Subject: Re: getpwent(3) funcs return static structure
To: Johan Danielsson <joda@pdc.kth.se>
From: David Brownlee <david@mono.org>
List: current-users
Date: 03/03/1997 12:09:04
On 2 Mar 1997, Johan Danielsson wrote:
> Rick Byers <rickb@iaw.on.ca> writes:
>
> > Shouldn't it atleast be mentioned in the man pages?
>
> getpwent(3):
>
> BUGS
> The functions getpwent(), getpwnam(), and getpwuid(), leave their results
> in an internal static object and return a pointer to that object. Subse-
> quent calls to the same function will modify the same object.
>
> The right thing to do is to use the thread-safe getpw*_r(), that
> unfortunately aren't available in NetBSD.
>
The above description does not make it clear that a call to
getpwuid(getuid()) would overwrite the buffer user earlier by
getpwent(). This could be misleading.
(Being in an anal mood this morning I've just sent a PR on this :)
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