Re: [bug-patch] [PATCH] plug a leak

[Andreas Gruenbacher]

On Wednesday 25 May 2011 15:41:47 Jim Meyering wrote:
> Andreas Gruenbacher wrote:
> > On Wednesday 25 May 2011 15:12:35 Jim Meyering wrote:
> >> I can see the advantage of using the goto (single point of return and *PY 
> >> is
> >> always set).  However, using the goto suggests you'd have to update the
> >> description to say what *PY = -1 means, but will any caller even care?
> >> Probably not, but I haven't checked that.
> >
> > If a value > max is returned, *py is ignored.  Not sure there is much value 
> > in
> > explicitly documenting this ...
> 
> I now realize why I chose not to modify *PY:
> Returning MAX+1 is all that is necessary.  Doing any more (like
> setting *PY) is best avoided in general (keep API's minimalist),
> because some caller might be tempted to test *PY rather than the
> return value.

I'm fine either way, but please don't duplicate the free() and use a goto 
instead.

> I propose to document that:
> 
> diff --git a/src/bestmatch.h b/src/bestmatch.h
> index a162bb5..02f961c 100644
> --- a/src/bestmatch.h
> +++ b/src/bestmatch.h
> @@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
>   *
>   * Returns the number of changes (insertions and deletions) required to get
>   * from a[] to b[].  Returns MAX + 1 if a[] cannot be turned into b[] with
> - * MAX or fewer changes.
> + * MAX or fewer changes, in which case *PY is not modified.
>   *
>   * MIN specifies the minimum number of elements in which a[] and b[] must
>   * match. This allows to prevent trivial matches in which a sequence is

Okay.

Thanks,
Andreas