[GRASS5] [bug #1140] (grass) Non-portable snprintf() used in several programs

[Glynn Clements]

Request Tracker wrote:

> It was also mentioned in the mailing list before that even on systems
> that do provide snprintf(), the return value when an error occurs is
> not standardised, so that is another reason for not relying on the
> system library version.

AFAIK, there are only two possible behaviours in this case:

1. Return a negative value

2. Return the number of characters which would have been written,
excluding the trailing NUL.

So, using:

	n = snprintf(buff, size, ...);
	if (n < 0 || n >= size)
		G_fatal_error(...);

should handle either case.

That still doesn't solve the problem of needing snprintf() in the
first place. If we are going to rely upon a third-party library, we
should probably look for one which provides asprintf().

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements at virgin.net>