GNU bug report logs - #25283
grep: (standard input): invalid argument when run from make

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Benno Fünfstück <benno.fuenfstueck <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: grep: (standard input): invalid argument when run from make
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 18:14:27 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

The following Makefile illustrates the issue:

$ cat >Makefile <<EOF
all:
echo "abc" | grep "b"
.PHONY: all
$ make all # works as expected
$ make all > /dev/null
grep: (standard input): Invalid argument
make: *** [Makefile:2: all] Error 2

The bug was introduced by commit 4fa6f48b573267e758650e114ec158d97916411e
(introducing the usage of splice), which was first released in grep version
2.27.

My environment:

$ make --version
GNU Make 4.2.1
Built for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Copyright (C) 1988-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

$ grep --version
grep (GNU grep) 2.27
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Mike Haertel and others, see <
http://git.sv.gnu.org/cgit/grep.git/tree/AUTHORS>.


Patch attached.

--
Benno Fünfstück

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

[fix-splice-einval.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #10 received at 25283-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Benno Fünfstück <benno.fuenfstueck <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 25283-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25283: grep: (standard input): invalid argument when run from
 make
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:23:32 -0800

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Thanks for reporting that problem. I wonder why GNU 'make' sets stdout to append 
mode? That surprises me, and I don't see where POSIX allows it. Anyway, it's 
clearly a bug in 'grep' no matter what 'make' is doing. I wrote up a test case 
for the bug and installed the attached, which is a bit more conservative than 
the patch you submitted.

[0001-grep-fix-bug-with-.-grep-pat-dev-null.txt (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #13 received at 25283 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mike Frysinger <vapier <at> gentoo.org>
To: 25283 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu, benno.fuenfstueck <at> gmail.com
Subject: Re: bug#25283: grep: (standard input): invalid argument when run
 from make
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 16:50:18 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 27 Dec 2016 11:23, Paul Eggert wrote:
> Thanks for reporting that problem. I wonder why GNU 'make' sets stdout to append 
> mode? That surprises me, and I don't see where POSIX allows it. Anyway, it's 
> clearly a bug in 'grep' no matter what 'make' is doing. I wrote up a test case 
> for the bug and installed the attached, which is a bit more conservative than 
> the patch you submitted.

fwiw, this patch also fixes misbehavior when stdout & stderr are the same fd.
i mention it only because the NEWS entry was documenting different cases the
failure could come up.

this fails:
	(make -v | grep .) >/dev/null 2>&1

but this works:
	(make -v | grep .) >/dev/null 2>/dev/null

stracing shows same issue:
splice(0, NULL, 1, NULL, 32768, SPLICE_F_MOVE) = -1 EINVAL (Invalid argument)
write(2, "/bin/grep: ", 11)       = 11
write(2, "(standard input)", 16)  = 16
write(2, ": Invalid argument", 18) = 18
write(2, "\n", 1)                 = 1
close(1)                          = 0
close(2)                          = 0
exit_group(2)                     = ?
-mike

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Message #16 received at 25283 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: 25283 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, benno.fuenfstueck <at> gmail.com
Subject: Re: bug#25283: grep: (standard input): invalid argument when run from
 make
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:14:38 -0800

Mike Frysinger wrote:

> this fails:
> 	(make -v | grep .) >/dev/null 2>&1
>
> but this works:
> 	(make -v | grep .) >/dev/null 2>/dev/null

That's the same issue, because GNU 'make' sets stderr's O_APPEND flag too, so in 
the former case grep's stdout is in append mode whereas in the latter case it's not.

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