WebAssembly / WebAssembly/WASI

[v0.3] Specify behavior for fields#delete, fields#get-and-delete with invalid field name

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Description

Consider:

    /// Delete all values for a name. Does nothing if no values for the name
    /// exist.
    ///
    /// Fails with `header-error.immutable` if the `fields` are immutable.
    delete: func(name: field-name) -> result<_, header-error>;
    /// Delete all values for a name. Does nothing if no values for the name
    /// exist.
    ///
    /// Returns all values previously corresponding to the name, if any.
    ///
    /// Fails with `header-error.immutable` if the `fields` are immutable.
    get-and-delete: func(name: field-name) -> result<list<field-value>, header-error>;

When passed an invalid field name, delete could silently succeed (like get does), because by definition there is no field with that name; the operation will not set any field of the fields object. Or it could return an invalid-syntax error, because it has the Result. Wasmtime currently returns an error.

Similar concerns for get-and-delete; I guess it should be specified as propagating any error, as if get() then delete().

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the specified delete and get-and-delete definitions in the issue, then compare their invalid-name behavior with get() and the behavior currently returned by Wasmtime. Resolve whether delete silently succeeds or returns invalid-syntax, and whether get-and-delete propagates the corresponding error, then update the WASI specification and any affected conformance coverage.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
api, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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