uutils / uutils/coreutils

bug(ptx): when -W is an invalid regex, the uutils one not report error but the gnu one does

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U - ptx
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Hi, uutils mainteners

as i see the uutils ptx not handle errors the -W option when a regex is a wrong syntax, as our testing confirms

relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ ./ptx -W $'^[' a

just no output and exits with status code 0 no errors, however the gnu one handles the error correctly and aknolegded the user that their regex is invalid

relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ gnuptx -W $'^[' a
gnuptx: Invalid regular expression (for regexp ‘^[’)

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by running the reported ptx -W $'^[' a command and comparing its status and output with GNU ptx. Locate the ptx handling for the -W regular-expression option; done means an invalid regex reports an error and exits nonzero instead of silently succeeding.

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
58/100

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