netdev - Re: [PATCH iproute2] libnetlink.c, ss.c: properly handle fread() error

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Date:   Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:21:28 -0700
From:   Stephen Hemminger <stephen@...workplumber.org>
To:     Michał Łyszczek <michal.lyszczek@...c.pl>
Cc:     netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH iproute2] libnetlink.c, ss.c: properly handle fread()
 error

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 23:20:01 +0200
Michał Łyszczek <michal.lyszczek@...c.pl> wrote:

> fread(3) returns size_t data type which is unsigned, thus check
> `if (fread(...) < 0)' is always false. To check if fread(3) has
> failed, user should check if return is 0 and then check error
> indicator with ferror(3).
> 
> Signed-off-by: Michał Łyszczek <michal.lyszczek@...c.pl>

You did find something that probably has been broken for a long time.

First off, not sure why libnetlink is using fread here anyway.
It adds another copy to all I/O which can matter with 1M routes.

Also the man page for fread() implies that truncated reads (not
just zero) can happen on error. Better to check that full read was
completed or at least a valid netlink header?