uutils / uutils/coreutils

bug(fold): when passing $'\xFF' it reports incorrect error messages

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U - fold
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Hi, uutils mainteners

the behavior of fold when passing $'\xFF' to the first arg as i see it reports invalid error messages

relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ ./fold $'\xFF'
fold: failed to read line: Is a directory
relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ 

while the gnu one reports the correct error message

relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ gnufold $'\xFF'
gnufold: ''$'\377': Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
relunsec@relunsec:~/software/coreutils/target/debug$ 

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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 with the fold command entry point and reproduce the reported ./fold $'\xFF' behavior, comparing it with gnufold. Trace how the argument is interpreted and how the read error is produced; done means invalid or incomplete multibyte input reports the appropriate character-encoding error instead of “Is a directory”.

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

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