly in inner loops (but note that `strjoina()` cannot be
used there).
- Please avoid using global variables as much as you can. And if you
do use them make sure they are static at least, instead of
exported. Especially in library-like code it is important to avoid
@ -440,6 +408,38 @@ title: Coding Style
effect on the regular file. If in doubt consider turning off `O_NONBLOCK` again
after opening.
## Memory Allocation
- Always check OOM. There is no excuse. In program code, you can use
`log_oom()` for then printing a short message, but not in "library" code.
- Avoid fixed-size string buffers, unless you really know the maximum size and
that maximum size is small. They are a source of errors, since they possibly
result in truncated strings. It is often nicer to use dynamic memory,
`alloca()` or VLAs. If you do allocate fixed-size strings on the stack, then
it is probably only OK if you either use a maximum size such as `LINE_MAX`,
or count in detail the maximum size a string can have. (`DECIMAL_STR_MAX` and
`DECIMAL_STR_WIDTH` macros are your friends for this!)
Or in other words, if you use `char buf[256]` then you are likely doing
something wrong!
- Make use of `_cleanup_free_` and friends. It makes your code much nicer to
read (and shorter)!
- Use `alloca()`, but never forget that it is not OK to invoke `alloca()`
within a loop or within function call parameters. `alloca()` memory is
released at the end of a function, and not at the end of a `{}` block. Thus,
if you invoke it in a loop, you keep increasing the stack pointer without
ever releasing memory again. (VLAs have better behavior in this case, so
consider using them as an alternative.) Regarding not using `alloca()`
within function parameters, see the BUGS section of the `alloca(3)` man page.
- If you want to concatenate two or more strings, consider using `strjoina()`
or `strjoin()` rather than `asprintf()`, as the latter is a lot slower. This
matters particularly in inner loops (but note that `strjoina()` cannot be
used there).
## Types
- Think about the types you use. If a value cannot sensibly be negative, do not