Why do I get segmentation fault using fopen? - c

Question

I'm writing a client-server model in C which works using fifos. I send a file name plus a name for a unique fifo for the client to recieve the data from the client and the server opens the file and writes the first line of it on the fifo. The thing is that even if the file exists i get a segmentation fault when opening it. Seems like the fopen() function works but I still get the error. If the file doesn't exist it just sends an empty string.
Here is client.c :
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define BUFSIZE 512
struct sent {
char name[BUFSIZE];
char fifo[BUFSIZE];
};
int main()
{
char name[BUFSIZE];
char recieved[BUFSIZE];
int client_server_fifo;
char cs_fifo[BUFSIZE] = "cs_fifo";
int server_client_fifo;
char sc_fifo[BUFSIZE];
sprintf(sc_fifo, "sc_fifo_%d", getpid());
struct sent *sent;
mkfifo(sc_fifo, 0777);
while(1) {
printf("Write the name of the file: ");
scanf("%s", name);
printf("1111\n");
client_server_fifo = open(cs_fifo, O_WRONLY);
printf("2222\n");
printf("%s", name);
printf("%s", cs_fifo);
sent->name = name;
sent->fifo = cs_fifo;
printf("%s", name);
printf("%s", cs_fifo);
write(client_server_fifo, sent, sizeof(*sent));
server_client_fifo = open(sc_fifo, O_RDONLY);
if (read(server_client_fifo, recieved, sizeof(recieved)) == -1) {
printf("An error ocurred.\n");
} else {
printf("First line of the file: \n%s\n", recieved);
close(client_server_fifo);
close(server_client_fifo);
}
memset(recieved, 0, sizeof(recieved));
}
return 0;
}
And here's server.c :
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define BUFSIZE 512
struct sent {
char name[BUFSIZE];
char fifo[BUFSIZE];
};
int main()
{
int client_server_fifo;
char cs_fifo[BUFSIZE] = "cs_fifo";
int server_client_fifo;
char sc_fifo[BUFSIZE];
struct sent *sent;
char name[BUFSIZE];
char line[BUFSIZE];
FILE *file;
printf("Server running...\n");
mkfifo(cs_fifo, 0777);
while (1)
{
client_server_fifo = open(cs_fifo, O_RDONLY);
read(client_server_fifo, sent, sizeof(*sent));
strcpy(name, sent->name);
strcpy(sc_fifo, sent->fifo);
if((file = fopen(name, "r")) != NULL) {
printf("%s\n", name);
fgets(line, BUFSIZE, file);
printf("%s\n", name);
}
server_client_fifo = open(sc_fifo, O_WRONLY);
write(server_client_fifo, line, strlen(line));
memset(name, 0, sizeof(name));
memset(line, 0, sizeof(line));
close(client_server_fifo);
}
return 0;
}
Why does this happen?

Answer 1

The program has undefined behavior because in gthis statement
sprintf(sc_fifo, "sc_fifo_%d", getpid());
you are trying to change a string literal pointed to by the pointer sc_fifo.
char *cs_fifo = "cs_fifo";
When you declare a pointer to a string literal always declare them with the qualifier const. In this case you will get ban error at compilation time if you will tray to change a string literal.
Also you are using uninitialized pointer sent
struct sent *sent;
in this statement
read(client_server_fifo, sent, sizeof(*sent));
There are other errors. For example arrays do not have the assignment operator. So these statements in client.c
sent->name = name;
sent->fifo = cs_fifo;
are incorrect.