uutils / uutils/coreutils

Base64 does not support streaming data

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U - base64
Dominant language
Rust
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

I created this issue after opening the PR here (https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/8622), but it tracks the problem.

The main issue is that that the current base64 implementation needs to read the whole input to be able to distinguish whether there is padding or not. However, padding is only in the end, so the solution for that can be avoided by just checking at the end of the file.

This works differently in GNU Coreutils, and there you can see also the low memory footprint.

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 by reviewing the current base64 implementation and the referenced PR 8622. Compare its input handling with GNU Coreutils, focusing on how padding is detected at end of input. Done means base64 supports streaming input without reading the whole input and achieves a similarly low memory footprint.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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