[libdvdnav-devel] [RFC] Set free'd variables to NULL or not?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Le 24/10/2014 17:45, Andrew Clayton a écrit :
> On Fri, 24 Oct 2014 16:26:56 +0200, Jean-Baptiste Kempf wrote:
>
>> On 24 Oct, Andrew Clayton wrote :
>>> I notice it is common practice in libdvdread to set free'd variables
>>> to NULL. There are of course arguments for and against.
>>
>> What is the use of setting them to NULL?
>> Are they going to be reused and checked?
>
> I personally don't set them to NULL in my projects. Some people do and
> that seems to be the case in libdvdread. If anything it can probably
> hide bugs, for example where you might be doing a double free.
>
> If the consensus is to not set things to NULL after free then they can
> simply be removed.

Setting to NULL a variable, after free, is, in the general case, wrong 
and stupid, and error-prone.

However, be careful that, in libdvdread, the variable life-cycle is a 
bit weird, because of struct re-use and therefore, it avoids crashes.


-- 
Jean-Baptiste Kempf
http://www.jbkempf.com/ - +33 672 704 734
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