Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:50:02 -0600 From: Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> To: Phil Shafer <phil@juniper.net> Cc: Marcel Moolenaar <marcel@freebsd.org>, John-Mark Gurney <jmg@funkthat.com>, "Simon J. Gerraty" <sjg@juniper.net>, arch@freebsd.org, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>, freebsd-arch <freebsd-arch@freebsd.org>, Konstantin Belousov <kostikbel@gmail.com> Subject: Re: XML Output: libxo - provide single API to output TXT, XML, JSON and HTML Message-ID: <B123014F-F006-4EB2-BA13-23B6596BCB2A@bsdimp.com> In-Reply-To: <201408141640.s7EGe422096656@idle.juniper.net> References: <201408141640.s7EGe422096656@idle.juniper.net>
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On Aug 14, 2014, at 10:40 AM, Phil Shafer <phil@juniper.net> wrote:
> Warner Losh writes:
>> My question for people advocating this method: Why not require all
>> commands that generate this kind of output to support a standard
>> command line option that causes the command to print nothing and
>> return 0 if it supports reporting, or anything else if it doesn't
>> (return 0 with output, or return non-zero with or without output).
>=20
> It's a chicken and egg problem. I can't call the command with the
> option until I know that command can handle the option without
> generating an error, a core file, or rebooting the box. Until I
> know what the command will do, I can't invoke it safely.
If a userland command reboots the box in response to bad command
line options, that=92s not your problem to fix: that=92s a security =
issue
that needs to be fixed regardless of the method you chose. If the =
command
creates a core file, that=92s a bug in that command. The command
could very easily create a core file when you call it with a valid
set of options too. Generating an error is 100% fine: in fact I count
on that happening.
> There's also the issue of find an option that all commands are not
> using, given that I can't change options for existing commands.
In my opinion, there=92s no chicken and egg problem.
I specifically proposed a long option that isn=92t present in any =
command,
and is likely to generate errors or at least output. The reason I =
proposed
the long option was so that 2 lines of code could be added to programs
that support it:
in some header:
#define LONG_OPTION_DEFINE =93=97supports-xml-output"
#include <some-header.h>
...
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
/* local variables here */
if (argc =3D=3D 2 && strcmp(argv[1], LONG_OPTION_DEFINE) =3D=3D =
0)
exit(0);
}
Which wouldn=92t interfere with any other command line parsing these
programs do. =97supports-xml-output isn=92t likely a valid set of =
options
for any program that exists today, except for those that support xml.
The protocol is simple: redirect stdout and stderr to pipes, invoke
the command, if the exit status is 0 and there=92s no output on the =
pipes,
then the command supports your protocol. If there=92s output, or if the
exit status isn=92t 0, then the program doesn=92t.
Warner
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