794636 - CERT_AsciiToName should take a const char * input argument

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(NSS :: Libraries, defect, P2)

Description

[Wan-Teh Chang]

Attachment: Proposed patch

CERT_AsciiToName takes a char * input argument, but it
does not modify that string. The input argument should be
declared as const char *.

This means it is safe to cast away the const to work around
this bug.

Comment 1

[Kai Engert (:KaiE:)]

> This means it is safe to cast away the const to work around
> this bug.

I don't understand what you refer to.

In your patch you don't "cast away const" anywhere.

Comment 2

[Kai Engert (:KaiE:)]

Comment on attachment 665136 [details] [diff] [review]
Proposed patch

r=kaie

Comment 3

[Eric Rescorla (:ekr)]

I believe that what Wan-Teh is saying is that if you have a calling function
that has a const char *, it is safe to cast away the const to call into this
function. However, with this patch that const_cast will become 
unnecessary.

Comment 4

[Wan-Teh Chang]

Eric is right. For example, it is safe to do this:

    const char* subject_name = "CN=Foo";
    CERTName* cert_name = CERT_AsciiToName(const_cast<char*>(subject_name));

Patch checked in on the NSS trunk (NSS 3.14).

Checking in alg1485.c;
/cvsroot/mozilla/security/nss/lib/certdb/alg1485.c,v  <--  alg1485.c
new revision: 1.45; previous revision: 1.44
done
Checking in cert.h;
/cvsroot/mozilla/security/nss/lib/certdb/cert.h,v  <--  cert.h
new revision: 1.91; previous revision: 1.90
done