GNU bug report logs - #36489
possible bug by sed?

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Steven Abner <pheonix.sja <at> att.net>
To: bug-sed <at> gnu.org
Subject: possible bug by sed?
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2019 10:35:33 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,
Using:
grep -rlI ~/Development/PheonixOS -e 'as_sys_types.h' | xargs sed -i 
's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'
on ElementaryOS did its job except it truncated a few files' last line. 
In otherwords, file ends up one line
short, and had no replacement on that line.
 Only found problem because of had identical copies on my mac, and did 
same thing, except BSD variant:
grep -rlI ~/Development/Pheonix -e 'as_sys_types.h' | xargs sed -i "" 
's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'
Then I verify changes by using diff command. Several files on linux 
lost last line.
As stated in subject, 'possible', because it could belong to 'xargs'?
Thx and sorry to contact
Steve

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 36489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: Steven Abner <pheonix.sja <at> att.net>
Cc: 36489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36489: possible bug by sed?
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2019 02:20:33 -0600

tag 36489 moreinfo
stop

Hello,

On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 10:35:33AM -0400, Steven Abner wrote:
> Hi,
> Using:
> grep -rlI ~/Development/PheonixOS -e 'as_sys_types.h' | xargs sed -i
> 's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'
> on ElementaryOS did its job except it truncated a few files' last line. In
> otherwords, file ends up one line
> short, and had no replacement on that line.
>  Only found problem because of had identical copies on my mac, and did same
> thing, except BSD variant:
> grep -rlI ~/Development/Pheonix -e 'as_sys_types.h' | xargs sed -i ""
> 's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'
> Then I verify changes by using diff command. Several files on linux lost
> last line.
> As stated in subject, 'possible', because it could belong to 'xargs'?

We'll need a bit more information to be able to diagnose this issue.

First,
which version of 'sed' are you using (try "sed --version").
If this isn't a recent version (4.7), can you also try
with version 4.7 ?

Second,
Is this reproducible?
Can you narrow it down to a single file using only "sed" (without
grep/xargs) ?
If so, can you share the file?
(To ease testing, you can add a backup extension to the "-i" parameter,
similar to bsd: "sed -i.bak [...]" - the original files will be saved).


Third,
A cursory attempt to run a similar command on my computer
did not show this issue, I tried with the following commands:

    for i in a b c d e ; \
        do ( seq 10 ; printf "AAA as_sys_types.h\n" ) > $i ; done

    grep -rlI ./ -e 'as_sys_types.h' \
        | xargs sed -i 's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'


regards,
 - assaf

Message #13 received at 36489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: Steven Abner <pheonix.sja <at> att.net>
Cc: 36489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36489: possible bug by sed?
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2019 19:46:22 -0600

tag 36489 notabug
close 36489
stop


On Thu, Jul 04, 2019 at 02:20:33AM -0600, Assaf Gordon wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 10:35:33AM -0400, Steven Abner wrote:
> > grep -rlI ~/Development/PheonixOS -e 'as_sys_types.h' | xargs sed -i
> > 's <at> as_sys_types.h <at> as_types.h <at> g'
> > on ElementaryOS did its job except it truncated a few files' last line. In
> > otherwords, file ends up one line

[...]

> Is this reproducible?
> Can you narrow it down to a single file using only "sed" (without
> grep/xargs) ?

Confirmed off-list that this is not reproducible, and likely due to
other issues, not a sed bug.

As such, I'm closing this item.
Discussion can continue by replying to this thread.

-assaf

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