wc: Arithmetic overflow on large files
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- Dominant language
- Rust
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Description
There is currently a discrepancy between uutils/wc and GNU coreutils/wc regarding large files.
When processing multiple extremely large (possibly sparse) files, the cumulative total can exceed the capacity of a 64-bit integer. Currently, uutils/wc panics in debug builds or wraps around in release builds, whereas GNU wc handles this gracefully by saturating at the maximum value and issuing a diagnostic error.
Steps to Reproduce
Using sparse files to simulate sizes exceeding
2**64−1
# Create a 2-exabyte sparse file
truncate -s 2E big
# Trigger overflow by summing multiple instances
uutils-wc -c big big big big big big big big big big
Current Behavior: Panic or silent wrap-around.
GNU Behavior: Prints a diagnostic wc: count overflow to stderr, saturates the count at u64::MAX, and exits with status 1.
I'd like to handle the problem. I would replace usize with u64 for the counters and check for overflow.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
The issue names the wc command and provides a sparse-file reproduction, but no source files or tests. Start by running the reproduction and locating wc's cumulative byte-count path. Done means matching GNU behavior: saturate at u64::MAX, report a count-overflow diagnostic on stderr, and exit with status 1.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100