Re: [PATCH v2 12/17] chunk-format: create read chunk API

On 2/8/2021 5:26 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

The users of pair_chunk() presumably are not ready to (or simply do
not want to) process the data immediately by using read_chunk() with
callback, but when they get ready to process the data, unlike
read_chunk callbacks, they do not get to learn how much they ought
to process---all they learn is the address of the beginning of the
chunk.  I do not see a way to write pair_chunk() users safely to
guarantee that they do not overrun at the tail end of the chunk they
are processing.

I've read through v3 and found it mostly done, but the above
question still stands.  I find it questionable why callers of
pair_chunk() only can learn where a chunk data begins, without
being able to learn how big the region of memory is.  IOW, why
can we get away without doing something like this?  The users
of pair_chunk() won't even know when they overrun the end of
the data the are given without something like this, no?

I guess that the point is that if a caller wants to perform
logic on the size, then they should use read_chunk() instead.
We have some chunks that check the size is correct upon read,
but most chunks do not do this (currently).

In future series, additional protections could be added, and
I would expect that to be done by converting callers of
pair_chunk() into callers of read_chunk() with appropriate
callback functions.

Thanks,
-Stolee