Re: [PATCH 6/7] pipesz: report default size in --help, instead of referring the user

Benno Schulenberg <[email protected]> Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:15:57 +0200

Newsgroups	org.kernel.vger.util-linux
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Op 24-04-2025 om 13:24 schreef Nathan Sharp:
>      If it is to be done at all, it MUST be done inside the usage() function; 
> so that it is unlikely that future changes will introduce a read of an 
> uninitialized global variable.

Which variable would be uninitialized?  Global variable 'opt_size' gets
initialized to -1 in the beginning.  But okay, moving the two lines
before the call of usage() to the start of usage() itself is fine.

>      However, I do not think this is a good idea in isolation, as it deprives 
> the user of the knowledge of where the default size comes from,

Not at all: where the value comes from is mentioned in the man page.
The usage text is not meant to include _all_ details about the program
-- that is what the man page is for.  And, unlike the man page, the
usage text _can_ include the actual value of the thing.  And if it can,
it should, in my opinion, as the value itself is much more useful than
saying "go look there".

> and additionally could cause the help message to print a warning!

That is actually better than referring to a file that happens to be
unreadable/unparsable, because then the help text would be lying.


Benno

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