[Haskell-cafe] Re: Is hGetLine lazy like hGetContents? And what about this todo item?

[Jason Dagit]

On Thu, 2010-03-25 at 16:13 +0000, Simon Marlow wrote:
> On 25/03/2010 15:40, Jason Dagit wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I was trying to figure out if hGetLine is safe to use inside of
> > withFile.  Specifically, I want to return the line I read and use it
> > later, without inspecting it before withFile calls hClose.
> >
> > If you want to understand the concern I have, look here:
> > http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Maintaining_laziness#Input_and_Output
> >
> > There is a bit of explanation showing that hGetContents can be
> > problematic with withFile.
> >
> > I can tell from reading the source of hGetContents that it uses
> > unsafeInterleaveIO so this make sense to me why that wiki page talks
> > about hGetContents:
> > http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/libraries/base/src/GHC-IO-Handle-Text.html#hGetContents
> >
> > When I read the source of hGetLine, it is less clear to me if I need to
> > be concerned.  I believe it is not lazy in the sense of lazy IO above.
> > Could someone else please comment?
> > http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/libraries/base/src/GHC-IO-Handle-Text.html#hGetLine
> 
> Correct: it is not lazy, and it is safe to use inside withFile.

Great!  I did a few simple tests in GHCi and it seemed safe, but I
wanted to be extra prudent.  Thanks.

> 
> > Then I notice this 'todo' item in the description:
> > -- ToDo: the unbuffered case is wrong: it doesn't lock the handle for
> > -- the duration.
> >
> > The code itself looks to me like it only handles the buffered case.
> > Perhaps this todo is obsolete and needs to be removed?  If it's not
> > obsolete, do we need to create a ticket for this?
> 
> Well spotted, that comment is out of date and wrong.  There used to be a 
> version of hGetLine written in terms of hGetChar which was used when the 
> Handle was unbuffered, but I think I removed it in the recent rewrite.

What is the next step for getting rid of the obsolete comment?  Did you
already nuke it?  If not, I could try to get a copy of the ghc repo and
see if I can figure out the right protocol for submitting a patch.

Thanks,
Jason
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