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Doc Bug #69291 SPL directory tests fail under some conditions
Submitted: 2015-03-24 19:25 UTC Modified: 2021-09-14 10:05 UTC
From: danack@php.net Assigned:
Status: Open Package: SPL related
PHP Version: 5.5.23 OS: Centos
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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 [2015-03-24 19:25 UTC] danack@php.net
Description:
------------
The tests ext/spl/tests/dit_004.phpt and ext/spl/tests/dit_005.phpt fail on Centos running in a VirtualBox VM, but only under certain conditions:

* when they are run through "php run-tests.php ext/spl/tests/dit_004.phpt" - both of them fail.

* dit_004 fails when run as "valgrind -q --tool=memcheck /usr/bin/php ext/spl/tests/dit_004.php". dit_005.phpt doesn't fail and works fine.

Both of the tests run as expected when you just run the underlying PHP code that they are calling.

The behaviour is as if the cloned object is jumping to a random entry in the DirectoryIterator

Test script:
---------------
<?php
$a = new DirectoryIterator(__DIR__);
$b = clone $a;

$bValue = (string)$b;
$aValue = (string)$a;
if ($aValue != $bValue) {
	echo "aValue and bValue should be the same".PHP_EOL;
	echo $aValue.PHP_EOL;
	echo $bValue.PHP_EOL;
}
else {
    echo "Ok";
}


Expected result:
----------------
Ok

Actual result:
--------------
aValue and bValue should be the same
.
SplObjectStorage_offsetGet_invalid_parameter.phpt

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History

AllCommentsChangesGit/SVN commitsRelated reports
 [2015-03-24 19:25 UTC] danack@php.net
-Status: Open +Status: Assigned -Assigned To: +Assigned To: danack
 [2015-03-27 18:23 UTC] danack@php.net
Whoop - I added the PR to the wrong issue. The PR is for something else entirely, but apparently there is no way to delete it.
 [2015-04-02 14:47 UTC] danack@php.net
Okay - I understand what is happening, but can't tell what the 'correct' behaviour should be.

The code is assuming that DirectoryIterator will return objects alphabetically. It isn't doing so. Instead the file entries are listed alphabetically within 'blocks', but the blocks are ordered in reverse.

i.e. the first entry in the cloned iterator is SplObjectStorage_getHash.phpt, while the first entry in the original iterator is array_001.phpt


The full output is https://gist.github.com/Danack/e9c7ca12958cdd180197.


TL:DR the test assumes that DirectoryIterator always returns values in the same alphabetical order, it doesn't. And so the test fails sometimes.
 [2015-04-03 19:45 UTC] tyrael@php.net
I've deleted the link to the wrong PR.
 [2017-01-22 16:36 UTC] danack@php.net
-Assigned To: danack +Assigned To:
 [2020-04-24 18:54 UTC] alexinbeijing at gmail dot com
Can't reproduce the failure described here. Both of the tests run fine whether run through `php run-tests.php` or not, and whether run under valgrind or not.

5 years have passed, a lot has changed, and whatever was causing this bug has probably been fixed. The ticket should be closed.
 [2020-04-24 20:31 UTC] danack@php.net
Hi Alex,

I'm pretty sure the bad assumption is still there: https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/826a7456717b8fab22d43deedf7b6ab1b1f426be/ext/spl/spl_directory.c#L371

Below is an example of how cloning a directoryIterator doesn't result in an object that is actually a clone


<?php

$a = new DirectoryIterator(__DIR__);

$baseName = basename(__FILE__);
$found = false;

while($found == false) {
    $a->next();
    if ($baseName === (string)$a) {
        $found = true;
    }
};

file_put_contents('created_file.txt', 'feel free to delete');


$b = clone $a;
// Cloning should result in same object, right?

if ((string)$b != (string)$a) {
    // surprise!
    // output is "file 1: dir_bug.php file 2: created_file.txt"
    printf(
        "file 1: %s file 2: %s",
        (string)$a,
        (string)$b
    );
}

unlink('created_file.txt');
 [2021-09-14 10:05 UTC] cmb@php.net
-Type: Bug +Type: Documentation Problem
 [2021-09-14 10:05 UTC] cmb@php.net
dit_004.phpt has been improved[1] in the meantime, and
dit_005.phpt has a respective comment[2].  So the issue that
iterating over modified directories may not yield stable results
is known.  To explain: DirectoryIterator uses readdir()[3] under the
hood, and POSIX states:

| If a file is removed from or added to the directory after the
| most recent call to opendir() or rewinddir(), whether a subsequent
| call to readdir() returns an entry for that file is unspecified.

Even worse, POSIX also states:

| The readdir() function may buffer several directory entries per
| actual read operation; […]

So yes, obviously DirectoryIterator clones may not behave as expected.
I don't see a way to fix this, short off prohibiting cloning such
objects altogether.

Regarding the ordering: this looks strange to me, since POSIX
mandates (emphasis mine):

| The type DIR, which is defined in the <dirent.h> header,
| represents a directory stream, which is an **ordered** sequence of
| all the directory entries in a particular directory.

While it does not specify which order, the order should not
change, I think.  Anyway, that directory entries are not
necessarily ordered alphabetically is also a known issue, and
either partly documented or tracked by another ticket.

So this issue is best categorized as documentation problem, and
maybe it's worthwhile to improve dit_005.phpt similar to what has
been done with dit_004.phpt.

[1] <https://github.com/php/php-src/commit/0535872b7cd50be8b40ad06154b287749315eb27>
[2] <https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/PHP-7.4.23/ext/spl/tests/dit_005.phpt#L5>
[3] <https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/readdir.html>
 
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