Re: a few strncpy-related patches

From: Jim Meyering <jim@meyering.net>
To: Andi Kleen <andi@firstfloor.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: a few strncpy-related patches
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:47:27 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87393hl28w.fsf@rho.meyering.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <m24nnx8ggt.fsf@firstfloor.org> (Andi Kleen's message of "Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:18:42 -0700")

Andi Kleen wrote:
> Jim Meyering <jim@meyering.net> writes:
>
>> I've seen a few too many cases of strncpy misuse.
>> Looking through linux sources, I spotted/fixed these:
>>
>> [PATCH] ACPI: remove unwarranted use of strncpy
>> [PATCH] fs/9p: avoid debug OOPS when reading a long symlink
>> [PATCH] kmemleak: avoid buffer overrun: NUL-terminate strncpy-copied
>> [PATCH] bfa: avoid buffer overrun for 12-byte model name
>> [PATCH] cifs: remove misleading strncpy: each name has length < 16
>
> Better to convert tham all to strlcpy?
>
> The kernel has it.

Anything is better than strncpy.
Is there consensus here that strlcpy is preferred?
Would the integrator(s) even require consensus?

    $ git grep -w strncpy|wc -l
    987
    $ git grep -w strlcpy|wc -l
    1345

In any case, shouldn't fixing bugs and obvious misuse be separate
from any global NSC conversion?