On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 7:21 PM Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On Sun, May 17, 2020 at 06:48:33PM +0900, Masahiro Yamada wrote: > > > +char *read_text_file(const char *filename) > > +{ > > + struct stat st; > > + int fd; > > + char *buf; > > + > > + fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY); > > + if (fd < 0) > > + return NULL; > > + > > + if (fstat(fd, &st) < 0) > > + return NULL; > > + > > + buf = NOFAIL(malloc(st.st_size + 1)); > > + > > + if (read(fd, buf, st.st_size) != st.st_size) { > > Is this sensible coding ? I've always been taught read() can return > early/short for a number of reasons and we must not assume this is an > error. > > The 'normal' way to read a file is something like: > > for (;;) { > ssize_t ret = read(fd, buf + size, st.st_size - size); > if (ret < 0) { > free(buf); > buf = NULL; > goto close; > } > if (!ret) > break; > > size += ret; > } > > > + free(buf); > > + buf = NULL; > > + goto close; > > + } > > + buf[st.st_size] = '\0'; > > +close: > > + close(fd); > > + > > + return buf; > > +} In theory, I think yes. But, is it necessary when we know it is reading a regular file? The specification [1] says this: "The value returned may be less than nbyte if the number of bytes left in the file is less than nbyte, if the read() request was interrupted by a signal, or if the file is a pipe or FIFO or special file and has fewer than nbyte bytes immediately available for reading." This case does not meet any of 'if ...' parts. [1] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/000095399/functions/read.html -- Best Regards Masahiro Yamada