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Re: [PATCH] lib/autoconf/c.m4: fix NULL pointer dereference in _AC_LANG_


From: Nicolas Iooss
Subject: Re: [PATCH] lib/autoconf/c.m4: fix NULL pointer dereference in _AC_LANG_IO_PROGRAM
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2021 18:27:31 +0200

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 3:48 PM Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> > > While I'm not opposed to your patch, I don't think that chasing the
> > > windmill of making configure snippets warning-free is going to be
> > > worth it, because in the end, it won't change the results of those
> > > configure tests.
> >
> > I do not understand what you mean by "chasing the windmill", and the
> > top result on Google Search
> > (https://iit.adelaide.edu.au/news/list/2021/04/29/chasing-the-windmill-what-is-wrong-with-the-us-approach-on-developing-country)
> > seems to be about developing countries. Is this some cultural
> > reference that non-English-speaking people are not supposed to
> > understand? Could you please use expressions for which the meaning can
> > be easily searched on the Internet?
>
> I'm sorry if I was unclear, I did not mean for an idiom to get in the
> way of understanding.
>
> https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/dont-go-chasing-windmills.2539680/
> is probably closest to my intent, a reference to Don Quixote's attempt
> to chase (or fight) windmills - it may look fantastic, but is it
> really accomplishing anything?  (And since the source for that
> reference is from classic Spanish literature (Miguel Cervantes), not
> English, I'm actually surprised that it now comes across as an English
> idiom)

Thanks for the reference. Searching on the Internet led to a
definition on 
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fight-windmills
for "to fight windmills", which is much closer to the French meaning
(the quote in French is « se battre contre les moulins à vent », which
is the literal translation of "to fight windmills"). "Chasing the
windmill" is an expression which does not exist in French (nor in
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/), which is why your message was
unclear to me.

> >
> > On the topic, I agree that "making configure snippets warning-free" is
> > not a great objective, and is quite difficult because static code
> > analyzer software tends to report many false positive issues. But here
> > it is a real fix and I find it inappropriate that you reply with a
> > message which translates to "you are doing something idiot, please
> > stop this stupid thing, static analysis is worthless". In my opinion,
> > I can carry patches on my own which help reduce the number of false
> > positive issues reported by static analyzer tools (without involving
> > any upstream discussion), but when I find a bug I prefer to report it
> > and help upstream developers to fix it rather than keeping it for
> > myself. This is why I submitted a patch and I believe such an approach
> > is what makes free software possible, instead of calling the work of
> > someone else "not worth it".
>
> Email is absolutely the worst means for conveying emotion and intent,
> because that was NOT my intent to put down your contribution.  In
> fact, I even realized that before I hit send, since I added:
>
> >
> > > But lest I sound too negative, thank you for reporting what you found,
> > > and for providing a patch!
>
> But I will apologize again for sounding unappreciative of your patch,
> because that was not my goal.  You are right that submitting patches
> you have is the best way for the project to move forward.

Thanks. And in that spirit of moving towards a world where people
understand each other and work together to make it better, I would
like to share an advice: when you use a cultural reference in an
email, you may wonder whether this reference is
international/cross-cultural enough to be understood without
ambiguity. If its meaning is not in the top 3 results of Google
Search, it is definitely not.

Best regards,
Nicolas

> > >
> > > > The information contained in this email and in any
> > > > document enclosed is strictly confidential and is intended solely for 
> > > > the
> > >
> > > Legalese blurbs like these are unenforceable on a publically-archived
> > > mailing list; you may want to consider using an alternative account
> > > that does not append your employer's text on your mails to open source
> > > lists.
> >
> > Sorry about this. I posted the patch from my professional email and
> > missed the fact that my employer added a few weeks ago a configuration
> > to GMail which automatically adds this blurb, even to full-text emails
> > sent to mailing lists.
>
> Thanks!  That indeed makes it easier to reply to your mail without
> worrying whether I'm getting in trouble with your employer.
>
> --
> Eric Blake, Principal Software Engineer
> Red Hat, Inc.           +1-919-301-3266
> Virtualization:  qemu.org | libvirt.org
>




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