Home • About Us • A-Z Index • Search * Contact Us • Register • Login • Press • Shop

The Open Brand -- Problem Reporting and Interpretations System

Problem Report 0203 Details

Help Show help | Quick Search | Submit a Test Suite Support Request | Click here to view your privileges

This page provides all information on Problem Report 0203.

Report 0203 Actions

    Problem Report Number 0203
    Submitter's Classification Test Suite problem
    State Resolved
    Resolution Test Suite Deficiency (TSD)
    Problem Resolution ID TSD.X.0203
    Raised 1995-01-06 08:00
    Updated 2003-03-13 08:00
    Published 1995-01-18 08:00
    Product Standard Internationalised System Calls and Libraries (XPG4)
    Certification Program The Open Brand certification program
    Test Suite VSX4 version 4.3.4
    Test Identification XPG4.os/genuts/getopt 1
    Problem Summary TSD4.203 The VSX4 suite is expecting optind to only be incremented by 1 when an option is missing an operand. Our implementation is incrementing optind by 2 which we believe is consistent with XPG4: "The {geto...
    Problem Text
    The VSX4 suite is expecting optind to only be incremented by 1 when an
    option is missing an operand. Our implementation is incrementing
    optind by 2 which we believe is consistent with XPG4:

    "The {getopt()} function returns the next option character (if one
    is found) from {argv} that matches a character in {optstring}, if
    there is one that matches. If the option takes an argument,
    {getopt()} sets the variable {optarg} to point to the
    option-argument as follows:

    1. If the option was the last character in the string pointed
    to by an element of {argv}, then {optind} is incremented by
    2. If the resulting value of {optind} is not less than
    {argc}, this indicates a missing option-argument, and
    {getopt()} returns an error indication."

    It's a little difficult to tell which situation the second failure is
    coming from but the fact that optind is expected to be 2 tells us that
    it must be the second instance of the ":ab:cd:e"/"-ab" test, after the
    "-a" option was successfully processed. The input value of 0 for
    optind in the second failure is a little deceiving also. The zero is
    meant to indicate N/C or "no change", the value is kept from the
    previous call to getopt() which we know must be 1 since the first
    ":ab:cd:e"/"-ab" test passed.

    Even though in both failure cases an argument was missing for an
    option, we believe getopt() should increment optind by 2 but it really
    shouldn't matter. Since there is a missing argument, we known the
    input optind must equal argc-1. If optind is incremented is
    incremented by any positive value, the result should be the same.
    optind is no longer less than argc and the next getopt() will return
    -1 indicating there are no more options to parse out. We believe
    incrementing by 1 or by 2 should be acceptable, although the standard
    indicates optind should be incremented by 2.
    Test Output
    /tset/XPG4.os/genuts/getopt/T.getopt 1 Failed

    Test Description:
    When the variable opterr is not set to zero and a call to getopt() is
    made with optind and the arguments argc, argv, and the option string
    optstring as per the table below, then getopt() outputs the
    corresponding information, if any, to standard error and returns the
    value and sets the variables optind, optarg, and optopt as specified
    in the corresponding columns of the table.
    optstring Set of optind optarg Return stderr optopt
    Arguments In Out
    .
    .
    .
    :ab:cd:e -a -d 2 3 NULL : No O/P d
    :ab:cd:e -ab 1 1 Unset a No O/P Unset
    :ab:cd:e -ab N/C 2 NULL : No O/P b
    .
    .
    .

    Test Strategy:
    PARENT process will
    CREATE [child process|process pair]
    CHILD process will
    REDIRECT standard error to file
    CALL getopt(targc, targv, optstring)
    VERIFY that the return value, diagnostics, and variables optind,
    optarg and optopt are as expected

    Test Information:
    getopt() failed when called with :-
    optstring : [:ab:cd:e]
    arguments : [-a] [-d]
    optind : [2]
    getopt() failed on the following :-
    optind : expected [3], actual [4]

    getopt() failed when called with :-
    optstring : [:ab:cd:e]
    arguments : [-ab]
    optind : [0]
    getopt() failed on the following :-
    optind : expected [2], actual [3]

    Review Information

    Review Type TSMA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Recommendation No Resolution Given
    Review Response
    We accept that this is a test suite deficiency and recommend that a
    permanent waiver is granted.

    We do, however, note that many implementations only increment the optind
    value by 1 in the case that the resulting value would be greater than or
    equal to the value of argc. This seems to be a reasonable safety mechanism
    against badly written applications which fail to check optind before using
    it to reference an element in the argv array. We agree that, because of
    this, the XSH specification should allow the optind counter to be incremented
    by 1 or by 2 in the circumstances that the resulting value of optind would
    not be less than argc.

    Review Type SA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Resolution Test Suite Deficiency (TSD)
    Review Conclusion
    This is an agreed Test Suite Deficiency.

    Problem Reporting System Options:

     

    Back   

Contact the Certification Authority