Fix a real crash: an uncaught error from inside a custom tag's own

expansion terminated the whole process instead of reporting cleanly

Found while verifying documentation for #[name] vs $[%name] (writing the
new tag-hierarchy section surfaced that my own published example was
factually wrong about which sigil reads a keyword attribute - #[name]
actually reads local->variables, a separate store; $[%name] is the real
keyword sigil, confirmed against Tag::getVariable directly). Referencing
an uninitialized #[name] from inside a custom tag's own template crashed
the process outright (SIGABRT) rather than reporting a normal error -
confirmed via a real gdb backtrace, not guessed:

1. Tag::getVariable's "#[" branch and Tag::assignVariable's "local"/
   "parent" scope branches all dereferenced `local` unconditionally.
   `local` is genuinely NULL at the true top level (jet-2.0.cpp's own
   `new jet::__jet(data, out, global, NULL, NULL)`) and stays NULL through
   any tag that doesn't establish its own local scope (most don't -
   <if>/<while>/<until> are the exception, passing `this` as local via
   their splitTagName constructor path). Added NULL checks with clear
   messages instead of an unconditional dereference.

2. The real root cause of the actual crash observed, though: jet-2.0.cpp's
   own top-level catch(coreutils::Exception) handler unconditionally calls
   data.setCursor(global.errorCursor) to show precise source-line context
   - but global.errorCursor is updated by every Tag's own construction, so
   it can (and, for an error originating inside a custom tag's own
   expanded template - container3 in __dotag.cpp - always does) point
   into a completely different ZString buffer than `data` (the top-level
   script). ZString::setCursor() correctly rejects a cursor outside its
   own buffer by throwing - but that throw happens while the ORIGINAL
   exception is still being handled inside this same catch block, and a
   second exception escaping an active catch block calls std::terminate()
   immediately, regardless of any enclosing try/catch. Confirmed via gdb:
   the abort's own stack showed __cxa_throw called from
   ZString::setCursor, called from the catch block itself.
   Fixed by wrapping the precise-location diagnostics in their own
   try/catch, falling back to just the error text (already printed first)
   plus a note that precise context isn't available, rather than crashing
   the whole process. The error text is the useful part either way - the
   line-context is a bonus only available when the cursor genuinely
   belongs to the top-level buffer.

Verified via a full regression pass (9 real jet-2.0 runs covering custom
tag scoping at 1/2/3 nesting levels, the dump tag tree, <try>/<catch>,
<if>/<else>, and the corrected $[%name] keyword sigil) - all still work,
plus the specific crash reproduction now reports a clean error instead of
aborting.
This commit is contained in:
Brad Arant committed 2026-08-26 09:48:43 -07:00
1 parent 8483618012
commit 9f3349b671
2 files changed
+49 -12

No files matched your search

+20 -4
View File
@@ -499,6 +499,17 @@ namespace jet {
coreutils::MString name;
coreutils::MString modifier;
renderVariableName(variable, name, modifier);
// local is NULL at the true top level (jet-2.0.cpp's own
// new jet::__jet(data, out, global, NULL, NULL)) and stays NULL
// through any tag that doesn't establish its own local scope (most
// don't - <if>/<while>/<until>/<until>'s splitTagName constructor
// form is the exception, passing `this` as local) - dereferencing
// it unconditionally here crashes (SIGABRT/segfault, not a clean
// catchable exception) rather than reporting a normal error.
// Confirmed via a real crash while testing #[name] inside a custom
// tag invocation with no enclosing local-scope-owning tag.
if(local == NULL)
throw coreutils::Exception("local variable requested but no local scope is active.");
if(local->variables.find(name) == local->variables.end())
throw coreutils::Exception("local variable is not initialized.");
return local->variables[name];
@@ -550,10 +561,15 @@ namespace jet {
}
if((scope == "global") || (scope == ""))
global.variables[variable] = value;
else if(scope == "local")
local->variables[variable] = value;
else if(scope == "parent")
local->parent->variables[variable] = value;
else if(scope == "local") {
if(local == NULL)
throw coreutils::Exception("scope=\"local\" requested but no local scope is active.");
local->variables[variable] = value;
} else if(scope == "parent") {
if((local == NULL) || (local->parent == NULL))
throw coreutils::Exception("scope=\"parent\" requested but no local scope (or its parent) is active.");
local->parent->variables[variable] = value;
}
}
void Tag::storeVariable(coreutils::ZString variable, coreutils::MString value, coreutils::ZString scope) {
+29 -8
View File
@@ -23,16 +23,37 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp) {
std::cout << out;
}
catch(coreutils::Exception e) {
data.setCursor(global.errorCursor);
data.moveBackToLineStart();
std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
std::cout << "Error in jet script '" << argv[1] << "' at line " << data.getLineNumberAtCursor() << std::endl;
std::cout << "Error text: " << e.text << std::endl;
std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
std::cout << data.parsed() << std::endl;
std::cout << "******** Error caught: " << e.text << std::endl;
std::cout << data.unparsed() << std::endl;
// global.errorCursor is updated by every Tag's own construction, so
// it can point into a completely different buffer than `data` (the
// top-level script) - most commonly, a custom tag's own expanded
// template body (container3 in __dotag.cpp) when the error actually
// happened while that was being processed, not the top-level script
// directly. ZString::setCursor() correctly rejects a cursor that
// isn't within its own buffer, but that rejection is itself a throw
// - uncaught here, a SECOND exception escaping while this catch
// block is still handling the first one calls std::terminate()
// immediately, crashing the whole process instead of reporting a
// normal error. Confirmed via a real crash + gdb backtrace while
// testing an error thrown from inside a custom tag's own body.
// Degrade gracefully instead: the error text above is already the
// important part; the precise source-line context is a bonus only
// available when the cursor genuinely belongs to this buffer.
try {
data.setCursor(global.errorCursor);
data.moveBackToLineStart();
std::cout << "Error in jet script '" << argv[1] << "' at line " << data.getLineNumberAtCursor() << std::endl;
std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
std::cout << data.parsed() << std::endl;
std::cout << "******** Error caught: " << e.text << std::endl;
std::cout << data.unparsed() << std::endl;
} catch(coreutils::Exception) {
std::cout << "(error originated inside a custom tag's own expansion - "
<< "no precise source-line context available for it)" << std::endl;
std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
}
global.dump();
}
}
}