Hi Helge,
On Wed, Nov 01, 2023 at 03:40:50PM +0000, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> Hello Alejandro,
> Am Wed, Nov 01, 2023 at 04:28:12PM +0100 schrieb Alejandro Colomar:
> > Hi Helge,
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 01, 2023 at 02:02:10PM +0000, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> > > Without further ado, the following was found:
> > >
> > > Issue: Zero padding byte → null padding byte?
> > >
> > > msgid ""
> > > "struct linux_dirent {\n"
> > > " unsigned long d_ino; /* Inode number */\n"
> > > " unsigned long d_off; /* Offset to next I<linux_dirent> */\n"
> > > " unsigned short d_reclen; /* Length of this I<linux_dirent> */\n"
> > > " char d_name[]; /* Filename (null-terminated) */\n"
> > > " /* length is actually (d_reclen - 2 -\n"
> > > " offsetof(struct linux_dirent, d_name)) */\n"
> > > " /*\n"
> > > " char pad; // Zero padding byte\n"
> >
> > Both seem good to me. Why not zero?
>
> I'm not a programmer. But I thought the term was null? If this is not
> the case, then disregard my proposal.
It isn't simple. Here's an overview of all the similar terms:
<https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/ZU0eKrZprM5HSGt0@debian/>
- NULL is a null pointer constant (as well as 0 is another null pointer
constant; but don't use 0 for pointers, please).
- A null pointer is a more generic term that includes a run-time null
pointer as well.
- The null byte is 0.
- The null character, '\0', is composed of a null byte.
- The null wide character, L'\0' is composed of several null bytes.
- NUL is the ASCII name of the null byte, or maybe is it null character
here? It's a bit muddy.
For padding, you'd use either null bytes, or equivalently, 0s, or zeros.
Cheers,
Alex
>
> Greetings
>
> Helge
>
> --
> Dr. Helge Kreutzmann debian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Dipl.-Phys. http://www.helgefjell.de/debian.php
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<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
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