Hi, On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 09:07:46AM +0100, Mark Kettenis wrote: > From: Van de Bugger <van.de.bug...@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 > 00:15:52 +0300
> > ...by using dynamically allocated buffers. No need in PATH_MAX, > > MAXPATHLEN. No more "Path too long" errors. > > Not really. Instead fopen(3) will fail and a more cryptic "Didn't > find" error message will be printed. There really is very little > benefit in dynamicaly allocating paths. All OSes have a fixed maximum > path length, even the Hurd (contrary to what people claim). However, that fixed maximum length is not really known at compile time -- it might change depending on system configuration, or between versions, or even at runtime, depending on the specific filesystems in use. In reality, PATH_MAX is just an arbitrary constant with no real meaning. Of course there is also the sophisticated pathconfig() interface, where you can provide a base path, so it can (at least in theory) take specific filesystem limitations in account. Using that correctly requires a lot of consideration though. You are still screwed when constructing a path that crosses mountpoints. And then there can also be limitations on the length and or number of indidivdual path components. This really gets insanely complex; trying to check a path length up front is very nigh impossible to get right. In short, using dynamic allocation and checking for error returns is actually the *pragmatic* approach. -antrik- _______________________________________________ xorg-devel@lists.x.org: X.Org development Archives: http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-devel Info: http://lists.x.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg-devel
