python / python/cpython

ConfigParser chokes on conflict markers in stdin and throws AttributeError

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#126,541 4 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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stdlib type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

This is probably a duplicate of bug 107625, but I do not have a recent enough version of Python to check the behaviour.

Whether it is worth specially detecting conflict markers is something the code owners can decide.

To reproduce:

/tmp/py:

#!/usr/bin/python3

import configparser
import sys

sl = configparser.ConfigParser(allow_no_value=True)
sl.read_file(sys.stdin)

/tmp/z:

[list]
<<<<<<<< HEAD   (f12435 blah)
 foo
|||||||| BASE
 bar
========
 baz
>>>>>>>> CHANGE (faa768 blah)
$ </tmp/z /tmp/py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/py", line 7, in <module>
    sl.read_file(sys.stdin)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/configparser.py", line 734, in read_file
    self._read(f, source)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/configparser.py", line 1077, in _read
    cursect[optname].append(value)
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'append'

Notes:

  • sys.stdin seems to be needed to trigger this - deserves further investigation because it may point to a bad assumption or similar in the parser
  • allow_no_value is needed to trigger this

Finger of blame:

            if (cursect is not None and optname and
                cur_indent_level > indent_level):
                cursect[optname].append(value)

This does not check that cursect[optname] is present.

CPython versions tested on:

3.10, 3.11, 3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  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 in configparser.py at ConfigParser._read, especially the continuation handling around the reported cursect[optname].append(value) line. Reproduce the case with allow_no_value=True and conflict-marker input through stdin, then add regression coverage showing the parser no longer raises AttributeError and verify the existing behavior remains appropriate.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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