Why segfaults occur with string.h functions? - c

Question

With the same command in my coworker's PC, my program works without the problem.
But in my PC, the program crashes with segfault;
GDB backtrace at core reads as follows:
#0 strrchr () at ../sysdeps/x86_64/strrchr.S:32
32 ../sysdeps/x86_64/strrchr.S: no such file or directory
(gdb) bt
#0 strrchr () at ../sysdeps/x86_64/strrchr.S:32
#1 0x00007f10961236d7 in dirname (path=0x324a47a0 <error: Cannot access memory at address 0x324a47a0>) at dirname.c:31
I'm already compiling the executable with -g -ggdb options.
Odd thing is that.. with valgrind the program works without error in my PC as well.
How can I solve the problem? I've observed that the errors occur only with strrchr, strcmp, strlen, ... string.h functions.
+Edit: the gdb backtrace indicates that the program crashes here:
char* base_dir = dirname(get_abs_name(test_dir));
where get_abs_name is defined as
char* get_abs_name(char* dir) {
char abs_path[PATH_MAX];
char* c = malloc(PATH_MAX*sizeof(char));
realpath(dir, abs_path);
strcpy(c, abs_path);
return c;
}
+Edit2: 'dir' is a path of certain file, like '../program/blabla.jpg'.
Using valgrind,
printf("%s\n", dir)
normally prints '/home/frozenca/path_to_program'.
I can't guess why the program crashes without valgrind..

Answer 1

We cannot know for sure without a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example. Your code looks mostly correct (albeit convoluted), except you do not check for errors.
char* get_abs_name(char* dir) {
char abs_path[PATH_MAX];
char* c = malloc(PATH_MAX*sizeof(char)); /* this may return NULL */
realpath(dir, abs_path); /* this may return NULL */
strcpy(c, abs_path);
return c;
}
Now, how could this lead to an error like you see? Well, if malloc returns NULL, you'll get a crash right away in strcpy. But if realpath fails:
The content of abs_path remains undefined.
So strcpy(c, abs_path) will copy undefined content. Which could lead to it copying just one byte if abs_path[0] happens to be \0. But could also lead to massive heap corruption. Which happens depends on unrelated conditions, such as how the program is compiled, and whether some debugging tool such as valgrind is attached.
TL;DR: get into the habit of checking every function that may fail.
char* get_abs_name(char* dir) {
char abs_path[PATH_MAX];
char* c = malloc(PATH_MAX*sizeof(char));
if (!c) { return NULL; }
if (!realpath(dir, abs_path)) {
free(c);
return NULL;
}
strcpy(c, abs_path);
return c;
}
Or, here, you can simplify it alot assuming a GNU system or POSIX.1-2008 system:
char * get_abs_name(const char * dir) {
return realpath(dir, NULL);
}
Note however that either way, in your main program, you also must check that get_abs_name() did not return NULL, otherwise dirname() will crash.

Answer 2

Drop your function entirely and use the return value of realpath(dir, NULL) instead.

Answer 3

Convert type
char* c = malloc(PATH_MAX*sizeof(char));
Thanks!