[PATCH] sockaddr.3type: Document that sockaddr_storage is the API to be used

[Alejandro Colomar]

POSIX.1 Issue 8 will fix the long-standing issue with sockaddr APIs,
which inevitably caused UB either on user code, libc, or more likely,
both.  sockaddr_storage has been clarified to be implemented in a manner
that aliasing it is safe (suggesting a unnamed union, or other compiler
magic).

Link: <https://www.austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=1641>
Reported-by: Bastien Roucariès <rouca@debian.org>
Reported-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
Cc: glibc <libc-alpha@sourceware.org>
Cc: GCC <gcc@gcc.gnu.org>
Cc: Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com>
Cc: Stefan Puiu <stefan.puiu@gmail.com>
Cc: Igor Sysoev <igor@sysoev.ru>
Cc: Rich Felker <dalias@libc.org>
Cc: Andrew Clayton <andrew@digital-domain.net>
Cc: Richard Biener <richard.guenther@gmail.com>
Cc: Zack Weinberg <zack@owlfolio.org>
Cc: Florian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com>
Cc: Joseph Myers <joseph@codesourcery.com>
Cc: Jakub Jelinek <jakub@redhat.com>
Cc: Sam James <sam@gentoo.org>
Signed-off-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
---

Hi all,

This is my proposal for documenting the POSIX decission of fixing the
definition of sockaddr_storage.  Bastien, I believe you had something
similar in mind; please review.  Eric, thanks again for the fix!  Could
you please also have a look at this?

Cheers,

Alex

 man3type/sockaddr.3type | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+)

diff --git a/man3type/sockaddr.3type b/man3type/sockaddr.3type
index 32c3c5bd0..d1db87d5d 100644
--- a/man3type/sockaddr.3type
+++ b/man3type/sockaddr.3type
@@ -23,6 +23,14 @@ .SH SYNOPSIS
 .PP
 .B struct sockaddr_storage {
 .BR "    sa_family_t     ss_family;" "      /* Address family */"
+.PP
+.RS 4
+/* This structure is not really implemented this way.  It may be
+\&   implemented with an unnamed union or some compiler magic to
+\&   avoid breaking aliasing rules when accessed as any other of the
+\&   sockaddr_* structures documented in this page.  See CAVEATS.
+\& */
+.RE
 .B };
 .PP
 .BR typedef " /* ... */ " socklen_t;
@@ -122,6 +130,20 @@ .SH NOTES
 .I <netinet/in.h>
 and
 .IR <sys/un.h> .
+.SH CAVEATS
+To avoid breaking aliasing rules,
+programs that use functions that receive pointers to
+.I sockaddr
+structures should declare objects of type
+.IR sockaddr_storage ,
+which is defined in a way that it
+can be accessed as any of the different structures defined in this page.
+Failure to do so may result in Undefined Behavior.
+.PP
+New functions should be written to accept pointers to
+.I sockaddr_storage
+instead of the traditional
+.IR sockaddr .
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .BR accept (2),
 .BR bind (2),
-- 
2.39.2