It usually goes like this strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT; if (!strncmp(sb.buf, "foo", 3)) printf("%s", sb.buf + 3); Coverity thinks that printf() can be executed, and because initial sb.buf only has one character (from strbuf_slopbuf), sb.buf + 3 is out of bound. What it does not recognize is strbuf_slopbuf[0] is always (*) zero. We always do some string comparison before jumping ahead to "sb.buf + 3" and those operations will stop out of bound accesses. Just make strbuf_slopbuf[] large enough to keep Coverity happy. If it's happy, we'll have cleaner defect list and better chances of spotting true defects. (*) It's not entirely wrong though. Somebody may do sb.buf[0] = 'f' right after variable declaration and ruin all unused strbuf. Signed-off-by: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@xxxxxxxxx> --- There are lots of false warnings like this from Coverity. I just wanted to kill them off so we can spot more serious problems easier. I can't really verify that this patch shuts off those warnings because scan.coverity.com policy does not allow forks. I had another patch that avoids corrupting strbuf_slopbuf, by putting it to .rodata section. The patch is more invasive though, because this statement buf.buf[buf.len] = '\0' now has to make sure buf.buf is not strbuf_slopbuf. It feels safer, but probably not enough to justify the change. strbuf.c | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) diff --git a/strbuf.c b/strbuf.c index 0d4f4e5..0d7c3cf 100644 --- a/strbuf.c +++ b/strbuf.c @@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ int starts_with(const char *str, const char *prefix) * buf is non NULL and ->buf is NUL terminated even for a freshly * initialized strbuf. */ +#ifndef __COVERITY__ char strbuf_slopbuf[1]; +#else +/* Stop so many incorrect out-of-boundary warnings from Coverity */ +char strbuf_slopbuf[64]; +#endif void strbuf_init(struct strbuf *sb, size_t hint) { -- 2.3.0.rc1.137.g477eb31 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html